Lee mother waits for son's killer to die

Nelson: Appeal has lasted 8 years (news-press.com file photo)

Owens: Killed in north Cape Coral in '95 (news-press.com file photo)

Frustrated family talks about appeals that followed '95 murder

BY PAT GILLESPIE • pgillespie@news-press.com • June 25, 2008

Linda Owens is hoping to outlive her son's killer.

Owens, the mother of Tommy Owens, who was murdered in 1995, has watched as Josh Nelson goes through the second round of appeals on Florida's death row - there since he was sentenced in 1996.

Nelson, 18 at the time, along with Keith Brennan, were convicted of luring Tommy Owens to a remote area of north Cape Coral and beating him with a baseball bat and cutting his throat because they wanted his car. Brennan's appeals have been exhausted and he is serving a life sentence, State Attorney Steve Russell said. He was 16 at the time of the killing.

Attorneys gathered Monday to discuss Nelson's appeal - his attorney is trying to get Nelson's and Brennan's psychological and psychiatric records from five Florida agencies, who have cited public records exemptions and denied records requests.

A judge will review the requests and decide which records to order for release. Nelson's attorney hopes to use the records to save his client's life.

Nelson's most recent appeal has lasted for eight years and has been delayed because of the death of a judge, a turnover in attorneys and the natural course of appeals cases, attorneys said. A judge set another hearing for September.

Tommy Owens' father, Donald - who supports Nelson's execution -died in 2004. Now, Linda Owens is hoping she can see justice for her son's murderer.

"I would like to see Josh Nelson die and I would like to be alive to see it," she said Tuesday. "We do want to get this finished and done."

Attorney Terri Lynn Backhus of Tampa represented Nelson for a time, but said in 2004 she had a conflict with Nelson and asked to be removed from the case. Lee Circuit Judge William Nelson, who presided over the case, died in 2003 and court administrators had to reassign his cases. Two judges have been assigned to Josh Nelson's case since then - Lee Circuit Judge Thomas Corbin and Lee Circuit Judge Lynn Gerald Jr., according to court records.

Gerald addressed Backhus' motion in 2007, three years after she filed it and eight months after Gerald was appointed to the case. Then, in October, Nelson's current attorney, Michael McDonnell of Naples, was appointed to the case.

Backhus said appeals cases are supposed to take a long time - they are designed to be thorough and they don't have time constraints, unlike active criminal cases. Because of budget cuts and active criminal caseloads rising, appeals cases tend to move to the back of the court schedule.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, death row inmates have an average stay of 14 years. Nelson has been there 12.

McDonnell, too, makes no apologies for the delays. He said he is trying to determine whether to raise issues of ineffective assistance of counsel, a common target of appeals, as well as the constitutionality of the death penalty.

"I am the only person between him and the end of his life," McDonnell said. "It's a very serious responsibility."

Russell, who is working on Nelson's appeal, said the process can be drawn out for victims' families.

"The death penalty appellate process can be frustrating for the families and others involved," he said. "Sometimes they go on too long and hopefully we'll get a resolution in this case."

Linda Owens said she doesn't believe Nelson's death will bring justice, but she wants to see the day it happens.

"It's not something you can dwell on or it will eat you up," she said. "The wheels of justice shouldn't move this slow."