Similar cases, diverging ends

In Pinellas cases against a man of influence and a man of none, one is offered probation.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published June 18, 2007

Ivy Cobb admits she knows little about courts. But Cobb says she knows enough about fairness to realize her son's getting a bad deal.

In one Pinellas courtroom, prosecutors say Josh Cobb should get 20 years in prison for firing a gun in a fight.

In another courtroom, a man accused in a similar case got a plea deal and probation.

The man who got the deal is 59-year-old Robert G. Walker Jr. of Belleair, a lawyer and former prosecutor, Clearwater's former city attorney, a friend of judges.

Josh Cobb, 20, of Clearwater is poor and unemployed and doesn't know anyone important.

"Should my son be treated differently because he doesn't have money?" Ivy Cobb said.

Prosecutors say the two cases can't be compared. Apples and oranges.

Still, a mother asks: Is this justice?

- - -

It began on a Clearwater street in May 2005 when Josh Cobb and two Tampa men, Roderick Smith Jr. and Willie Wesley, argued.

Cobb was accused of firing a shot into the air and pointing a handgun at Smith. He tried to fire, but the gun jammed, the men told police.

As Wesley and Smith fled, Wesley heard a bystander tell Cobb: "Give me the gun, I'll shoot him." Smith heard something similar.

As Smith and Wesley drove away, a shot hit their car. Nobody was injured. Neither man saw who fired it.

Later, police said, Cobb called Smith to say that next time, he wouldn't miss.

Using a gun to commit a crime in Florida carries devastating consequences.

A conviction for firing a gun during a felony, for example, can bring a mandatory 20-year prison term. And just pointing a gun at someone in a threatening way is felony aggravated assault, which carries a mandatory 10 years.

Prosecutors charged Cobb with aggravated assault. And they offered a plea deal: three years in prison.

Cobb, denying he fired any shot, refused.

As the case progressed, Wesley wouldn't cooperate, failing to attend depositions or show up in court. Prosecutors had to threaten him with jail before he came in, Cobb's lawyer said.

Smith didn't care one way or the other if Cobb was prosecuted.

Prosecutors didn't initially seek 20 years in prison, a sign to Cobb's lawyer, John Trevena, that they doubted Cobb fired the gun. Talks to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor soon failed, and by May 2006, prosecutors sought all 20 years.

Circuit Judge Richard Luce told Trevena, "I guess the elected state attorney regards discharges (of a gun) as dead serious."

- - -

On Feb. 4, as Cobb's case was pending, Walker walked to his neighbor's house on a tony Belleair street. He was upset by a loud Super Bowl party, police said.

As Patrick O'Reilly and his son-in-law, Scott McNay, walked out, both said Walker pointed a handgun at McNay's chest, saying, "I am tired of this ... "

McNay put his hands up. But fearing Walker would kill him, authorities said, he then grabbed the gun. As they struggled, Walker fired once, police said. Nobody was injured.

Within seconds, McNay told a 911 operator, "He tried to kill us. ... Thank God I grabbed it. He was going to shoot me in the gut."

Walker told police he fired a bullet into the dirt to scare the men. "It did not work," he told police, who thought he was intoxicated.

Walker was arrested for attempted murder and a misdemeanor charge of using a gun under the influence.

He hired lawyer Denis de Vlaming. But within days, he changed his mind and retained lawyer Doug Prior.

Besides being Walker's neighbor, Prior also offered another benefit: He was a close friend of one of the two men. Walker thought Prior could help him settle things, de Vlaming said.

Prior conducted an investigation he said was more thorough than the one finished by police.

Prior found that the two men no longer believed Walker pointed the gun at anyone. And Walker no longer thought he deliberately fired a shot into the ground. In retrospect, Walker now thought it an accidental discharge, and the two men agreed.
"Your mind becomes clearer upon reflection," Prior said.

Five days after the shooting, the two men filed a request that Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe not prosecute Walker. Days later, Walker apologized to both men in a letter.

Saying he exhibited "poor judgment," Walker wrote, "Someone might have been seriously hurt."

When McNay showed up on Feb. 21 to talk to prosecutors, he explained that he was getting so many calls from the community about Walker, including calls from Walker's wife, that he had shut off his phone.

A prosecutor wrote in an internal report, "It was clear ... that (McNay) has come under a great deal of pressure from various people to change his story or to not cooperate with prosecution."

McNay and O'Reilly declined to discuss their change of heart with a reporter.
"He seems like a pretty outstanding guy," O'Reilly said of Walker.
McNay said, "I just want this thing to go away."

- - -

Victims file requests not to prosecute all the time. In fact, the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender, the office representing indigent defendants, has a standard form at its front desk for the purpose.

Public Defender Bob Dillinger said prosecutors, who must take a victim's wishes into consideration, nonetheless often pursue cases despite such requests, especially if the state has evidence beyond the victim's own testimony.

In Walker's case, police had Walker's own words to police and the 911 call the night of the shooting.

Sometimes, as with Cobb's case, a reluctant victim is forced to testify with a subpoena, said Dillinger, who declined to comment about Walker.

"It's the state of Florida vs. the defendant," Dillinger said, "not the victims vs. the defendant."

Though arrested for attempted murder, Walker was instead charged by prosecutors with two misdemeanors: the improper exhibition of a firearm and using a gun under the influence.

And in a May 1 plea deal, Walker pleaded no contest to the charges and received one year of probation.

McCabe, the state attorney, said he considered aggravated assault -- the charge that could have carried 20 years in prison -- but the victims' lack of cooperation prevented it.

In an unrelated 2005 trial, one of McCabe's prosecutors explained the difference between improper exhibition and aggravated assault.

"There's no pointing (the gun) at a person" with the lesser charge, a prosecutor told a jury in a case of a man convicted of aggravated assault for pointing a gun at someone, though not firing it. He got a prison sentence. "There's no inferred threat."

The difference, she said, is fear.

Still, McCabe said no special break was given to Walker, who would not comment.

"We drop cases all the time when people don't want to prosecute," McCabe said. "Absent the gun going off, he might not have been prosecuted at all."

Prior said his client received no favoritism and denied Walker committed a felony. But he said Walker's stellar life should not have been discarded when prosecutors decided what charges to file.

"You just don't dismiss that," Prior said.

- - -

Ivy Cobb, 47, a clerk for Pinellas County, wants publicity for her son's case. She wants everyone to know how the courts work.

Her son's attorney, Trevena, declined comment about Walker, saying he considers him a friend.

A trial for Josh Cobb, who has no adult criminal record, is set for October.

Insiders, Ivy Cobb said, get the benefit of the doubt, while poor, young, black defendants don't.

One man says he didn't point a gun at someone, and prosecutors believe him, she said. Another says the same, and he fights for his life.

Ivy Cobb said, "It doesn't seem like America."

Lowell work camp will open in November

Article published Jun 18, 2007

BY MABEL PEREZ
STAR-BANNER

LOWELL - The women's state prison in Lowell will soon have a new and improved work camp.

The work camp at Lowell Correctional will house 400 female inmates, employ about 70 staff members and open in November.

Outside the prison, bulldozers, dirt trucks and new fencing give clues to the construction.

Gretl Plessinger, public information officer for the Department of Corrections, said the camp will be more "self-supportive" than the previous one there.

The project cost estimates are $10 million and were budgeted from the prison's 2005-2006 fiscal year funds. Department of Corrections officials hope to have two dorms online by November. The first two dorms will house 144 inmates.

According to an e-mail from the DOC, work camp inmates will perform tasks such as picking up trash along roadways, mowing lawns and working with the Department of Transportation on road maintenance projects.

Officials have not chosen which inmates will go to the work camp. However, only minimum- to medium-risk inmates from Lowell Correctional are eligible.

Mabel Perez may be reached at 867-4106 or mabel.perez@starbanner.com.

Officers stop inmate's suicide attempt

Article published Jun 18, 2007

Man tried to kill himself by shoving ink pen into his eye with a Bible.

BY MILLARD K. IVES
STAR-BANNER

OCALA - A Marion County Jail inmate tried to commit suicide Saturday evening by hammering an ink pen in to his left eye with a Bible.

Corrections officers shocked Lester Williams, 28, with a Taser stun gun, in an attempt to prevent him from further harming himself, allowing them to subdue the inmate.

Marion County Sheriff's officials said Williams' eye was not seriously injured. After being treated at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Williams was brought back to the jail, strapped down and placed on suicide watch.

Williams, of Riverview, has been in the jail since Dec. 5, 2003 on a number of charges, including sexual battery, false imprisonment, battery on an inmate, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

Jail officials said Williams has spent some of his time behind bars at the Seminole County Jail . Williams also has outstanding cases in both Seminole and Alachua counties.

Sheriff's Capt. Fred Cyprian said it was not clear why Williams attempted suicide. Cyprian speculated that Williams had a court hearing canceled last week and could have been upset over that.

A Sheriff's Office incident report states a corrections officer, Jason Williams, was conducting a security check in the Alpha pod of the jail's E-section at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday when he saw Lester Williams sitting on his cell bunk.

The officer called out the inmate's name but got no response.

The report adds the officer noticed Williams holding an ink pen in his right hand and a Bible in his left hand. Williams then shouted: "I told you that I would stick a pen through my eye into my brain," the report stated.

Before the officer could reach Williams, it appeared the inmate had driven the pen into his left eye with the Bible. Cyprian said officials later learned the pen hit more towards the top of the bridge of the nose than the eye itself.

The officer shot Williams with a Taser stun gun in the torso. The shock caused Williams to hit the floor. But during the incident, the inmate was still able to hit the pen one more time before officers could restrain him.

Last Thursday, inmate Vito Joseph Loiacono, 46, died after he apparently hanged himself from his bunk bed with his pants. Sheriff's officials said there were no signs that the death was anything other than a suicide.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the case.

Millard K. Ives may be reached at millard.ives@starbanner.com or (352) 387-2488.

Turnpike killings case delayed

Trial date pushed back to February

By Megan V. Winslow
Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

June 16, 2007

West Palm Beach · Within two weeks the U.S. Attorney's Office will decide whether to recommend pursuing the death penalty against Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

The two men are charged in the shooting deaths of Greenacres residents Jose and Yessica Escobedo and their two young sons, whose bodies were found on the side of Florida's Turnpike in Port St. Lucie on Oct. 13.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez should make the final decision by Labor Day, said Steve Carlton, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case.

Carlton and attorneys for the two men and four others who were indicted by a grand jury in connection with a related drug investigation met Friday morning before U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley. During the meeting, to discuss the status of the federal case, the attorneys agreed with Hurley's decision to move the tentative trial date for all six defendants from October to February.

The delay is necessary so the law is "meticulously followed" to protect the "due process rights of all parties" charged, Hurley said.

Hurley asked the appointed attorneys to establish a budget for defending the suspects with added projected costs if the death penalty is sought for Sanchez and Troya. Some of that money would pay for mitigation experts so defense attorneys could investigate Sanchez and Troya's backgrounds and argue against the death penalty.

In April, Sanchez and Troya were indicted and pleaded not guilty to drug charges, armed carjacking resulting in death and using a firearm in a crime of violence resulting in death.

According to St. Lucie County sheriff's reports, Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, and his fugitive brother ran one of the largest cocaine rings in the eastern United States. Sanchez, Troya and the other indicted suspects -- Danny Varela, Juan C. Gutierrez, Liana Lee Lopez and West Palm Beach resident Kevin Vetere -- allegedly worked with or for him.

About 2:15 a.m. Oct. 13, Sanchez and Troya allegedly had Escobedo stop his black Jeep Cherokee on the side of the turnpike in Port St. Lucie. Escobedo and his 25-year-old wife and sons Luis Damien, 4, and Luis Julian, 3, were shot 20 to 50 times before Troya, in a burgundy van, and Sanchez, in the Jeep, sped off, authorities said.

The Jeep was found three days later, abandoned in West Palm Beach. Drug ledgers in the Escobedo family's home and cell phone records eventually led detectives to the suspects, according to reports.

If convicted, Varela, Gutierrez, Lopez and Vetere all face up to life in prison. None of the defendants appeared in court Friday, but all were represented by lawyers.

Although an additional attorney specializing in death penalty cases has yet to be secured for Sanchez, West Palm Beach attorney James L. Eisenberg made an appearance as Troya's newly appointed death penalty counsel.

"With this administration, the odds are this is a death penalty case," he said after the hearing.

Unless an additional hearing is requested, the attorneys and Hurley will not meet again in court until October.

Megan Winslow can be reached at megan.winslow@scripps.com.

Case costs county $2.7 million

By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 16, 2007

The Broward Sheriff's Office has paid $2.7 million in settlements and legal costs for a case in which three men were jailed for 16 months and two of them faced the death penalty for a murder they didn't commit, according to documents obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The long-standing false confession case had dragged on since 1993 and included two mistrials and testimony from a detective who said he put in a sock drawer at his home evidence that could have exonerated the accused killers.

It cost the agency more money to litigate the case than to pay the plaintiffs.

The Sheriff's Office arrested Carl Stephen Rosati, Peter Roussonicolos and Peter Dallas four years after the 1986 Deerfield Beach slaying of Joseph Viscido Jr. He died from a gunshot wound to the head in what detectives said was a cocaine deal gone bad.

The case rested on Dallas' false confession, which he has said was made amid pressure from detectives. He was the first to settle with the Sheriff's Office in October 2003, for $225,000.

Rosati settled for $1 million last September, and in April, Roussonicolos settled for $89,000. A judge had ruled that the amounts would remain confidential until the third and final settlement was worked out.

In addition, the Sheriff's office paid $1,411,427 in legal fees.

"It doesn't matter what amount of money they give you, you can't pick up the pieces," said Rosati, 47. "The anguish of being in there for a year and a half with the possibility of being electrocuted, it never, never leaves you. I have nightmares, I feel reclusive, and I'm mentally damaged forever."

The Sheriff's Office would have saved tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars had it settled the case sooner, said Roussonicolos' attorney Doug Bates.

The settlements and legal costs will be paid out of one of three sources: the county's self-insurance fund, the Sheriff's Office insurance or the Sheriff's Office general fund, said Elliot Cohen, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

All three men spent 16 months in jail awaiting trial, with the threat of the death penalty looming over Roussonicolos and Rosati. Dallas pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and had been set to testify against the other two men.

The trio won freedom in 1992 after a special prosecutor cleared them of the murder and arrested two other men -- James Traina and Kerry Carbonell.

Traina was convicted and is serving life in prison; Carbonell committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

Rosati, Roussonicolos and Dallas filed a civil lawsuit in 1993against the Sheriff's Office and former homicide detectives Steve Wiley, Dominick Gucciardo and Sgt. Thomas "Bill" Murray. Wiley and Gucciardo have since retired, and Murray is stationed in Deerfield Beach.

The case went before jurors and ended in mistrial twice.

At trial, Murray admitted taking home a crucial audiotape that could have led to the real killers. He insisted that he had forgotten about the tape in his sock drawer.

Roussonicolos' settlement package totaled $100,000, said his attorney. In addition to the $89,000 the Sheriff's Office forgave an $11,000 debt Roussonicolos owed for time spent in jail on other charges, Bates said.

State law allows the Sheriff's Office to sue inmates for time they spend in jail, Bates said.

Roussonicolos is back behind bars for violating probation on a racketeering charge.

Bates said his client was satisfied with the settlement despite the many years it took to get it.

"Litigation has a way of wearing people down," Bates said. "He feels justice has been served although justice has been delayed."

Cohen, of the Sheriff's Office, could not specify why the agency opted to settle after so many years.

"This started long before the current administration," he said. "Sometimes it just takes that long to work it all out."

Tonya Alanez can be reached at tealanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4542.

Jury spares Wilk from death sentence, says police mishandled raid where deputy died

Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta

By Robert Nolin
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 14, 2007

One mother doubled over in a courtroom pew and sobbed. Across the aisle, another mother heaved a sigh of relief.

A federal jury, the majority of whose members were against the death penalty, on Wednesday unanimously rejected that ultimate sentence for Kenneth Wilk, the man they had a week earlier convicted of killing Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta.

The verdict left Fatta's mother, Josephine, red-faced and in tears.

"My son is buried in a crypt and he gets life," she cried out in a courtroom at the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

"He'll never get out of jail," prosecutor John Kastrenakes assured her.

Wilk, 45, suffers from AIDS. Even his father expects him to die in prison. But Sheriff Ken Jenne, who attended the verdict along with about a dozen deputies, said the state still may prosecute Wilk. The State Attorney's Office acknowledged that possibility but said Fatta's family has not requested it.

Wilk was convicted of shooting Fatta, 33, as the deputy served a child pornography warrant at Wilk's northeast Fort Lauderdale home on Aug. 19, 2004. Prosecutors said Wilk was seeking revenge against police because his boyfriend, Kelly Ray Jones, had been arrested on charges of possessing child porn and attempting to have sex with a minor.

This was the third time federal prosecutors in South Florida have sought the death penalty, each time without success. Defense attorney Bill Matthewman said they never should have done so, and he blamed U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for approving the move. Wilk was charged in federal court because Fatta was serving a federal warrant on behalf of a federal agency.

"It shows such a lack of common sense and discretion to waste federal money and federal resources to pursue the death penalty against a man who has full-blown AIDS," Matthewman said.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated more than six hours over two days before the verdict, which under federal rules had to be unanimous for a death sentence.

Juror Serge Augustin, 25, Coral Springs, said 10 jurors were strongly opposed to execution. "A lot of people came in with their own personal beliefs," he said. "It started a lot of arguments, the death penalty."

The jury, which at one point was deadlocked, almost convicted Wilk of second-degree murder, Augustin added. More debate swayed the holdouts.

In their verdict Wednesday, jurors were to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors in Wilk's crime. Ten jurors listed a mitigating factor on the verdict form: Police were in part responsible because of the inept way they tried to arrest Wilk.

Wilk's attorneys argued deputies botched the raid by not properly announcing themselves or having sufficient backup in light of Wilk's previous threats against law enforcement. Fatta's family is pursuing a wrongful death suit against the Sheriff's Office for mistakes they allege were made in the raid.

Wilk showed no emotion as the verdict was read, except to turn and nod at his parents, Walt and Joan Wilk.

In court, Jenne said Wilk deserved death, but acknowledged that "under federal rules and procedures, it's very difficult to get a death penalty."

Experts said federal court rules offer advantages to defense attorneys in death cases.

"As a general matter, resources provided to you are better in federal court than in state court," Andrea Lyon, director of DePaul University's Center for Justice in Capital Cases, said from her Chicago office. Extra resources could be money for special investigators, experts or testing, Lyon added. Also, jury instructions are easier to understand in federal death cases, she said.

"Legally, we know that Kenneth Wilk can be prosecuted in state court," Ron Ishoy, spokesman for the Broward State Attorney's Office, said in a statement. "If we're asked to review this case by Deputy Fatta's family or law enforcement, we certainly will meet with them and discuss that option."

Lyon said the jury has already "acquitted" Wilk of a death sentence and to seek that penalty against him again would violate the constitutional prohibition of double jeopardy, or, trying a person twice for the same crime.

But given that Wilk has AIDS, a life sentence is tantamount to death in prison.

"I have no joy," his father said after the verdict. "He's gone."

Wilk had normal life, family testifies

BY WANDA J. DeMARZO

Kenneth Wilk -- convicted last week in the slaying of a Broward sheriff's deputy -- grew up in a typical middle-class family who loved and cared about him, Wilk's father, Walter, testified Tuesday.

He was kind and generous and often performed random acts of kindness, testified his sister, Karen Marie.

Yet he was cold-blooded enough to take the life of a young sheriff's deputy who dedicated his life to protecting others' lives, prosecutor John Kastrenakes told the jury.

Late Tuesday afternoon, 12 jurors began deliberating whether Wilk should be executed for gunning down BSO Deputy Todd Fatta, who was ambushed by Wilk as Fatta and other law enforcement officers served a search warrant on Wilk's Fort Lauderdale home three years ago.

The jury's decision must be unanimous, and no one has been sentenced to death in Florida in a federal capital case.

It was standing room only in U.S. District Judge James Cohn's courtroom as spectators, many of them attorneys, heard arguments in the rare federal death penalty case, handled by two flamboyant lawyers who are considered at the top of their game.

Prosecutor John Kastrenakes tried to show that Wilk, 45, planned to kill Fatta, contending that Wilk had held a grudge against law enforcement officers long before he shot Fatta in the chest with a high-powered rifle on Aug. 19, 2004.

Kastrenakes read from a letter Wilk wrote in 2001: ``I get so angry I was to kill every cop I see.''

''This was premeditated murder,'' Kastrenakes said. ``He took the life of a person who dedicated his life protecting the community and that deserves the ultimate punishment.''

Kastrenakes reminded the jury that after shooting Fatta, Wilk walked out of his home with a smile on his face.

''You saw him testify,'' Kastrenakes said. ``There's nothing wrong with him except that he's evil.''

But defense attorney Bill Matthewman, who said his client was suffering from AIDS-related dementia, appealed to the jury to spare Wilk's life.

''If one of you says no, [that] there's been enough death, enough killing, Wilk will spend the rest of his life in prison. Life in prison permits redemption,'' Matthewman said.

He added that sentencing Wilk to life in prison is essentially like a death sentence, since Wilk will not be eligible for parole.

''In federal court, life in prison means life in prison,'' Matthewman said. ``He will walk into a federal prison and come out in a casket.''

Matthewman reminded the panel about the gravity of their task.

''Each one of you has the power to say no,'' Matthewman said.

Wilk's family, who appeared in court for the first time since the case began two months ago, described Wilk as having a normal upbringing.

But his father spoke softly as he told the jurors about learning his son was gay.
''I found out he had HIV and that he was gay on the same day,'' said Walter Wilk, who lives in Houston. ``I thought he was going to die.''

Before the lawyers spoke to the jury, Cohn read 29 pages of instructions.

Kastrenakes and Matthewman often referred to those instructions, reminding jurors that they must follow the letter of the law and determine if the aggravating factors of the crime outweigh the mitigating factors.

In other words, if the acts committed by Wilk were so horrific that any kindness he performed, or any illness that he suffered, did not outweigh the crime he committed.

Deliberations continue today.

Court date set for Couey

By Dave Pieklik

A July 17 court date has been set to hear arguments about whether John Couey is mentally retarded, and, if not, to determine if he should be executed for killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford of Homosassa.

The hearings have been scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Citrus County Courthouse in Circuit Judge Ric Howard’s courtroom. The hearings follow the March 7 conviction in Miami of Couey, 48, on charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, sexual battery and burglary.

The same 12-person jury decided a week later Couey should be sentenced to death by lethal injection for raping and burying alive the Homosassa Elementary School third-grader in February 2005. The conviction came after the Feb. 12 start of the trial at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, which led to several weeks of trying to find jurors who wouldn’t have problems being sequestered for possibly several weeks, or who hadn’t heard extensive details about the case.

Couey, a convicted sex offender, was accused of breaking into a mobile home Feb. 24, 2005, that Jessica shared with her family. Witnesses said he took her to his home, raped her, held her captive for a short time and killed her out of fear of getting caught.

Coverage of the case gained international attention and sparked the passage of tougher laws against sexual predators and offenders in Florida and numerous other states.

Eventually, a jury in the case was picked and testimony and closing arguments took just four days to complete. The jury’s recommendation of death by lethal injection set the stage for Howard to make a final determination as to an appropriate sentence.

Howard must decide between a death or life prison sentence; he must first determine if Couey suffers from a mental illness which, by state law, would prevent him from being executed. Two psychologists have evaluated Couey to determine his mental state, and depositions of them are being arranged.

A central claim of Couey’s defense attorneys at trial was that he suffered from mental illness and was mildly retarded. Jurors heard testimony from lone defense witness Dr. Robert Berland, a Tampa psychologist, who said Couey also suffered from psychological disturbance caused by brain injury.

Jurors were not convinced and returned the guilty verdict four hours after starting deliberations. During the penalty phase, the jury had to consider similar evidence when deciding if mitigating factors — reasons Couey shouldn’t be executed — outweighed reasons why execution was justified.

The jury took a little more than an hour to decide Couey should be sentenced to death.

At July’s hearings, if Howard determines Couey is not suffering from mental illness, a so-called Spencer hearing would be conducted. That hearing allows Howard to hear similar evidence and arguments presented to jurors before he makes a ruling.

A sentencing is expected to take place shortly after the Spencer hearing, though not the same day. If Howard agrees a death sentence is appropriate, the Florida Supreme Court would review an automatic appeal of the case that state law mandates.

Huss case now second-degree murder

Yana Huss

STAFF REPORT

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- The charge of manslaughter against Scott Huss in the slaying of his wife has been upgraded to second-degree murder.

Assistant State Attorney Daniel Feinberg filed the change, claiming that Huss killed Yana Huss on April 25 by stabbing her with a knife or another sharp object.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Huss could face a life sentence but not the death penalty, according to Florida statutes.

2 face death in Daytona woman's murder

By KENYA WOODARD
Staff Writer

PALM COAST -- A Flagler County man and woman charged with murdering a Daytona Beach grandmother will face a fight for their own lives.

The state will seek the death penalty for Cornelius Baker, 20, of Bunnell and Patricia Roosa, 19, of Flagler Beach in the January murder of Elizabeth Uptagrafft, State Attorney John Tanner said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview, Tanner said he decided to pursue the death penalty for the pair after careful review of the grisly circumstances of the case.

"This is different from your drug-deal-gone-wrong or a fit of anger between two spouses," he said. "This appears to have been . . . carried out with cold and conscious deliberation."

Baker and Roosa face charges of first-degree murder after police said they forced their way into Uptagrafft's home and pistol-whipped the grandmother and her son before kidnapping her. Uptagrafft's head was also grazed by a gunshot.

Baker later shot her and left the 56-year-old's body at a pine tree farm in Bunnell, investigators said. Both Baker and Roosa pleaded not guilty to the charges in February.

A Flagler County Sheriff's Office report states that Baker told investigators that "if he was going to get in trouble that he was going all the way and that is why he murdered (Elizabeth Uptagrafft)."

Reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon, Matthew Phillips, Baker's attorney, said it was "disappointing" but not surprising that Tanner's office is seeking the death penalty for his client.

"I've been expecting it all along," he said. "I've been approaching (the case) from that angle."

Phillips said the state's pursuit of the death penalty has intensified Baker's defense preparation. About 70 witnesses, including officers from Daytona Beach, Volusia and Flagler county law enforcement agencies, need to be interviewed.

Phillips said he's diving into Baker's background -- including psychiatric records -- to develop a defense. Baker also will undergo testing to determine his intelligence, Phillips said.

Tanner said his office is ready now to go to trial. But Phillips said the work he has ahead of him means the case isn't likely to go to trial until January.
"We'll just have to see how everything falls into place," he said. "You're only guaranteed one trial, so we want to do everything we can to make sure we're fully prepared . . "

Thomas Mott, Roosa's attorney, was unavailable for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Tanner said he hopes the state's pursuit of the death penalty will deter others.
"As long as the state of Florida has the penalty and it's applied judiciously, it will save lives," he said.

Uptagrafft's family could not be reached for comment Tuesday, nor could Roosa's.

Baker's grandmother, Thelma Smith, 64, of Bunnell said she has Uptagrafft's family in her heart, which also still has room for her grandson.

"I love him, but I don't love what he did," Smith said. "There's nothing I can do about it, just keep on praying. It's out of my hands."

kenya.woodard@news-jrnl.com

Pregnant corrections officer shot to death in her Palatka home

the associated press

June 11, 2007

PALATKA · Authorities were investigating the fatal shooting of a pregnant corrections officer in her home, an official said Sunday.

Tyvon Nichole Whitford, 25, who was six months pregnant, was shot in her home in Hawthorne, near Gainesville, on Friday night. Her 5-year-old son was in another room during the shooting, said Maj. Keith Riddick of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

A man called authorities to report the shooting shortly after someone from the home called 911, Riddick said.

"We're not ruling anybody out, but we are not naming anyone as a suspect," Riddick said. "We have talked to a person of interest." He declined to give any additional details of the investigation.

Deputies found Whitford in the house with a gunshot wound to her upper torso, Riddick said. She was taken to Shands at the University of Florida, where she died, he said.

She had been a corrections officer at the Gainesville Correctional Institute since 2005, Riddick said

Man describes Boca-area strangling, gets 20 years in prison

By Nancy L. Othón
Sun-Sentinel.com

June 11, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT

WEST PALM BEACH -- In front of his victim's family seated in a Palm Beach County courtroom Monday morning, a New Jersey man calmly recounted how he strangled Linda Fishman more than four years ago at her home west of Boca Raton.

As part of his plea agreement, Fred Kretzmer, 32, had to answer questions from a prosecutor about how and why he murdered Fishman. Kretzmer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree arson and will spend 20 years in prison.

Kretzmer said he befriended Fishman at the Marriott in Palm Beach Gardens where he was working in 1999.

In February 2003, he took a taxi to her home on Flower Drive and waited for Fishman to come home, Kretzmer said. He then snuck into her garage and entered her home, he testified.

Kretzmer testified he had gone to Fishman's home to "rekindle an old friendship," but that when Fishman failed to recognize him and began to panic that a strange man was in her home, Kretzmer was "caught very emotionally."

"I went at her and I took her from behind and I strangled her," Kretzmer said.

Kretzmer used a brown cord to strangle Fishman, then poured alcohol on her hands and neck to try to clean up the scene, he said.

At one point in the hearing, Kretzmer turned around to apologize to Fishman's family.

Fishman's sister Bernice Ferency called the apology "weak."

Family members said they agreed to the deal to ensure a conviction and prison time for Kretzmer.

Lake Worth deli owner gets 15 years in wife's murder-for-hire plot

By Missy Diaz
Sun-Sentinel.com

June 11, 2007, 4:23 PM EDT

WEST PALM BEACH -- A Wellington drug runner who tried hiring a hitman to kill his wife to avoid a $2.5 million divorce settlement will spend 15 years in prison for his crimes.

Glenn Sandler, 54, who owns the popular Gourmet Deli House west of Lake Worth, pleaded guilty Monday to cocaine trafficking and solicitation to commit murder.

As part of his plea agreement, Sandler was ordered by Circuit Judge Edward Garrison to pay a $250,000 fine and to forfeit his four-seater Mooney M20J airplane and a motorcycle. In exchange for the plea, Prosecutor Caroline Shepherd dismissed a third count, attempted first-degree murder. He will receive credit for 580 days he has already spent in jail. In September, Sandler's attorney, Richard Lubin, filed a motion to rely on an insanity defense at trial. As a result of a psychotic disorder, Sandler didn't know what he was doing or comprehend the consequences of his actions when he offered an undercover deputy $25,000 to kill Betty Sandler in October 2005, according to Lubin's motion.

In the midst of a contentious divorce, Sandler met with what he thought was an assassin to eliminate his wife. He told the undercover that he had previously tried to hire someone else for the job but that the man ran off with the money.

Sandler gave the purported hitman Betty Sandler's description and address as well as information about her daily routine. Betty Sandler was notified of her husband's plan.

At the same meeting, Glenn Sandler, according to police, bragged about flying drugs from Colombia to Miami. The deputy asked him to fly 11 pounds of cocaine from Lantana to Sebring, which Sandler did. The following day, the deputy brought Sandler keys and a cell phone belonging to Betty Sandler as proof the killing had taken place. Sandler was arrested in the Home Depot parking lot in Greenacres.

Lubin said Monday that his client pleaded guilty because he is guilty, and that while mental health experts concurred about Sandler's mental state at the time, waging an insanity defense is a risky proposition.

Betty Sandler attended Monday's hearing but declined to comment afterward. Citing safety concerns, she asked that Sandler not be placed in a South Florida prison, but the request was denied.

The judge agreed to delay sending Sandler to the Department of Corrections for 30 days because of his mother's poor health. He's had his own share of misfortunes since his incarceration, including the deaths of his father and his 22-year-old son, who died in a motorcycle accident in January 2006.

Missy Diaz can be reached at mdiaz@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5505.

Dad's death colors life of Wilk lawyer

Posted on Sat, Jun. 09, 2007

By DAN CHRISTENSEN

Criminal defense lawyer Bill Matthewman is an ex-cop defending a cop killer.

The irony isn't lost on the former Miami police sergeant, but at this point in his high-profile legal career, Matthewman says he no longer frets about what others think of his clients.

'When I represent police officers charged with killing or shooting civilians, defendants and lawyers say, `How can you represent those dirty cops?'

'' Matthewman said. 'When I represent civilians charged with killing police officers, police officers say, `How can you represent that scumbag?' ''

Matthewman is currently defending Kenneth Wilk, who was convicted Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale in the slaying of Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta. Matthewman and Miami co-counsel J. Rafael Rodriguez will return to court Tuesday to try to persuade a jury to spare Wilk from the death penalty.

Three other federal capital trials have been held in South Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Matthewman, a married father of four who lives in Parkland, has been involved in two of them.

Born and raised in Miami-Dade's Westchester neighborhood, Matthewman became a Miami patrolman in 1975 and rose to sergeant before quitting in 1981 to attend the University of Florida School of Law. He graduated with honors in 1983.

Matthewman, 53, was influenced to become a police officer, and later a defense lawyer, by the untimely death of his father who suffocated after falling inside an oil truck he was cleaning.

''I was 4 years old. I'd been waiting for him to come home and take me to the movies,'' Matthewman said. ``Losing my father so young, I've always felt the underdog needs to be protected.''

Matthewman was Chedrick Crummie's lawyer during the first federal death penalty trial in South Florida in 1996. A jury acquitted Crummie and two other members of two death-eligible murders that arose out of their membership in the ''Boulder Boys'' crack cocaine gang.

DEATH-PENALTY PRO

Matthewman, a name partner in the South Florida law firm Seiden, Alder, Matthewman and Bloch, has had 20 death-eligible cases in Puerto Rico.

In 2003, in the first death penalty case to go to trial there, client Hector Oscar Acosta Martinez was acquitted of the murder of a local businessman.

Last year, client Carlos Ayala-Lopez was convicted of killing a Veteran's Administration police officer, but the jury rejected the death penalty.

Matthewman has never been a prosecutor, and declined Thursday to discuss his personal views on the death penalty while Wilk's case is pending.

But Coconut Grove criminal defense attorney Bruce Fleisher, who met Matthewman in the 1970s when Fleisher was a local public defender and Matthewman was a cop, said Matthewman isn't a passionate opponent of the death penalty.

`DAMN GOOD LAWYER'

''A lot of defense lawyers are true believers. He's not a true believer. He's just a damn good lawyer doing the best for his client,'' said Fleisher, who represented Luis Gonzalez Lauzan Jr. in 2004 when a Miami federal jury refused to sentence him to death for orchestrating the murder of a government informant.

Matthewman's defense work has put him front and center in some of South Florida's most notorious criminal cases involving police officers.

In 1994, Matthewman helped win the acquittal of Miami Officer Armando Aguilar who was accused of fabricating evidence to help out fellow officers implicated in the 1988 beating death of neighborhood drug dealer Leonard Mercado.

In 2002 and again in 2004, Matthewman successfully defended Miami Officer Alejandro Macias in two criminal cases that arose out of a massive gun-planting conspiracy.

Seven other city officers were convicted.

Matthewman is now focused on sparing Wilk -- a client he was appointed by the court to represent -- a lethal injection.

Wilk told jurors he killed Fatta, but claimed he was suffering from AIDS-related dementia when Fatta and other members of a multiagency task force came to his Fort Lauderdale home to serve warrants on Aug. 19, 2003.

The jury found Wilk, 45, guilty of murder, possession of child pornography, obstruction of justice and the attempted murder of another deputy.

Justices weigh Dollar General evidence

By JIM SAUNDERS

Tallahassee Bureau Chief

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Supreme Court justices Thursday began considering whether Roy Lee McDuffie should stay on death row for the 2002 slayings of two co-workers in a Dollar General Store in Deltona.

During an appeal hearing in the high-profile case, justices focused heavily on issues related to McDuffie's alleged motive -- financial problems that drove him to rob the store and kill clerks Janice Schneider, 39, and Dawniell Beauregard, 27.

At the same time, justices delved into a lack of physical evidence in the case. A partial palm print from McDuffie was found on a piece of duct tape used to bind Beauregard, but other evidence, such as the gun used to shoot the women, was never found.

Justice Barbara Pariente indicated the lack of evidence made it important for the court to carefully scrutinize the case. Justices often take months to rule on death-penalty appeals.

"We've got a situation here where we really have to look carefully at any (potential legal) error," she said.

But Justice Raoul Cantero III said he thought there was direct evidence against McDuffie, including the palm print.

"This isn't just a circumstantial evidence case," Cantero said.

McDuffie, 44, was a manager trainee at the Dollar General Store on Deltona Boulevard and had been with Schneider and Beauregard in the hours before they were found shot to death Oct. 25, 2002.

A jury in 2005 convicted McDuffie of murder, and he was sentenced to death. He is now being held at Union Correctional Institution in North Florida, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Todd Scher, an attorney for McDuffie, argued during Thursday's hearing that Circuit Judge S. James Foxman made legal errors that should lead to a new trial.

Those arguments centered, in part, on witnesses related to McDuffie's financial problems. In one instance, Foxman prevented a friend of McDuffie, Anthony Wiggins, from testifying about loaning him money.

Scher said such testimony could have helped counter the allegation that McDuffie was motivated to rob the store.

"There's no other motive that the state was able to suggest other than this financial motive," Scher said.

But Assistant Attorney General Barbara Davis said Wiggins was not allowed to testify because defense attorneys had not given required notice that he would be a witness in the trial.

"The prosecutor was just taken aback," Davis said.

Scher also focused on the judge's decision to allow testimony about a threatening and profane voice mail that McDuffie left just days before the murders. That message was left for a man who had started an eviction lawsuit over a house McDuffie had rented.

Davis argued the testimony was relevant to the case because it showed McDuffie's "mental state."

But some justices questioned whether the testimony could have unfairly prejudiced the jury as it considered whether McDuffie was guilty in the Dollar General murders.
"The comments showed that he was a pretty bad actor as far as the language that he used and the threats that he made," Justice Harry Lee Anstead said.

jim.saunders@news-jrnl.com

Eatonville cop wounds teen at park

The juvenile waved a gun at officers, authorities say. He was shot in the leg.

April Hunt
Sentinel Staff Writer

June 8, 2007

An Eatonville police officer shot and wounded a teenager who pointed a gun at him during a chase near Catalina Park on Thursday, officials said.

Nigel Akins suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. He was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, released and then booked into the Juvenile Assessment Center, said Eatonville police Capt. Joseph Jenkins.

Officer Bryan Salters, who was put on administrative leave per standard procedure, fired just one shot, Jenkins said.

However, police received several 911 calls about shots being fired in the park just before the confrontation.

"We're trying to get to the bottom of what happened in the park prior to Officer Salters getting here," Jenkins said. "He was on routine patrol and saw suspicious activity but did not know about the other shots."

A group of young men ran off when Salters approached. He called for backup, and Detective Robert Jones pursued. Akins ran back toward Salters.

Jenkins said the teen pointed a handgun at the officer. That gun was recovered after the shooting, and tests are being done to see whether the gun had been fired.

Neighbors in the Catalina Park subdivision said the suspects ran off because police have threatened to arrest anyone hanging around on the street corners.

Jackie Singleton was asleep in her home on Katherine Place near the park when she heard several shots, and her daughter told her about the shooting.

"They tell them if they see them on the corner, they'll take them to jail," Singleton said. "I don't sell drugs or anything, but even I can't stand on the corner. I know they're trying to do their job, but they're overdoing it."

Salters had not fired his gun in the line of duty before. He has been with the department for about eight months, after a stint with another agency. Before that, he was an Eatonville officer for two years.

Police would not release a criminal history on Akins or give his exact age because he is a juvenile. Jenkins said police did have run-ins with the teen before.

Akins faces charges of felony assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm and resisting arrest with violence.

The incident has been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and investigators were on the scene Thursday.

Despite the shooting and hours of police activity, kids continued to play in the park.

"Kids are always playing there," said Gale Spencer, whose 9-year-old son and nephew were playing when the shots rang out.

"I don't know how they didn't get shot."

April Hunt can be reached at ahunt@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6269.

Ex-worker at OIA says he smuggled guns, drugs

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico moves to tighten lax airline rules on firearms.

Pedro Ruz Gutierrez and Jeannette Rivera-Lyles
Sentinel Staff Writers

June 8, 2007

An airline worker who used his badge to foil security checkpoints at Orlando International Airport pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges he smuggled drugs and guns to his native Puerto Rico.

As Zabdiel Santiago-Balaguer, 22, admitted his role in Orlando federal court, senators in the U.S. commonwealth passed a bill that would close the loophole in airline procedures that allows legitimate travelers to easily transport firearms to the island.

For years, gunrunners have been taking advantage of lax airline rules to import the weapons that have fueled the island's illegal-gun market. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms estimates that up to two-thirds of the guns come from Florida.

In March, Santiago-Balaguer was arrested and named the ringleader in a gun- and drug-smuggling operation after a fellow airline employee was arrested at San Juan's airport with 14 guns and 8 pounds of marijuana he had carried onto a Delta Air Lines flight.

The incident prompted Congress to mandate a full review of security procedures at the nation's airports and call for background checks of all employees with access to secure areas by the Transportation Security Administration. OIA has already begun to screen all workers.

The case also highlights the widespread problem of stolen guns that runs parallel to a growing crime wave in Central Florida. The Sentinel recently reported that several Orange County residents suspected in area gun-shop thefts sold firearms to Santiago-Balaguer and other co-defendants.

On Thursday, Santiago-Balaguer, shackled at the feet and wearing an Orange County Jail jumpsuit, told U.S. District Court Judge John Antoon II he was responsible for the contraband.

"I was smuggling guns and marijuana through the airport as an airline employee," Santiago-Balaguer said in federal court. The Kissimmee resident, who is being held without bail, is the first to work out a deal with the government. There are at least five other defendants who have been charged in the case.

Santiago-Balaguer is a former employee of Comair, a Delta subsidiary. He faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute at least 10 pounds of cocaine and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking crime.

According to a 20-page plea agreement he signed with the U.S. Attorney's Office on Monday, Santiago-Balaguer will cooperate with authorities and as a result may get a reduced prison term at his Sept. 5 sentencing.

FBI and Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation agents began tracking Santiago-Balaguer in January, the plea says. At Super Bowl XLI in Miami, the Kissimmee resident unknowingly introduced his source of cocaine on the island to an undercover agent.

During the game, according to court records, Santiago-Balaguer "discussed shipping guns and marijuana to Puerto Rico and obtaining cocaine and heroin from Puerto Rico."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent Citro said Santiago-Balaguer acted as a translator and go-between when he set up a cocaine deal with the undercover agent in Miami. Assistant Federal Public Defender Stephen Langs would not comment Thursday.

The bill in the Puerto Rico Legislature, sponsored by Sen. Lucy Arce, will require airlines and cruise ships to ensure that people entering Puerto Rico with guns have a valid license. If they don't, the bill mandates that the airline or cruise line hold and turn over the weapons to police.

If a resident of Puerto Rico, the gun owner could apply for a license to legally possess the gun on the island. If the gun owner is a tourist, he or she would have to relinquish the weapons and get them back when ready to leave the island. A companion bill to the one passed Thursday could be taken up in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives as early as next week. The sponsor, Rep. Jorge Colberg Toro, predicted it would pass without opposition. "It will be the law of the land in 30 days or less," Colberg Toro said.

Currently, no federal government agency regulates the transport of guns by passengers on domestic flights. Instead, airlines regulate themselves.

American Airlines allows up to five guns, three rifle-type weapons and 11 pounds of ammunition per passenger. The weapons must be unloaded, secured in locked boxes and packed in checked luggage.

But in order to legally carry weapons in Puerto Rico, a state-issued license is required. Thus, passengers who bring guns in from other destinations are breaking the law unless they secure a Puerto Rico license.

The airlines, Arce and Colberg Toro said, have not opposed the measure so far.

"I don't know what's there for them to oppose," Colberg Toro said. "It is unconceivable to let things go the way they have. We have investigated, and the findings show that this loophole in the law is fueling the illegal-weapons market."

Family: No mercy for Broward deputy's killer

BY WANDA J. DeMARZO

Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta, slain in the line of duty three years ago, was a loving son, uncle and brother, his sister, Linda Kirtley told federal jurors Thursday.

''I miss him every day, every day,'' Kirtley said on the first day of testimony in the death-penalty phase of the trial.

Kenneth Wilk, 45, convicted Tuesday of Fatta's murder, faces a possible sentence of death by lethal injection for the Aug. 19, 2004 ambush-slaying of Fatta. Because it is a federal case, the 12 jurors must reach a unanimous decision.

While there have been hundreds of capital cases successfully prosecuted by the state, there never has been a successful federal capital murder case in South Florida.

Fatta's father, however, said he would like his son's killer to be the first so that his son will never be forgotten.

''My son will always be remembered,'' Joe Fatta Sr. explained outside the courtroom Thursday. ``He'll be a part of history.''

It's not clear how long the penalty phase will last. At one point during trial deliberations, the jury indicated to the judge that it was deadlocked -- a sign that not all of them were able to reach a consensus on all counts.

TUESDAY VERDICT
They continued to deliberate, however, and finally reached a decision late Tuesday afternoon. But legal experts say the jury's earlier indecision could be a sign that one or more of them have doubts.

Death-penalty opponents say that, while they sympathize with Fatta's family, executing Wilk will not undo what he did.

''Some crimes are so horrible that there is no earthly punishment that fits the crime. A decision to kill caused this terrible tragedy. Another decision to kill cannot repair the damage done,'' said Mark Elliott, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Fatta, 33, was part of a multiagency federal task force that raided Wilk's upscale Fort Lauderdale home to serve a search warrant for child pornography.

Wilk, who suffers from AIDS, changed after 2001, testified James Sipowicz, of Austin, Texas, a friend of Wilk's for 27 years.

''He wasn't the same person I had known,'' Sipowicz said. ``He was quite different, the carefree attitude he had, the good nature, the joviality he had, it was all gone.''

Another friend, Richard Murphy, however, testified that Wilk was a giving person who gave a grocery gift certificate to a needy friend and, when the man had nowhere to live, offered him a place to stay in his Fort Lauderdale home.

Murphy also testified how Wilk saved the life of a woman in a Miami Subs in Hollywood in late 2003.

''She was choking, drooling, and he was the person that immediately went to her and he did the Heimlich maneuver,'' Murphy said.

Also on Thursday, the jury heard testimony from Fatta's sister and brother, Joe Fatta Jr., who described their brother's childhood as a computer screen flashed photographs for the jury: a smiling Fatta swimming with dolphins, a proud Fatta standing next to his BSO patrol unit with his parents outside his Pompano Beach home.

''I can talk forever about the positive choices my brother made all his life and how he never chose to work the dark side of life,'' said Fatta Jr.

``His loss was a tragic loss for me and for my family and the community. He dedicated his life to the community.''

The burly firefighter broke down on the stand and was unable to continue speaking.
After hearing more testimony Thursday afternoon, the jury was excused until Tuesday, but not before being cautioned by U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who on Wednesday dismissed an alternate juror for posting comments about the case on a newspaper Internet site.

NO BLOGGING
''Do not discuss this case on the Internet,'' Cohn told the jury. ``Don't blog on any Internet sites. Don't even go on the Internet.''

The juror, who sat in on all of the testimony and deemed herself an expert, didn't like what readers were saying about the case. So she chimed in, admonishing others that only the police and Wilk know what actually happened in Wilk's home the day of the murder.

The juror was an alternate, meaning she wasn't one of the 12 who convicted Wilk on all counts Tuesday. But she was to come back Thursday for the penalty phase.

Judge grants convict's death request

By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH

Victor Caraballo got Thursday what he has been asking for -- a death sentence. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas sent Caraballo to Florida's Death Row for the murder of Ana Maria Angel, an 18-year-old kidnapped with her boyfriend in 2002.

Caraballo, 39, is mentally ill and wants to die, his attorney said. ''He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison,'' attorney Joel Denaro said after the sentencing hearing. ``He wanted the death penalty.''

Caraballo was the first of five men accused in the brutal attack to go to trial. He confessed that he, his brother and three friends kidnapped and robbed Angel and her boyfriend, Nelson Portobanco. The couple, high-school sweethearts, were snatched from a Miami Beach street corner after they had taken a midnight stroll on the beach.

Caraballo and the other four men drove the couple north on Interstate 95, taking turns raping Angel while Portobanco crouched on the floor of the truck.

The men stabbed Portobanco and left him for dead by the side of the highway in Broward County. Portobanco survived and was able to make his way to the road and flag down a motorist. Though he was critically injured, he immediately alerted authorities that Angel was in danger.

Police mounted a massive search, but they were too late. Angel was found by the roadside in Palm Beach County with a gunshot to the back of the head. Her hands were clasped in prayer.

Although Caraballo did not pull the trigger, he didn't try to stop his friend, Joel Lebron, from killing the woman, according to police.

A Miami-Dade jury found Caraballo guilty of kidnapping, robbery, rape, murder and attempted murder in April. The jury recommended by a vote of 9-3 that he be sentenced to death.

Judge Thomas noted that Caraballo and the others spent 2 ½ hours treating Angel in ``the most demeaning and torturous manner.''

After they left Portobanco for dead, Angel spent the next 15 minutes pleading for her life, convinced they were going to kill her, Thomas noted. ''She was crying, screaming and begging for her life,'' Thomas said.

Thomas also found that Caraballo was mentally ill, but ultimately it wasn't enough to spare his life. He also said he believed that Caraballo was abused and neglected as a child.

''However, even this type of abusive and deprived childhood cannot fully excuse or reasonably explain the death of Ana Maria Angel,'' Thomas said.

Angel's mother, Margarita Osorio, said she was satisfied with the sentence and vowed to attend the trials of the other four accused men.

''I have so many different emotions. . . . My daughter continues to be dead,'' she said. ``I will continue to represent her here.''

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle issued a statement hailing the sentence.

''Victor Caraballo and his confederates repeatedly brutalized Ana Maria Angel in unspeakable, inhumane ways and then made her beg for her life before executing her,'' Fernández Rundle said. ``If the death penalty was ever merited, this is the case.''

The case will be automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. The other four are expected to go to trial this year and next year.

Miami Herald staff writer Jack Dolan contributed to this report.

Jury to debate death sentence for killer of Broward deputy

By Paula McMahon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 6, 2007

The same jury that convicted Kenneth Wilk of first-degree murder on Tuesday will return Thursday to decide whether he should be executed.

On the fourth day of deliberations, the final 25 minutes took the family of slain Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta from a crushing low to overwhelming relief.

Jurors sent out three notes between 2:25 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. Tuesday. The first said they couldn't reach a unanimous decision. The second, written 10 minutes later, said: "Please hold off on our last note for a little while."

Then a third note: "We have a verdict."

Fatta's family cried and trembled as they waited for Lt. Angelo Cedeño, whose finger was shot off in the Aug. 19, 2004, shooting that killed Fatta, to rush to the courtroom for the verdict.

Wilk, 45, was convicted of seven federal crimes.

The three capital convictions include two counts of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the death of Fatta, 33. Prosecutors charged Wilk with a fourth capital crime, but jurors convicted him of a lesser count of attempted second-degree murder for shooting Cedeño. Wilk also was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and possession of child pornography.

"We're just glad there's justice done in phase one of the trial, and we're going to continue on to phase two," said Fatta's brother, Joe Jr. As he waited for the verdict, he pinned a button on his lapel -- a photo of his slain "baby brother."

"It was just something personal," the firefighter-paramedic said, tearing up. "I just wanted him with me when we heard the verdict."

In a navy pinstriped suit and white shirt, Wilk seemed calm and showed no reaction to the verdict. His appearance has changed since 2004. He is pale, has shorter hair and wears glasses. He has spent most of his time in solitary confinement at the federal detention center in Miami, partly for his own safety and because of the high-profile nature of the case, witnesses testified.

Wilk never denied he shot the deputies in his northeast Fort Lauderdale home. But jurors rejected Wilk's claims that he acted in self-defense because he thought the deputies, who were serving a federal warrant for child pornography, were intruders. Jurors also rejected other defenses that he was temporarily insane due to AIDS-related dementia and unable to hear because of an ear infection.

Diagnosed with HIV in 1985, Wilk has AIDS, Hepatitis B and syphilis. His defense team is expected to argue he has a limited life expectancy and is likely to die before he could be executed.

A former car salesman who earned a six-figure salary, Wilk had never been in trouble before the age of 40.

Wilk wanted revenge on law enforcement after his boyfriend, Kelly Ray Jones, was arrested on charges of child pornography possession and attempting to have sex with a 12-year-old boy, federal prosecutors John Kastrenakes and Neil Karadbil argued. They presented e-mails, letters and recorded phone calls that showed Wilk suspected law enforcement would come to his home and that he planned to kill. Wilk placed loaded weapons around the house so he could grab a gun and ambush officers, the prosecution said. A shot from Wilk's hunting rifle penetrated Fatta's protective vest.

About one hour before the verdict, the eight female and four male jurors took a break in a courtyard. One woman juror cried, and some jurors seemed to try to comfort her.

The penalty phase is expected to end early next week. Both sides will offer more evidence about Wilk's life and actions.

If the jury votes for execution, Wilk would be the first person to get a federal death penalty sentence in Florida since U.S. laws were rewritten in the 1980s. Federal prosecutors face a greater challenge than their state peers because they have to get a 12-0 vote. Under state law, a 7-5 vote is sufficient to impose the death sentence.

Cedeño, 39, who was shot twice in the hand and shoulder and had a third bullet ricochet off his face, would not comment after the verdict.

Sheriff Ken Jenne and dozens of deputies, Fatta's friends and law enforcement officers who worked on the case, rushed to the courthouse for the verdict. Jenne said he was pleased with the outcome.

"What this resolves in the family's mind, in our minds, in the mind of Lt. Cedeño, is that the person who committed this crime knew he was attacking law enforcement," Jenne said.

The Fatta family was reluctant to talk about the case and what will come next, they said, because they do not want to jeopardize the penalty phase. But in an April interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, they had said they wanted the ultimate punishment.

"The evidence is overwhelming and he should get the death penalty, regardless of how long that takes before it happens," said Joe Fatta Sr. "I guess a death row inmate is kind of isolated from everyone else and that is punishment that will give him time to think about what he did and his ways."

Paula McMahon can be reached at pmcmahon@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4533.

Driver in crash that killed 2 gets 35 years

Steven Johnson admits guilt, begs forgiveness
Stephen Hudak
Sentinel Staff Writer

June 9, 2007

TAVARES -- Assailed as a remorseless liar who had steadfastly refused to accept responsibility for what he did, Steven M. Johnson stood up Friday and took the blame for a drunken-driving accident that killed two Orange County women.

"I ask for your forgiveness, please," he begged of Bethany Rivas' and Crystal Fischer's families. "I know what I did was wrong."

Johnson had testified in April that he wasn't the driver. But a jury convicted him of two counts of DUI-manslaughter, siding with prosecutors who used DNA evidence to put him at the wheel and phone records showing he made 13 calls to family and friends immediately after the crash near Groveland -- but none to 911.

Rivas' mother, Sharon, said she has forgiven Johnson for the fatal crash but spoke against leniency for the Orlando man with six previous convictions for driving without a license.

"We all make mistakes," she said. "The difference is that most of us want to learn from our mistakes and not make them again."

Prosecutors said Johnson was drunk and unlicensed March 6, 2005, when he crashed a friend's car, killing Rivas, 19, of Winter Garden and Fischer, 21, of Orlando.

Both were his passengers.

Circuit Judge T. Michael Johnson was unswayed by the sudden confession and sentenced Johnson, 30, to 35 years in prison.

Although state sentencing guidelines recommended that Johnson receive between 24 and 41 years in prison, he asked the judge to forgo incarceration. Johnson suggested that the judge sentence him to tell his "story" to youths, who might be dissuaded from driving while impaired.

The families were visibly outraged. Their mouths fell open.

Kevin Fischer, Crystal's father, interrupted the teary appeal, shouting, "You're a liar, Steven," as he left the courtroom.

The judge quickly rejected the suggestion, which he compared to giving "you a ham and sending you home."

The judge also said he was troubled by evidence showing Johnson never called 911 after the crash but placed 13 calls to his mother, his roommate and the Groveland man, who had been host of the party where Johnson spent the evening drinking.

Prosecutors had argued Johnson was hoping to find someone who could pick him up before police and paramedics arrived.

The car crashed into a utility pole on Empire Church Road.

Toxicology reports showed that Johnson and all of his passengers were impaired by alcohol, including the owner of the car, Justin Hunter, 21.

Hunter, Rivas' boyfriend, survived but was critically injured and has no memory of the accident.

The parents and siblings of the women took turns Friday describing their sorrow and loss.

Sharon Rivas said her daughter never hung up the phone without saying, "I love you."

Candy Fischer said she thinks of her daughter whenever she passes a PT Cruiser, the stylish station wagon that her daughter bought with money she earned by working two jobs.

Johnson's family and friends said they understood the pain as they urged the judge to impose a lenient sentence that would let the Orlando man continue to be a father to his son, a preschooler who fidgeted in the hard wooden pew of the courtroom.

But justice called for a long prison term, Kevin Fischer said.

"I was sentenced to life without my daughter," he told the judge.

Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.

Police: Worker molested patient

Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer

June 9, 2007

A Florida Hospital East health-care worker was arrested late Friday after a patient said he molested her while she was in her hospital bed, deputies said.

Javier Rodriguez, 34, a phlebotomist, was supposed to take blood from the woman about 9 a.m. Friday at the east Orange County hospital, said sheriff's Sgt. Richard Mankewich.

But instead, Mankewich said, Rodriguez molested her.

According to arrest records, Rodriguez asked the woman to change positions so he could take her blood. The patient, who is in her 30s, said she could not because a catheter was being used, and it hurt.

Rodriguez, who is not qualified to work with catheters, said he would check the device. But he made lewd comments about her body and sexually molested her, Mankewich said.

"The kinds of comments he made were extremely sexual and disturbing," Mankewich said.

The patient ordered Rodriguez out of her room and called law enforcement.

Late Friday deputies led Rodriguez, who was still wearing his maroon hospital scrubs, to a waiting vehicle to be taken to Orange County Jail. He made no comment.

Rodriguez faces one count of felony sexual battery and one count of misdemeanor battery. He has worked at Florida Hospital East for three years, he told investigators.

Because of the nature of the case, the victim's name was not released.

Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.

Convicted Dollar General killer to appeal death penalty

June 07, 2007

By PATRICIO G. BALONA
Staff Writer

DELAND -- An attorney representing the man convicted of murdering two clerks at a Dollar General Store in Deltona claims the judge who presided over the trial allowed several errors that caused jurors to find his client guilty and recommend the death sentence.

Miami appellate attorney Todd G. Scher is scheduled to argue today before the Florida Supreme Court that Roy Lee McDuffie's conviction in early 2005 should be overturned and he should be granted a new trial.

McDuffie, 44, is awaiting execution for the murders of Janice Schneider, 39 and Dawniell Beauregard, 27, on Oct. 25, 2002. The two store clerks were found shot to death with several stab wounds in a back office at the Dollar General Store on Deltona Boulevard.

McDuffie, a manager trainee at the store, was linked to the crime by a partial palm print found on duct tape binding Beauregard. That evidence, Scher wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court, was not sufficient to tie McDuffie to the crime scene.

Scher also wrote that the trial judge, Circuit Judge S. James Foxman, excluded a witness, Anthony Wiggins, who would have testified McDuffie didn't need the money that was stolen because he had loaned money to McDuffie.

Scher also said Foxman allowed a witness, Alex Matias, to identify McDuffie as the person he saw walking out of the store, even though he could not give police enough information to create a sketch and became certain of McDuffie's identity only after seeing him on television. Matias stood by his identification because he did not want to lose a $10,000 reward, Scher wrote.

In addition, Scher argued the judge improperly allowed the jury to consider the contention by prosecutors that the murders were cold, calculated and premeditated in recommending a death penalty, then ruled, in sentencing him to death, that the crime wasn't premeditated.

Scher plans to ask Supreme Court justices to toss out the court's decision to put McDuffie to death, and grant him a new trial.

Scher could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

"I am not worried," said Kelli Jo Lee, sister of murder victim Janice Schneider. "I felt the prosecutor proved his case and (McDuffie) can't bring in any new evidence he may have made up."

Lee said she will not attend the hearing because McDuffie will not be present. She only attends when McDuffie is present because she believes her resemblance to her sister makes McDuffie uncomfortable.

"I kind of like that I have that power over him," Lee said.

Sandi Copes, the state attorney general's press secretary, would not comment on the McDuffie oral arguments because it is set to go before the Supreme Court.

But in a brief by the attorney general's office responding to Scher's arguments, attorney Barbara Davis wrote that Wiggins was not listed by the defense as a witness; and the court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Matias' testimony.

Davis wrote that the jury was not bound to recommend a sentence based on the prosecutors' assertion the crime was premeditated.

Davis asked the Supreme Court to "affirm the convictions and sentences."

patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com

Gay Cop Killer May Get Death in Florida

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Boston Contributor
Thursday Jun 7, 2007

A gay man from Fort Lauderdale may be the first to receive the death penalty in Florida since the re-institution by Congress of capitol punishment in 1998.

According to a story posted Wednesday on 365Gay.com, Kenneth Wilk was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2004 shooting of Broward County Sheriff’s deputy Todd Fatta during a raid on Wilk’s home. A second deputy was also wounded during the raid, the object of which was to search for child pornography.

The wounding of the second deputy, Sgt. Angelo Cedeno, resulted in a conviction for attempted murder. Wilk was also found guilty on charges of possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Wilk’s defense attorney, Bill Matthewman, argued that Wilk was suffering from AIDS-related dementia at the time of the shootings, and Wilk testified that he had mistaken the deputies for intruders. However, prosecutor John Kastrenakes cited Wilk’s online profile, in which he counted "hunting cops" among his hobbies, as proof that Wilk targeted the men for being law enforcement officers. Kastrenakes argued that Wilk, anticipating a police search of his home for child pornography, supplied himself with firearms in advance.

Though Wilk has been convicted, the sentencing phase of the trial was not scheduled to begin until today.


Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.

Man found to be sexual predator

Article published Jun 6, 2007

By Stacy Jacobs
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

A Leon County jury has found that Alexander Murray is a sexually violent predator under the Jimmy Ryce Act Tuesday.

Enacted in 1999, the Jimmy Ryce Act requires sexual predators with a previous conviction and a mental abnormality to be committed for treatment for an indefinite period of time - for life, or until they are rehabilitated. Prosecutors need to show that the defendant is likely to commit further acts of violence due to the mental abnormality unless committed for treatment.

Assistant State Attorney Eddie Evans, the prosecutor for this case, estimated that fewer than 20 people had qualified to be prosecuted in this circuit under the Jimmy Ryce Act since it was enacted.

28-year-old Murray was convicted in 2002 of lewd or lascivious molestation. His victim was a 14-year-old girl. While out on bond for before trial, he attacked and attempted to molest a 12-year-old girl on her way home from school. He was diagnosed as a psychopath with a sexual disorder.

After he was released from prison, Murray violated his probation and while in jail, began contacting another 14-year-old girl by phone. Her mother discovered the relationship and reported him to police.

Judge Terry Lewis committed Murray to the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia.

Brevard killer wants a new trial

June 6, 2007

BY JIM ASH
FLORIDA TODAY CAPITAL BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- Convicted Brevard County murderer Crosley Green wants a new trial and the state wants his death sentence upheld.

Lawyers for both were before the Supreme Court Wednesday, arguing for and against a 2005 appellate ruling that upheld Green's guilty verdict but threw out his death sentence.

A Brevard County jury convicted Green, then 32, of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in the 1989 shooting death of 22-year-old Chip Flynn in a Central Florida orange grove.

Justices keyed mostly on whether Green's judge should have considered his juvenile conviction for a New York gas station robbery when he sentenced Green to death.

Assistant Attorney General Barbara Davis argued that Green's juvenile record was fair game.

"A juvenile conviction was admissible," Davis told the justices. "Crosley Green was 18 and he was convicted as an adult in an adult court."

The trial judge prominently cited Green's New York conviction when he agreed with the jury's 8-4 recommendation for the death penalty.

On Wednesday, justices wondered whether Green had a juvenile record at all.

According to court records, Green pleaded guilty when he was 18, but the court threw out his conviction, declared him a "youthful offender," sealed the record -- and sentenced him to a year in prison.

Green was eventually paroled to his native Florida.

"I have trouble understanding how you vacate the conviction and then end up incarcerating someone," said Justice Peggy Quince.

Green's attorney, Mark Gruber, said the New York judge went out of his way to tell Green about the favor he was granting.

"He told him right on the spot the significance of what he had done," Gruber said. "He said, 'you do not have a criminal record.'"

Davis countered that Florida should treat the juvenile conviction just as New York does. Judges there can take a youthful offender record into account, even though the records are sealed, she said.

"That's a gift. But if you have a second conviction, that can be used against you. It doesn't disappear," she told the justices.

Justice Barbara Pariente called the question "crucial," not only because the trial judge cited the conviction, but because the jury heard about it, too.

In his court briefs, Gruber cited witnesses who later recanted, including Green's sister, and a report about a juror who was allegedly seen making a slashing gesture to his throat, as among the reasons Green's conviction should be overturned.

Justices adjourned for the day after hearing the arguments and it is not clear when they will issue a ruling.

Faith-based programs for kids can work without legal controversies

Filed under Research, Florida, Religion, Law on Tuesday, June 5, 2007.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Faith-based correctional programs for troubled kids can survive and even thrive without legal challenges if they follow Florida’s lead in keeping participation voluntary and welcoming different religions, a new University of Florida study finds.

A pilot program in Florida believed to be the first in the nation for juvenile offenders has successfully avoided the separation of church and state controversies that have plagued some adult programs around the country and even shut down a prison fellowship in Iowa, said Jodi Lane, a UF criminologist who led the research.

“If other states can learn from Florida by anticipating the legal issues and addressing them before they start, they’re going to be in much better shape,” Lane said. “I would expect Florida to be a model for other states that want to set up their own juvenile faith-based programs.”

Unlike many other programs in the country that are exclusively Christian, Florida’s participants can select from other religions, Lane said. If a youth is Islamic, for example, the people running the program will find a volunteer from that faith to serve as a mentor, she said.

The other big constitutional issue — religious coercion — was not a concern here because the program was completely voluntary; interested juveniles and their parents signed a consent form agreeing to participate, she said.

As part of the Bush presidency’s focus on faith-based initiatives, Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice received $3.5 million in 2003 to create a pilot faith- and community-based initiative within juvenile correctional facilities. At the state’s request, Lane and UF criminology professor Lonn Lanza-Kaduce evaluated the program two years later in five residential facilities for incarcerated youth, three for boys and two for girls.

Their initial results were published in the April edition of the journal Evaluation Review titled “Before You Open the Doors: Ten Lessons from Florida’s Faith and Community-Based Delinquency Treatment Initiative.” Findings on whether the treatment helped prevent offenders from committing new crimes are expected this fall after the youths will have returned to the community for at least six months, Lane said.

But so far, anecdotal evidence shows the program to be a positive experience, Lane said. Participants say their morale has improved, and staff report inmates are better behaved, she said.

“We know these kids are getting a lot of attention, which is helping them,” she said. “When you talk with them, they definitely let you know they feel people care about them.”

Lane said she believes the passion the staff have for helping youth, which is driven by their faith, gives them the determination to make sure the participants have whatever they need, even if it means going out and shopping for it themselves. Many left lucrative jobs for a position with no benefits because they believed so strongly in what they were doing, she said.

“They gave up their personal lives to make sure things ran smoothly,” she said. “It was not your typical institutional setting where people tend to work their shift and go home. I think there is something about the faith-based community that gives them energy to work with kids, and kids need people with energy rather than those who go to work every day for a paycheck.”

Recruiting enough mentors for the youths was one struggle the staff faced, she said.

Florida’s program departed from those in many other states in that it sought mentors from a variety of religions, Lane said. Other programs in the country tended to be Christian, whereas participants in Florida were allowed to select from any religion or choose a secular mentor from a community organization if they preferred that to a faith-based mentor, she said.

“There were Jewish kids, who were given a Jewish mentor, Muslim kids, who were matched up with a Muslim mentor, and others who were more nontraditional,” she said.

The biggest concern was whether the youths would feel pressured to participate in the program and Florida’s program was designed to prevent this from happening, Lane said.

The youths are allowed not only the choice of whether to participate, but they also were given the alternative of having something else to do, she said.

“If there is a Bible study, the kid not only gets to choose whether or not to go, but is also given another equally enticing opportunity instead of just sitting in a cell and being penalized for not taking part in the religious activity,” she said.

Also to Florida’s advantage is that its constitution allows only community donations to be used to buy religious items, such as Bibles or the Quran, she said.

-30-Credits
Writer
Cathy Keen, ckeen@ufl.edu, 352-392-0186
Source
Jodi Lane, jlane@ufl.edu, 352-347-8579, 514-8275

Crash Course for Florida's Executioners

Mark Weisenmiller

TAMPA, Jun 5 (IPS) - Two newly-trained teams of executioners committed to the principle of "humane and dignified death" are ready to go into action as soon as Florida's new governor Charlie Crist starts signing death warrants for the state's 380 death row inmates -- but no one knows yet who will be the first to be executed after the lifting of a four-month moratorium.

This was confirmed to IPS by Gretl Plessinger, a public relations officer at the Florida Department of Corrections. On May 9, Florida officially ended its moratorium on executions declared in mid-December. On the same day, Crist approved an array of proposals to improve the way the state carries out its executions by lethal injection.

The moratorium was announced on Dec. 15, two days after a Florida executioner fumbled repeatedly as he tried to find the vein in the left arm of Angel Diaz, a convicted killer. The execution did eventually succeed, but took more than half an hour -- at least twice as long as usual.

Anti-death penalty activists all over the world protested amid suggestions that Diaz might have been conscious during some of the time and experienced excruciating pain. This would have been a violation of the U.S. constitution which bars cruel punishment.

The scale of the protest led outgoing governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, the man who had originally signed the Diaz death warrant, to declare a temporary moratorium on executions while a hastily-called 11-member commission investigated how to prevent a repetition.

Nine other U.S. states also introduced moratoriums on their executions by lethal injection. Florida is the first of these to lift its moratorium.

Each of Florida's two new execution teams consisted of 10 people, Plessinger told IPS. They had been trained in "numerous" places, including Terre Haute in Indiana.

Terre Haute is a high-security prison in the geographical centre of the U.S. Its death chamber, the only federal one in the country, was reopened after the Supreme Court reversed in 1967 its decision against the death penalty. It was there that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in June 2001.

Governor Crist, widely-known for supporting capital punishment, has approved all the 37 recommendations proposed by the commission of investigation.

The new rules require that a prison warden must be present to confirm that that a condemned inmate is unconscious before the death-producing drugs are injected, Plessinger said in a email response to questions submitted by IPS. This apparently addresses the concern that Diaz might have been aware that his executioner was struggling with his needles to complete the last part of his execution.

More lighting had been installed in the death chamber, Plessinger said.

She side-stepped the question of whether Florida would be now increasing the dosages of the drugs in its lethal injections.

But she confirmed that there would be no change in the make-up of the chemicals in the three-part lethal injection. The commission had been specifically asked to investigate whether the drugs used in Florida's executions should be replaced with something else. "The department explored not only the drugs used in Florida, but other states and by the federal government," Plessinger said. "The drugs utilised by the Florida department of corrections are consistent with the drugs used in other jurisdictions."

But Plessinger left open the possibility that changes in the prescription could be made later. "The department will continue to monitor developments in pharmacology," she said.

The three drugs used in the U.S. lethal injections include sodium pentothal, a general anaesthetic to make the inmate unconscious, pancuronium bromide to induce paralysis, and a final injection of potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Plessinger said she could not give the name of the next death row inmate to be executed. "The department of corrections does not determine who is executed. That decision is made by the governor's office," she said, adding: "At this time governor Crist has not signed any death warrants."

But one death row inmate apparently threatened with imminent execution is Ian Deco Lightbourne. In an effort to head this off, his lawyers have asked the courts to order the four reporters who witnessed the Diaz execution to produce their notes. The move was aimed at supporting their case that execution by lethal injection was unconstitutional and Lightbourne should be removed from death row.

The request for the notes has been rejected, IPS has learned. But Susan Bunch, a lawyer representing one of the journalists, told IPS in a telephone interview that she did not think this was the end of the battle for Lightbourne's lawyers. "I didn't get the impression they were going to give up on this," she said.

Predictably, the adoption of the Florida commission report on lethal injections and the lifting of the moratorium on executions was criticised by U.S. death penalty abolition groups.

"What they basically did was to take testimony, which was a step in the right direction," David Elliott, spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said. But he questioned how any study could be helpful when no state offered an example of good practice in the administration of lethal injections. He also questioned the thoroughness of the commission's work.

Howard Simon, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the lifting of the moratorium was "out of step with public opinion". The commission should have studied why Florida had "so many" botched executions, he said. It should have also looked at the alternatives to capital punishment.

But the decision to lift the moratorium was welcomed by the Texas-based Justice for All, a pro-death penalty group with over 2,000 members in different states. Execution by lethal injection was the "most humane" means of execution, Diane Clements, its spokeswoman said.

Besides the 37 U.S. states which rely mainly on lethal injections, China, Guatemala and Thailand also use this method of execution. (FIN/2007)