By Jennifer Portman
Democrat senior writer
updated 9:52 a.m.
The capital-murder trial of one of two defendants charged in the 2002 killing of confidential informant Constance Dupont has been postponed.
The trial is expected to start sometime later this year or in January, according to various court officials.
A Leon County court spokesman earlier today said the trial was beginning this morning. It's been delayed, however, because one of the attorneys involved is ill.
morning update
One of two men charged in the 2002 shooting death of a Gadsden County woman is set to go on trial today in Quincy.
Hernandez Lopaz Daniels, currently serving a life sentence on federal drug-dealing charges, faces the death penalty in the killing of Constance Dupont. Investigators say Daniels hired another man, Fernando Taylor, to kill Dupont, who had been working as a confidential informant for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
On Aug. 3, 2002, the 39-year-old grandmother heard a knock on a window at her Havana apartment. When she peeked through the blinds, bullets shot through the glass and into her chest.
Taylor, who is in state prison for armed robbery, also faces the death penalty. He is being tried separately. A date hasn't been set.
Jury selection happened earlier this month in Daniels' trial. Leon Circuit Judge Thomas Bateman is presiding.
Check back with Tallahassee.com for more on this story.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Retrial in Dollar General murders begins in St. Augustine
By PATRICIO G. BALONA
Staff writer
ST. AUGUSTINE -- Six Octobers ago, a 14-year-old boy waited for his mother to pick him up at a football game in Deltona but she never showed up, a prosecutor said Thursday.
"Janice Schneider never arrived. She was dead inside a Deltona Dollar General Store," Assistant State Attorney Colleen Taylor said during her opening statements in the retrial of Roy Lee McDuffie.
Schneider, 39, and Dawnielle Beauregard, 27, both of Deltona, were found dead at 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2002, in the manager's office of the discount store at 1200 Deltona Blvd., Taylor said. Beauregard's throat had been slit and she was shot in the back of the head. Schneider also had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and stab wounds, Taylor said.
McDuffie, 45, of Orlando is being retried for the murders after Florida Supreme Court justices overturned his March 2005 conviction and death sentence in November 2007, saying McDuffie did not get a fair trial.
McDuffie is being tried on two counts of first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm and false imprisonment, and faces the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges.
Prosecutors expect to take seven to 10 working days to make their case and defense attorneys expect to take at least three days to present their arguments.
If McDuffie is found guilty, the trial will go into a penalty phase, expected to take at least another week.
Taylor said Thursday the evidence will show McDuffie's partial palm print was found on a piece of duct tape used to bind Beauregard's hands behind her back. There also is proof that McDuffie was broke, desperate for money, and killed the two women to rob the store of more than $7,000, Taylor said.
That Friday in October 2002 was like any other Friday for Schneider and Beauregard, who came to the store to work and planned to go home afterward, Taylor said.
"(But) there was one person who knew that they would never leave that store that night," Taylor said, pointing to McDuffie.
Defense attorney Rob Sanders countered, telling jurors the prosecutors have an unsolved murder case and want to pin it on McDuffie based "upon questionable identification." Sanders told the jury evidence will show there was a complete lack of investigation by law enforcement.
"Evidence will show that Mr. McDuffie and his wife, Troy, made over $54,000 that year," Sanders said. "We don't think the state knows who committed this crime. The defense believes this is more likely a robbery gone bad or a possible hit made to look like a robbery."
Schneider's common-law husband, Ted Teixeira, collected insurance money from Schneider's death without telling her daughter, Sanders told the jury.
"We believe that he may have had knowledge of the crime," Sanders said.
Sanders told the jury sheriff's deputies failed to properly investigate the crime and that the blood of another unknown person was found on a door handle and floor of the store's restrooms.
"The DNA did not match that of the victims or Roy Lee McDuffie," Sanders said. "DNA taken from a hair showed it was a mixture of Dawnielle Beauregard's and the DNA of an unknown person."
The trial will continue Monday.
patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com
Previous coverage available at www.news-journalonline.com/special/dollargeneral/
Staff writer
ST. AUGUSTINE -- Six Octobers ago, a 14-year-old boy waited for his mother to pick him up at a football game in Deltona but she never showed up, a prosecutor said Thursday.
"Janice Schneider never arrived. She was dead inside a Deltona Dollar General Store," Assistant State Attorney Colleen Taylor said during her opening statements in the retrial of Roy Lee McDuffie.
Schneider, 39, and Dawnielle Beauregard, 27, both of Deltona, were found dead at 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2002, in the manager's office of the discount store at 1200 Deltona Blvd., Taylor said. Beauregard's throat had been slit and she was shot in the back of the head. Schneider also had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and stab wounds, Taylor said.
McDuffie, 45, of Orlando is being retried for the murders after Florida Supreme Court justices overturned his March 2005 conviction and death sentence in November 2007, saying McDuffie did not get a fair trial.
McDuffie is being tried on two counts of first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm and false imprisonment, and faces the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges.
Prosecutors expect to take seven to 10 working days to make their case and defense attorneys expect to take at least three days to present their arguments.
If McDuffie is found guilty, the trial will go into a penalty phase, expected to take at least another week.
Taylor said Thursday the evidence will show McDuffie's partial palm print was found on a piece of duct tape used to bind Beauregard's hands behind her back. There also is proof that McDuffie was broke, desperate for money, and killed the two women to rob the store of more than $7,000, Taylor said.
That Friday in October 2002 was like any other Friday for Schneider and Beauregard, who came to the store to work and planned to go home afterward, Taylor said.
"(But) there was one person who knew that they would never leave that store that night," Taylor said, pointing to McDuffie.
Defense attorney Rob Sanders countered, telling jurors the prosecutors have an unsolved murder case and want to pin it on McDuffie based "upon questionable identification." Sanders told the jury evidence will show there was a complete lack of investigation by law enforcement.
"Evidence will show that Mr. McDuffie and his wife, Troy, made over $54,000 that year," Sanders said. "We don't think the state knows who committed this crime. The defense believes this is more likely a robbery gone bad or a possible hit made to look like a robbery."
Schneider's common-law husband, Ted Teixeira, collected insurance money from Schneider's death without telling her daughter, Sanders told the jury.
"We believe that he may have had knowledge of the crime," Sanders said.
Sanders told the jury sheriff's deputies failed to properly investigate the crime and that the blood of another unknown person was found on a door handle and floor of the store's restrooms.
"The DNA did not match that of the victims or Roy Lee McDuffie," Sanders said. "DNA taken from a hair showed it was a mixture of Dawnielle Beauregard's and the DNA of an unknown person."
The trial will continue Monday.
patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com
Previous coverage available at www.news-journalonline.com/special/dollargeneral/
TPD: Buying gun was Hoffman's idea
Transcripts released in investigation
By Nic Corbett and Jennifer Portman
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERS
It was Rachel Hoffman's idea to buy the handgun thought to have been used to kill her in May when a drug sting went bad, according to documents released Saturday by the Tallahassee Police Department.
That and other details are revealed in more than 500 pages of transcribed interviews conducted by TPD's internal-affairs investigators with the officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in the operation. Two of Hoffman's friends also were interviewed.
Included in the transcripts, which were used to compile a 199-page internal-affairs report made public in late September, is the full interview with former investigator Ryan Pender, Hoffman's main police contact.
His firing for violating nine department rules was announced the day the earlier report was released. Four more senior officers were suspended for two weeks without pay. Chief Dennis Jones and Deputy Chief John Proctor were reprimanded.
Pender said the 23-year-old Hoffman hoped that buying a gun would help satisfy the vague terms of her confidential-informant work so she could more quickly get out of Tallahassee and on with her life. Hoffman planned to go to culinary school, her friends have said.
Hoffman, a recent Florida State University graduate, had been caught with about a quarter-pound of marijuana in her apartment in April when she began working with police.
"She asked, 'Well, if I bought a gun would that ... help my charges?' " Pender told internal-affairs investigators Danielle Davis and George Creamer in an Aug. 22 interview. "I said, 'Any charge you get against him, if you bought anything stolen from him, and he's dealing with stolen property, that would be a charge. That would help with substantial assistance."
The gun she was to buy from the two men now charged with her murder is thought to have been stolen from the car-detailing shop where they worked days before the doomed operation. If convicted, Andrea Green, 25, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, could face the death penalty.
The fact that a gun would be purchased as part of the deal was not included in Pender's written plan. He pointed out, however, that it did say that firearms would be present.
Still, Pender conceded he was rushed to get the plan done, according to the transcript.
"It was a small mistake on my behalf as far as accuracy," he said.
Pender wasn't worried about Hoffman buying a gun, he said, despite the fact that she had no experience with firearms. He told her not to touch it and said her desire to purchase one for protection wouldn't seem strange to the suspects because she was a drug dealer who had been robbed twice before, the transcripts state.
"Now if (she) were wanting to buy stolen rims, that wouldn't have made sense," he said.
The transcripts also provide more insight into why Pender was not concerned about sending Hoffman off alone with $13,000 in cash. It would have been out of character for her to steal the money, he said, but if she did flee she'd be easy to find.
"She's a — as she called it — a very religious, family-oriented girl," he said.
Pender also said in the internal-affairs interview that Hoffman was used to handling lots of money. According to him, she admitted to moving five to 15 pounds of marijuana a week, an amount worth at least $26,000. Hoffman's friends, though, described her as a low-level dealer who wasn't selling that much marijuana.
"So what is $13,000 to her?" he said. "It would be insufficient. It would be pennies. It wouldn't be worth it."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Nic Corbett and Jennifer Portman
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERS
It was Rachel Hoffman's idea to buy the handgun thought to have been used to kill her in May when a drug sting went bad, according to documents released Saturday by the Tallahassee Police Department.
That and other details are revealed in more than 500 pages of transcribed interviews conducted by TPD's internal-affairs investigators with the officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in the operation. Two of Hoffman's friends also were interviewed.
Included in the transcripts, which were used to compile a 199-page internal-affairs report made public in late September, is the full interview with former investigator Ryan Pender, Hoffman's main police contact.
His firing for violating nine department rules was announced the day the earlier report was released. Four more senior officers were suspended for two weeks without pay. Chief Dennis Jones and Deputy Chief John Proctor were reprimanded.
Pender said the 23-year-old Hoffman hoped that buying a gun would help satisfy the vague terms of her confidential-informant work so she could more quickly get out of Tallahassee and on with her life. Hoffman planned to go to culinary school, her friends have said.
Hoffman, a recent Florida State University graduate, had been caught with about a quarter-pound of marijuana in her apartment in April when she began working with police.
"She asked, 'Well, if I bought a gun would that ... help my charges?' " Pender told internal-affairs investigators Danielle Davis and George Creamer in an Aug. 22 interview. "I said, 'Any charge you get against him, if you bought anything stolen from him, and he's dealing with stolen property, that would be a charge. That would help with substantial assistance."
The gun she was to buy from the two men now charged with her murder is thought to have been stolen from the car-detailing shop where they worked days before the doomed operation. If convicted, Andrea Green, 25, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, could face the death penalty.
The fact that a gun would be purchased as part of the deal was not included in Pender's written plan. He pointed out, however, that it did say that firearms would be present.
Still, Pender conceded he was rushed to get the plan done, according to the transcript.
"It was a small mistake on my behalf as far as accuracy," he said.
Pender wasn't worried about Hoffman buying a gun, he said, despite the fact that she had no experience with firearms. He told her not to touch it and said her desire to purchase one for protection wouldn't seem strange to the suspects because she was a drug dealer who had been robbed twice before, the transcripts state.
"Now if (she) were wanting to buy stolen rims, that wouldn't have made sense," he said.
The transcripts also provide more insight into why Pender was not concerned about sending Hoffman off alone with $13,000 in cash. It would have been out of character for her to steal the money, he said, but if she did flee she'd be easy to find.
"She's a — as she called it — a very religious, family-oriented girl," he said.
Pender also said in the internal-affairs interview that Hoffman was used to handling lots of money. According to him, she admitted to moving five to 15 pounds of marijuana a week, an amount worth at least $26,000. Hoffman's friends, though, described her as a low-level dealer who wasn't selling that much marijuana.
"So what is $13,000 to her?" he said. "It would be insufficient. It would be pennies. It wouldn't be worth it."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-felons' voting rights could impact elections
By: Aaron Drucker
Posted: 11/3/08
With the margin of victory likely to be close, convicted felons could play a crucial role in deciding which presidential candidate bags Florida's 27 electoral votes.
According to the Florida Parole Commission, 123,256 convicted felons have had their rights restored in the past 18 months since Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to make it easier for ex-felons to regain their voting rights.
"We think we've done an incredible job," said parole commission spokeswoman Jane Tillman. "If you look [at] a number of cases we have done this year, we did 14 times more restoration of right cases in fiscal 2007- 2008 than we have done in previous years."
However, critics said that number might have been higher if not for bureaucratic issues and budget cuts.
"This is all smoke and mirrors. Until they change the rules for Executive Clemency, the whole automatic restoration thing is a joke," said attorney Randall Berg Jr., founder of the Florida Justice Institute, which was founded in l998 to handle rights restoration cases for ex-inmates and class action suits for low-income families.
Berg blames partisan politics.
"The Republicans control the cabinet," he said. "Do you think they want one million new Democrats to vote?"
According to University of Minnesota sociologist Christopher Uggen, there were between 600,000 and one million disenfranchised felons in Florida in 2001. Many of them, who are mostly African-American and blue collared whites, tend to vote Democrat, Uggen said.
"We want every Floridian to vote, including votes from ex-inmates," said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff.
In Florida, individuals who have been convicted of a felony cannot vote, serve on a jury or hold public office. But responding to pressure to reform Jim Crow era rules, on April 5, 2007, Gov. Crist changed the process for rights restoration, allowing felons with non-violent criminal charges to have their rights restored immediately upon their release from jail. The offender must satisfy all monetary obligations and be free of any warrants or pending charges.
"I believe that government should explore every opportunity to ease the notification process and provide as much information about restoration of civil rights," Crist said in a statement at the time. "The changes made today will allow ex-offenders to immediately register to vote and participate in the democratic process."
Since Crist's announcement, the Parole Commission has processed over 200,000 restorations of civil rights cases and has granted 123,256 persons their rights back, according to Tillman. Prior to the change, the Parole Commission restored about 6,945 persons a year. During the 2007-2008, 12-month fiscal year, 70,531 felons reclaimed their civil rights, according to Parole Commission figures.
As part of the procedure, the Parole Commission sends a letter of notification to the individual's last known address. Every two weeks, the commission electronically transmits a list of felons whose rights have been restored to the state Division of Elections, Tillman said.
The new rules mean that the FPC has been forced to do more work with a smaller staff, Tillman said.
"The staff has been cut by 20 percent, which is the largest cut of any criminal justice agency in the state," she said. "Most of the cuts came from the clemency process."
And their work isn't going to slow down, according to the department of corrections spokeswoman Joellyn Rackleff. There are 4,047 inmates being released monthly from Florida prisons - 45,569 annually, and she said that number is up from the 33,348 released in 2007.
"All we do is turn over the information we have on released inmates to the parole commission and then it's out of our hands," Rackleff said.
As of Oct. 29, 2008, there are 56,502 cases waiting for clemency, according to Tillman. At that rate it will take at least years to clear the backlog. Civil rights restoration activists said they are frustrated by the pace.
"Crist made the process faster, but it's still slow. They need to make the system truly automatic," said attorney Reggie Mitchell, a member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. "We had to badger the Parole commission for a year just to get an inmate rights Web site up."
That Web site is linked to the Florida Parole Commission's homepage. It is a basic search setup. An ex-inmate can enter their information and within seconds know if their rights had been restored.
With the prevailing "get tough on crime attitude," inmates are serving longer prison sentences and leaving prison without many of their civil rights. Opponents of felon disenfranchisement have said the system isn't just about preventing ex-felons to vote; it hinders their reintegration into society.
"It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Felons can't get a job, can't support their family, and can't pay taxes," said Berg. "It makes it almost inevitable that they will commit crimes just to live."
AARON DRUCKER
Posted: 11/3/08
With the margin of victory likely to be close, convicted felons could play a crucial role in deciding which presidential candidate bags Florida's 27 electoral votes.
According to the Florida Parole Commission, 123,256 convicted felons have had their rights restored in the past 18 months since Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to make it easier for ex-felons to regain their voting rights.
"We think we've done an incredible job," said parole commission spokeswoman Jane Tillman. "If you look [at] a number of cases we have done this year, we did 14 times more restoration of right cases in fiscal 2007- 2008 than we have done in previous years."
However, critics said that number might have been higher if not for bureaucratic issues and budget cuts.
"This is all smoke and mirrors. Until they change the rules for Executive Clemency, the whole automatic restoration thing is a joke," said attorney Randall Berg Jr., founder of the Florida Justice Institute, which was founded in l998 to handle rights restoration cases for ex-inmates and class action suits for low-income families.
Berg blames partisan politics.
"The Republicans control the cabinet," he said. "Do you think they want one million new Democrats to vote?"
According to University of Minnesota sociologist Christopher Uggen, there were between 600,000 and one million disenfranchised felons in Florida in 2001. Many of them, who are mostly African-American and blue collared whites, tend to vote Democrat, Uggen said.
"We want every Floridian to vote, including votes from ex-inmates," said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff.
In Florida, individuals who have been convicted of a felony cannot vote, serve on a jury or hold public office. But responding to pressure to reform Jim Crow era rules, on April 5, 2007, Gov. Crist changed the process for rights restoration, allowing felons with non-violent criminal charges to have their rights restored immediately upon their release from jail. The offender must satisfy all monetary obligations and be free of any warrants or pending charges.
"I believe that government should explore every opportunity to ease the notification process and provide as much information about restoration of civil rights," Crist said in a statement at the time. "The changes made today will allow ex-offenders to immediately register to vote and participate in the democratic process."
Since Crist's announcement, the Parole Commission has processed over 200,000 restorations of civil rights cases and has granted 123,256 persons their rights back, according to Tillman. Prior to the change, the Parole Commission restored about 6,945 persons a year. During the 2007-2008, 12-month fiscal year, 70,531 felons reclaimed their civil rights, according to Parole Commission figures.
As part of the procedure, the Parole Commission sends a letter of notification to the individual's last known address. Every two weeks, the commission electronically transmits a list of felons whose rights have been restored to the state Division of Elections, Tillman said.
The new rules mean that the FPC has been forced to do more work with a smaller staff, Tillman said.
"The staff has been cut by 20 percent, which is the largest cut of any criminal justice agency in the state," she said. "Most of the cuts came from the clemency process."
And their work isn't going to slow down, according to the department of corrections spokeswoman Joellyn Rackleff. There are 4,047 inmates being released monthly from Florida prisons - 45,569 annually, and she said that number is up from the 33,348 released in 2007.
"All we do is turn over the information we have on released inmates to the parole commission and then it's out of our hands," Rackleff said.
As of Oct. 29, 2008, there are 56,502 cases waiting for clemency, according to Tillman. At that rate it will take at least years to clear the backlog. Civil rights restoration activists said they are frustrated by the pace.
"Crist made the process faster, but it's still slow. They need to make the system truly automatic," said attorney Reggie Mitchell, a member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. "We had to badger the Parole commission for a year just to get an inmate rights Web site up."
That Web site is linked to the Florida Parole Commission's homepage. It is a basic search setup. An ex-inmate can enter their information and within seconds know if their rights had been restored.
With the prevailing "get tough on crime attitude," inmates are serving longer prison sentences and leaving prison without many of their civil rights. Opponents of felon disenfranchisement have said the system isn't just about preventing ex-felons to vote; it hinders their reintegration into society.
"It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Felons can't get a job, can't support their family, and can't pay taxes," said Berg. "It makes it almost inevitable that they will commit crimes just to live."
AARON DRUCKER
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Teen Sentenced In Murder Of Woman, 99
'He Destroyed Our Family,' Daughter Says
POSTED: 4:23 pm EDT October 30, 2008
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- An 18-year-old Central Florida man was sentenced on Thursday to 65years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and murdering his 99-year-old neighbor.
Moise Opont was sentenced in the death of Edith Mecalla, whom he admitted to killing inside her Osceola County home in October 2007 when he was 17 years old.
Opont broke into Mecalla's home and beat one of Mecalla's daughters before attacking the 99-year-old woman.
Opont apologized in court to Mecalla's family.
"I still don't really understand what happened," Opont said. "I'm sorry for all the stress and problems that I've put you all through."
"It doesn't alter the pain," said Enid Sealy, the victim's daughter. "I know his family and his mother and father are in the same position that we are in. He has destroyed his parents, and he has destroyed our family."
Opont's father was in court for the sentencing but declined to comment.
Mecalla's family members voiced their disappointment in the sentence, saying they wanted the teen to receive 99 years in prison, one for every year of Mecalla's life.
Since Opont was 17 at the time of the murder, he was not eligible for the death penalty.
POSTED: 4:23 pm EDT October 30, 2008
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- An 18-year-old Central Florida man was sentenced on Thursday to 65years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and murdering his 99-year-old neighbor.
Moise Opont was sentenced in the death of Edith Mecalla, whom he admitted to killing inside her Osceola County home in October 2007 when he was 17 years old.
Opont broke into Mecalla's home and beat one of Mecalla's daughters before attacking the 99-year-old woman.
Opont apologized in court to Mecalla's family.
"I still don't really understand what happened," Opont said. "I'm sorry for all the stress and problems that I've put you all through."
"It doesn't alter the pain," said Enid Sealy, the victim's daughter. "I know his family and his mother and father are in the same position that we are in. He has destroyed his parents, and he has destroyed our family."
Opont's father was in court for the sentencing but declined to comment.
Mecalla's family members voiced their disappointment in the sentence, saying they wanted the teen to receive 99 years in prison, one for every year of Mecalla's life.
Since Opont was 17 at the time of the murder, he was not eligible for the death penalty.
Jury Acquits Man in Killing Of Bartow Store Clerk
Bryan Timothy Smith is found guilty of attempted armed robbery.
By Jason Geary
THE LEDGER
Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.
BARTOW | After spending about eight hours deliberating over two days, a jury Tuesday acquitted Bryan Timothy Smith of a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Bartow store clerk Remesh Desai.
However, the jury found Smith, 23, guilty of participating in the attempted armed robbery that ended Desai's life.
Prosecutors concluded Smith wasn't the person who fatally shot the 44-year-old store clerk. They point to Smith's stepbrother, Jamail Hogan, as the gunman.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hogan, 27. His trial is expected to begin next week.
Under Florida law, those who participate in certain felonies, including attempted armed robbery, that result in the death of another can be charged with murder.
Smith, who already has a 140-year federal prison sentence, is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 12 for the attempted armed robbery conviction. He could receive a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Chip Thullbery, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office in Bartow, said it was important to prosecute Smith on the state charges to guard against his being released if there is a successful appeal of his federal conviction.
Prosecutors say Smith and Hogan are responsible for the fatal Dec. 2, 2005, robbery attempt at Bill's Market store.
Desai was shot and later died of complications from a single gunshot wound. A medical examiner concluded he died of a blood clot that traveled to his lung, reports state.
Unsettling evidence at Smith's trial came from video surveillance taken from several angles inside the store on U.S. 17.
There is no sound on the recording. But the color footage vividly captured disturbing images as the robbers enter the store and demand money.
Desai is shot and falls to the floor in pain.
During Monday's closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Hardy Pickard told jurors that it didn't matter what role Smith played in the botched robbery.
He might be the man seen in the footage holding a police baton or he might be an unseen getaway driver waiting outside, Pickard said.
In either role, Smith is guilty of murder, Pickard said.
"It makes absolutely no difference," he said.
But Smith's lawyer, Robert Norgard, argued that his client had no idea an attempted robbery was going to take place until it was too late.
Smith was "duped" by his stepbrother and a stranger into serving as the getaway driver, Norgard said.
"They thought they were slick," Norgard said.
Smith told detectives what happened, but they refused to believe him, Norgard said.
Pickard dismissed the defense's claim that Smith was an unwitting participant in the crime.
"That doesn't hold water at all," he said.
The would-be robbers were armed when they went into the store and were dressed with sweatshirts, gloves and fabric covering their faces, Pickard said.
Norgard argued Hogan and the unknown man managed to conceal the robbery weapons and disguises from Smith and get ready before they went into the store.
Smith told investigators he loaned his red sweatshirt to the unknown man.
Pickard said if Smith really did lend the clothing to an unknown man that he knew it was to help disguise the man's identity for the robbery.
But Norgard suggested Smith might have thought the man was cold on that December afternoon and he wanted to wear the sweatshirt to keep warm.
Smith and Hogan are sons of two Polk County Sheriff's Office employees, Capt. James Hogan and Lucretia Smith Hogan, a detention deputy.
The stepbrothers have received federal prison sentences on charges related to a series of robberies throughout Winter Haven, Haines City, Davenport, Bartow and Osceola County, court records
Smith was sentenced to 140 years in prison, and Hogan was sentenced to 242 years in prison.
[Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536.]
This story appeared in print on page B1
By Jason Geary
THE LEDGER
Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.
BARTOW | After spending about eight hours deliberating over two days, a jury Tuesday acquitted Bryan Timothy Smith of a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Bartow store clerk Remesh Desai.
However, the jury found Smith, 23, guilty of participating in the attempted armed robbery that ended Desai's life.
Prosecutors concluded Smith wasn't the person who fatally shot the 44-year-old store clerk. They point to Smith's stepbrother, Jamail Hogan, as the gunman.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hogan, 27. His trial is expected to begin next week.
Under Florida law, those who participate in certain felonies, including attempted armed robbery, that result in the death of another can be charged with murder.
Smith, who already has a 140-year federal prison sentence, is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 12 for the attempted armed robbery conviction. He could receive a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Chip Thullbery, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office in Bartow, said it was important to prosecute Smith on the state charges to guard against his being released if there is a successful appeal of his federal conviction.
Prosecutors say Smith and Hogan are responsible for the fatal Dec. 2, 2005, robbery attempt at Bill's Market store.
Desai was shot and later died of complications from a single gunshot wound. A medical examiner concluded he died of a blood clot that traveled to his lung, reports state.
Unsettling evidence at Smith's trial came from video surveillance taken from several angles inside the store on U.S. 17.
There is no sound on the recording. But the color footage vividly captured disturbing images as the robbers enter the store and demand money.
Desai is shot and falls to the floor in pain.
During Monday's closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Hardy Pickard told jurors that it didn't matter what role Smith played in the botched robbery.
He might be the man seen in the footage holding a police baton or he might be an unseen getaway driver waiting outside, Pickard said.
In either role, Smith is guilty of murder, Pickard said.
"It makes absolutely no difference," he said.
But Smith's lawyer, Robert Norgard, argued that his client had no idea an attempted robbery was going to take place until it was too late.
Smith was "duped" by his stepbrother and a stranger into serving as the getaway driver, Norgard said.
"They thought they were slick," Norgard said.
Smith told detectives what happened, but they refused to believe him, Norgard said.
Pickard dismissed the defense's claim that Smith was an unwitting participant in the crime.
"That doesn't hold water at all," he said.
The would-be robbers were armed when they went into the store and were dressed with sweatshirts, gloves and fabric covering their faces, Pickard said.
Norgard argued Hogan and the unknown man managed to conceal the robbery weapons and disguises from Smith and get ready before they went into the store.
Smith told investigators he loaned his red sweatshirt to the unknown man.
Pickard said if Smith really did lend the clothing to an unknown man that he knew it was to help disguise the man's identity for the robbery.
But Norgard suggested Smith might have thought the man was cold on that December afternoon and he wanted to wear the sweatshirt to keep warm.
Smith and Hogan are sons of two Polk County Sheriff's Office employees, Capt. James Hogan and Lucretia Smith Hogan, a detention deputy.
The stepbrothers have received federal prison sentences on charges related to a series of robberies throughout Winter Haven, Haines City, Davenport, Bartow and Osceola County, court records
Smith was sentenced to 140 years in prison, and Hogan was sentenced to 242 years in prison.
[Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536.]
This story appeared in print on page B1
No Contest Plea Given In Woman's Slaying
By Jason Geary
THE LEDGER
Published: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 9:50 p.m.
BARTOW | When James Alvin Gore was arrested last year on charges related to the killing of his elderly landlady, detectives thought they found the murder weapon in his home.
New testing has proved otherwise.
During a brief hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter went over the latest development with Gore, 39.
But rather than risk going to trial for first-degree murder and armed robbery, the Polk City man wanted to accept a plea deal.
"With all of that in mind, you still freely and voluntarily want to enter into this plea because you believe it's in your best interest?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, sir," Gore replied.
Gore pleaded no contest Wednesday to manslaughter with a firearm. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Gore weighed about 245 pounds following his April 13, 2007, arrest on charges that he fatally shot 75-year-old Thelma Rowe. He rented a mobile home from her.
On Wednesday, he appeared much thinner as he accepted the plea deal. He sat down for much of the hearing.
"I just didn't eat breakfast this morning and got a little light-headed," Gore told the judge.
Gore's trial was to begin in a few weeks. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty against him.
Plea negotiations went forward with Gore after testing proved a pistol taken from him wasn't the murder weapon.
"Any other evidence was circumstantial," said Wayne Durden, a spokesman with the State Attorney's Office in Bartow. "Our case was significantly weakened."
Rowe was found dead inside her Fussell Road home on April 7, 2007. Her home did not appear ransacked.
She had been shot twice in the head with .22-caliber bullets, including once in the back of her head and another shot into her ear.
Originally, testing from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded the bullets were fired from a .22-caliber revolver found at Gore's home.
Gore's lawyers, Deborah Goins and Peter Mills, sought an independent expert to examine the gun. The result was that the weapon did not fire the bullets that killed Rowe.
FDLE had two other technicians analyze the gun, and they came to the same conclusion as Gore's expert.
Detectives learned from Gore's family and a former girlfriend that he had another .22-caliber pistol, according to investigative reports.
Gore denied having another pistol, reports state.
He later told detectives that he sold it and didn't tell detectives about it because he didn't want to be charged with selling the gun illegally.
Detectives noted that he changed his story several times about who bought the weapon. His final version was that two men bought it.
Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace told the judge Wednesday that nobody in the neighborhood saw the men.
Gore told detectives that he went to Rowe's home to pay $800 in rent and saw one of those men in her house.
Gore said Rowe introduced the man as her grandson, and he got a receipt for the rent from Rowe before leaving.
Gore was able to produce a receipt from Rowe.
Gore told detectives that while walking back to his home that he heard two shots from the direction of Rowe's home but "didn't really think anything about it," reports state.
[Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or (863)802-7536.]
This story appeared in print on page B1
THE LEDGER
Published: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 9:50 p.m.
BARTOW | When James Alvin Gore was arrested last year on charges related to the killing of his elderly landlady, detectives thought they found the murder weapon in his home.
New testing has proved otherwise.
During a brief hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter went over the latest development with Gore, 39.
But rather than risk going to trial for first-degree murder and armed robbery, the Polk City man wanted to accept a plea deal.
"With all of that in mind, you still freely and voluntarily want to enter into this plea because you believe it's in your best interest?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, sir," Gore replied.
Gore pleaded no contest Wednesday to manslaughter with a firearm. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Gore weighed about 245 pounds following his April 13, 2007, arrest on charges that he fatally shot 75-year-old Thelma Rowe. He rented a mobile home from her.
On Wednesday, he appeared much thinner as he accepted the plea deal. He sat down for much of the hearing.
"I just didn't eat breakfast this morning and got a little light-headed," Gore told the judge.
Gore's trial was to begin in a few weeks. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty against him.
Plea negotiations went forward with Gore after testing proved a pistol taken from him wasn't the murder weapon.
"Any other evidence was circumstantial," said Wayne Durden, a spokesman with the State Attorney's Office in Bartow. "Our case was significantly weakened."
Rowe was found dead inside her Fussell Road home on April 7, 2007. Her home did not appear ransacked.
She had been shot twice in the head with .22-caliber bullets, including once in the back of her head and another shot into her ear.
Originally, testing from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded the bullets were fired from a .22-caliber revolver found at Gore's home.
Gore's lawyers, Deborah Goins and Peter Mills, sought an independent expert to examine the gun. The result was that the weapon did not fire the bullets that killed Rowe.
FDLE had two other technicians analyze the gun, and they came to the same conclusion as Gore's expert.
Detectives learned from Gore's family and a former girlfriend that he had another .22-caliber pistol, according to investigative reports.
Gore denied having another pistol, reports state.
He later told detectives that he sold it and didn't tell detectives about it because he didn't want to be charged with selling the gun illegally.
Detectives noted that he changed his story several times about who bought the weapon. His final version was that two men bought it.
Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace told the judge Wednesday that nobody in the neighborhood saw the men.
Gore told detectives that he went to Rowe's home to pay $800 in rent and saw one of those men in her house.
Gore said Rowe introduced the man as her grandson, and he got a receipt for the rent from Rowe before leaving.
Gore was able to produce a receipt from Rowe.
Gore told detectives that while walking back to his home that he heard two shots from the direction of Rowe's home but "didn't really think anything about it," reports state.
[Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or (863)802-7536.]
This story appeared in print on page B1
Monday, October 27, 2008
Brevard judge steps aside in murder trial
Police deny drinking with suspect
BY KEYONNA SUMMERS
FLORIDA TODAY
Circuit Judge Meryl Allawas recused herself from a murder case Wednesday because she is the godmother of the lead detective's children.
Allawas made the disclosure during the hearing on a defense motion to throw out the confession of Michael Lilja, a homeless man accused of killing his companion, 56-year-old Robert Stephen Ault, last year in a dispute over body odor.
The judge said she usually sees Brevard County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Gary Harrell's children with their mother, has minimal contact with Harrell and would be impartial.
But she granted the defendant's ensuing recusal request to avoid the perception of bias.
The case will be reassigned to a different judge.
The defendant should "feel he is getting a judge that has no relationship at all" to the witnesses, Allawas said.
Lilja, 45, faces life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in connection with Ault's death.
Police said a boater found Ault's body floating in Sykes Creek near the Beachline Expressway on Merritt Island on July 26, 2007, near the campsite where the two men lived.
An autopsy showed Ault died of multiple blunt-force trauma and strangulation, authorities said.
Defense attorney Todd Deratany claims investigators illegally detained and questioned Lilja in a room at the Clarion Hotel on Merritt Island and gained the confession by plying Lilja with beer that they bought and drank with him.
Prosecutor Tom Brown said after Wednesday's hearing that the allegations in Deratany's motion are "absolutely false."
In an e-mailed statement to FLORIDA TODAY, Lt. Bruce Barnett of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office homicide unit said his agency offered Lilja a place to sleep and bathe because he couldn't return to his campsite, which was under investigation by crime-scene personnel.
Officers also wanted an idea of where to find him if they needed to speak with him the next morning, Barnett said.
Agents did not stay with him or conduct an interview at the hotel, Barnett said.
Lilja was questioned the next day at the police precinct, where he waived his Miranda rights, he said.
"At no time did the sheriff's office covertly watch him at the hotel, nor was he told that he was not free to leave the hotel and there was no security provided by the sheriff's office at the hotel to insure that he remained there," Barnett wrote.
Contact Summers at 242-3642 or ksummers@floridatoday.com.
BY KEYONNA SUMMERS
FLORIDA TODAY
Circuit Judge Meryl Allawas recused herself from a murder case Wednesday because she is the godmother of the lead detective's children.
Allawas made the disclosure during the hearing on a defense motion to throw out the confession of Michael Lilja, a homeless man accused of killing his companion, 56-year-old Robert Stephen Ault, last year in a dispute over body odor.
The judge said she usually sees Brevard County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Gary Harrell's children with their mother, has minimal contact with Harrell and would be impartial.
But she granted the defendant's ensuing recusal request to avoid the perception of bias.
The case will be reassigned to a different judge.
The defendant should "feel he is getting a judge that has no relationship at all" to the witnesses, Allawas said.
Lilja, 45, faces life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in connection with Ault's death.
Police said a boater found Ault's body floating in Sykes Creek near the Beachline Expressway on Merritt Island on July 26, 2007, near the campsite where the two men lived.
An autopsy showed Ault died of multiple blunt-force trauma and strangulation, authorities said.
Defense attorney Todd Deratany claims investigators illegally detained and questioned Lilja in a room at the Clarion Hotel on Merritt Island and gained the confession by plying Lilja with beer that they bought and drank with him.
Prosecutor Tom Brown said after Wednesday's hearing that the allegations in Deratany's motion are "absolutely false."
In an e-mailed statement to FLORIDA TODAY, Lt. Bruce Barnett of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office homicide unit said his agency offered Lilja a place to sleep and bathe because he couldn't return to his campsite, which was under investigation by crime-scene personnel.
Officers also wanted an idea of where to find him if they needed to speak with him the next morning, Barnett said.
Agents did not stay with him or conduct an interview at the hotel, Barnett said.
Lilja was questioned the next day at the police precinct, where he waived his Miranda rights, he said.
"At no time did the sheriff's office covertly watch him at the hotel, nor was he told that he was not free to leave the hotel and there was no security provided by the sheriff's office at the hotel to insure that he remained there," Barnett wrote.
Contact Summers at 242-3642 or ksummers@floridatoday.com.
Fla.'s death penalty unchanged 2 years after study
By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer
Two years ago, an independent panel made 12 recommendations to reform Florida's death penalty process. That report has since done little more than gather dust ever since.
None of the proposals from the American Bar Association panel of judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and college professors has been adopted by the state and it's now unlikely any ever will.
Some panel members say it all comes down to politics: Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers don't want to appear soft on the death penalty by adopting measures that would be seen as impeding executions.
Some of the recommendations were controversial. One required that juries be unanimous in recommending death and would make it illegal for a judge to overrule a jury that has recommended life in prison instead of death. Currently, a jury's vote is only advisory and can be split.
Other recommendations included requiring better qualifications and pay for appellate attorneys; taking steps to eliminate juror confusion on capital cases; examining racial and geographic disparities in sentencing; and creating commissions to explore the cause of wrongful convictions and review claims of innocence.
Christopher Slobogin, a former University of Florida law professor, was the chairman of the panel. He said state politicians fear that if they took up the panel's recommendations that "would make them look like they were anti-death penalty, which is the kiss of death, so to speak, in Florida politics."
But some legislators counter that many of the recommendations are unconstitutional and accuse the panel of making them with an anti-death penalty bias.
"We've looked at all the recommendations that were available and we've made the necessary changes," said state Sen. Victor Crist, who is not related to the governor. "Our experts tell us we've done everything we need to do. Florida has the most highly advanced, most aggressively funded and most finely tuned death penalty process and representation any where in the world."
One the eight committee members, Mark R. Schlakman, senior program director at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, is pushing for Florida officials to take another look at the report.
He has recently visited new Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince. He's also talked to Roger Maas, executive director of the Commission on Capital Cases, and state legislative leaders. With the recent appointment of two new Supreme Court justices, Quince offered no commitments on the proposals.
"Florida residents expect a system of justice that engenders confidence based upon fairness and accuracy," Schlakman said.
Sandy D'Alemberte, former Florida State University president and a former president of the American Bar Association, served on the National Advisory Board of the ABA project, which also examined the death penalty in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
He believes changes still need to be made.
"The whole system of criminal justice is broken," he said. "Look at the number of DNA exonerations in Florida and these have not been followed by any corrections of the problems in the system."
Gov. Crist has no further interest in the ABA's suggestions, according to his spokesman, Sterling Ivey. He is particularly opposed to requiring an unanimous jury recommendation.
In urging the Legislature not to change the law in 2005, Crist - then attorney general - noted that serial killers Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos would have been spared if an unanimous jury vote had been required. Both had 10-2 jury votes for death.
Just months after the report was released, the botched execution of Angel Diaz in December 2006 took the attention off problems with the death penalty and changed the focus to the state's death chamber procedures and lethal chemicals. Gov. Jeb Bush imposed a moratorium until the protocols could be examined. first by a state committee and then by the U.S. Supreme Court in a Kentucky case.
Another committee member, Harry Shorstein, the state attorney in Jacksonville for 27 years, continues to favor the death penalty, but only for "the worst of the worst."
"The system as it applies to the death penalty is broken," Shorstein said. "I'm not sure it is capable of being fixed."
Associated Press Writer
Two years ago, an independent panel made 12 recommendations to reform Florida's death penalty process. That report has since done little more than gather dust ever since.
None of the proposals from the American Bar Association panel of judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and college professors has been adopted by the state and it's now unlikely any ever will.
Some panel members say it all comes down to politics: Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers don't want to appear soft on the death penalty by adopting measures that would be seen as impeding executions.
Some of the recommendations were controversial. One required that juries be unanimous in recommending death and would make it illegal for a judge to overrule a jury that has recommended life in prison instead of death. Currently, a jury's vote is only advisory and can be split.
Other recommendations included requiring better qualifications and pay for appellate attorneys; taking steps to eliminate juror confusion on capital cases; examining racial and geographic disparities in sentencing; and creating commissions to explore the cause of wrongful convictions and review claims of innocence.
Christopher Slobogin, a former University of Florida law professor, was the chairman of the panel. He said state politicians fear that if they took up the panel's recommendations that "would make them look like they were anti-death penalty, which is the kiss of death, so to speak, in Florida politics."
But some legislators counter that many of the recommendations are unconstitutional and accuse the panel of making them with an anti-death penalty bias.
"We've looked at all the recommendations that were available and we've made the necessary changes," said state Sen. Victor Crist, who is not related to the governor. "Our experts tell us we've done everything we need to do. Florida has the most highly advanced, most aggressively funded and most finely tuned death penalty process and representation any where in the world."
One the eight committee members, Mark R. Schlakman, senior program director at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, is pushing for Florida officials to take another look at the report.
He has recently visited new Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince. He's also talked to Roger Maas, executive director of the Commission on Capital Cases, and state legislative leaders. With the recent appointment of two new Supreme Court justices, Quince offered no commitments on the proposals.
"Florida residents expect a system of justice that engenders confidence based upon fairness and accuracy," Schlakman said.
Sandy D'Alemberte, former Florida State University president and a former president of the American Bar Association, served on the National Advisory Board of the ABA project, which also examined the death penalty in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
He believes changes still need to be made.
"The whole system of criminal justice is broken," he said. "Look at the number of DNA exonerations in Florida and these have not been followed by any corrections of the problems in the system."
Gov. Crist has no further interest in the ABA's suggestions, according to his spokesman, Sterling Ivey. He is particularly opposed to requiring an unanimous jury recommendation.
In urging the Legislature not to change the law in 2005, Crist - then attorney general - noted that serial killers Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos would have been spared if an unanimous jury vote had been required. Both had 10-2 jury votes for death.
Just months after the report was released, the botched execution of Angel Diaz in December 2006 took the attention off problems with the death penalty and changed the focus to the state's death chamber procedures and lethal chemicals. Gov. Jeb Bush imposed a moratorium until the protocols could be examined. first by a state committee and then by the U.S. Supreme Court in a Kentucky case.
Another committee member, Harry Shorstein, the state attorney in Jacksonville for 27 years, continues to favor the death penalty, but only for "the worst of the worst."
"The system as it applies to the death penalty is broken," Shorstein said. "I'm not sure it is capable of being fixed."
Decomposition evidence in Casey Anthony's trunk, lab says
Story Highlights
Preliminary lab tests say decomposition evidence could be human, report says
Tests also find "unusually large concentration of chloroform" in trunk
Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in daughter's disappearance
Lawyer's spokesman says evidence doesn't link Casey to any wrongdoing
(CNN) -- Evidence consistent with human decomposition was found in the trunk of a car belonging to a Florida woman charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter, according to a forensic report released Friday.
"Both odor analysis and LIBS results appear to be quite consistent with a decompositional event having occurred in the trunk of the vehicle," said the report from Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, noting that the results were preliminary.
Testing indicates that the decomposition could be human, the report adds.
Casey Anthony, who drove the car, was arrested this month and charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee.
Caylee was last seen in mid-June, but Casey Anthony waited about a month before telling her family the child was gone.
LIBS is laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, one of the techniques used in chemical analysis.
Testing was conducted on air and carpet samples from the vehicle. The tests indicated "the presence of the five key major compounds associated with human decomposition," the report said.
The tests also found "an unusually large concentration of chloroform" in the trunk, according to the Oak Ridge report. Chloroform can be used to render someone unconscious. However, trace amounts of chloroform were also found on a control carpet sample, the report said. Watch Nancy Grace report on the chloroform discovery »
The report also says evidence of possible decomposition was found on a hair located among debris in the trunk. The hair is "microscopically similar" to one recovered from Caylee's hair brush, the report said, but "a more meaningful conclusion cannot be reached as this is not a suitable known hair sample."
The report was released by prosecutors as part of the case's public record. Prosecutors said they would not comment further on them.
Todd Black, a spokesman for Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said the evidence does not link Casey Anthony to any criminal behavior.
"There's nothing in those reports that links Casey Anthony to any wrongdoing with her daughter, Caylee," he said.
Casey Anthony was arrested October 14 in a traffic stop after a grand jury indicted her on seven counts of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police.
If convicted of the capital murder charge, she could face the death penalty or a life sentence.
Police and prosecutors have said little about the case, but hundreds of pages of documents and investigative reports have been released.
They indicate that Casey Anthony went to nightclubs, entered "hot body" contests and text-messaged her friends while her daughter was missing. Copies of cell phone and text records released to the public show that she hardly ever mentioned Caylee during the time just before and after the girl was reported missing. And in May, just before Caylee disappeared, her mother referred to the girl as "the little snot head."
Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, called the sheriff in Orange County, Florida, on July 15, saying her daughter wouldn't tell her where Caylee was.
Casey's brother, Lee Anthony, also pleaded with his sister to tell him where Caylee was, according to police documents. She told him she hadn't seen the child in "31 days."
When questioned, Casey Anthony gave conflicting statements to police, including some that were later disproved, accounting for the charges of providing false information.
She claimed that she dropped Caylee off with a baby-sitter, but when police checked out her story, they learned that the address Casey Anthony supplied belonged to an apartment that had been vacant for weeks. The woman Casey Anthony named as her baby-sitter told police she did not know her.
Investigators have said cadaver dogs picked up the scent of death in Casey Anthony's car and her parents' backyard. A neighbor told police Casey Anthony had asked to borrow a shovel.
Preliminary air quality tests conducted by the FBI found evidence consistent with human decomposition and chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, investigators previously said.
Further analysis of Casey Anthony's computer found that she had visited Web sites discussing chloroform, as well as Internet searches of missing children.
CNN Headline News' Natisha Lance contributed to this report.
Preliminary lab tests say decomposition evidence could be human, report says
Tests also find "unusually large concentration of chloroform" in trunk
Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in daughter's disappearance
Lawyer's spokesman says evidence doesn't link Casey to any wrongdoing
(CNN) -- Evidence consistent with human decomposition was found in the trunk of a car belonging to a Florida woman charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter, according to a forensic report released Friday.
"Both odor analysis and LIBS results appear to be quite consistent with a decompositional event having occurred in the trunk of the vehicle," said the report from Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, noting that the results were preliminary.
Testing indicates that the decomposition could be human, the report adds.
Casey Anthony, who drove the car, was arrested this month and charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee.
Caylee was last seen in mid-June, but Casey Anthony waited about a month before telling her family the child was gone.
LIBS is laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, one of the techniques used in chemical analysis.
Testing was conducted on air and carpet samples from the vehicle. The tests indicated "the presence of the five key major compounds associated with human decomposition," the report said.
The tests also found "an unusually large concentration of chloroform" in the trunk, according to the Oak Ridge report. Chloroform can be used to render someone unconscious. However, trace amounts of chloroform were also found on a control carpet sample, the report said. Watch Nancy Grace report on the chloroform discovery »
The report also says evidence of possible decomposition was found on a hair located among debris in the trunk. The hair is "microscopically similar" to one recovered from Caylee's hair brush, the report said, but "a more meaningful conclusion cannot be reached as this is not a suitable known hair sample."
The report was released by prosecutors as part of the case's public record. Prosecutors said they would not comment further on them.
Todd Black, a spokesman for Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said the evidence does not link Casey Anthony to any criminal behavior.
"There's nothing in those reports that links Casey Anthony to any wrongdoing with her daughter, Caylee," he said.
Casey Anthony was arrested October 14 in a traffic stop after a grand jury indicted her on seven counts of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police.
If convicted of the capital murder charge, she could face the death penalty or a life sentence.
Police and prosecutors have said little about the case, but hundreds of pages of documents and investigative reports have been released.
They indicate that Casey Anthony went to nightclubs, entered "hot body" contests and text-messaged her friends while her daughter was missing. Copies of cell phone and text records released to the public show that she hardly ever mentioned Caylee during the time just before and after the girl was reported missing. And in May, just before Caylee disappeared, her mother referred to the girl as "the little snot head."
Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, called the sheriff in Orange County, Florida, on July 15, saying her daughter wouldn't tell her where Caylee was.
Casey's brother, Lee Anthony, also pleaded with his sister to tell him where Caylee was, according to police documents. She told him she hadn't seen the child in "31 days."
When questioned, Casey Anthony gave conflicting statements to police, including some that were later disproved, accounting for the charges of providing false information.
She claimed that she dropped Caylee off with a baby-sitter, but when police checked out her story, they learned that the address Casey Anthony supplied belonged to an apartment that had been vacant for weeks. The woman Casey Anthony named as her baby-sitter told police she did not know her.
Investigators have said cadaver dogs picked up the scent of death in Casey Anthony's car and her parents' backyard. A neighbor told police Casey Anthony had asked to borrow a shovel.
Preliminary air quality tests conducted by the FBI found evidence consistent with human decomposition and chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, investigators previously said.
Further analysis of Casey Anthony's computer found that she had visited Web sites discussing chloroform, as well as Internet searches of missing children.
CNN Headline News' Natisha Lance contributed to this report.
Updated: Trial delayed for man charged in killing of Gadsden County confidential informant
By Jennifer Portman
Democrat senior writer
updated 9:52 a.m.
The capital-murder trial of one of two defendants charged in the 2002 killing of confidential informant Constance Dupont has been postponed.
The trial is expected to start sometime later this year or in January, according to various court officials.
A Leon County court spokesman earlier today said the trial was beginning this morning. It's been delayed, however, because one of the attorneys involved is ill.
morning update
One of two men charged in the 2002 shooting death of a Gadsden County woman is set to go on trial today in Quincy.
Hernandez Lopaz Daniels, currently serving a life sentence on federal drug-dealing charges, faces the death penalty in the killing of Constance Dupont. Investigators say Daniels hired another man, Fernando Taylor, to kill Dupont, who had been working as a confidential informant for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
On Aug. 3, 2002, the 39-year-old grandmother heard a knock on a window at her Havana apartment. When she peeked through the blinds, bullets shot through the glass and into her chest.
Taylor, who is in state prison for armed robbery, also faces the death penalty. He is being tried separately. A date hasn't been set.
Jury selection happened earlier this month in Daniels' trial. Leon Circuit Judge Thomas Bateman is presiding.
Check back with Tallahassee.com for more on this story.
Democrat senior writer
updated 9:52 a.m.
The capital-murder trial of one of two defendants charged in the 2002 killing of confidential informant Constance Dupont has been postponed.
The trial is expected to start sometime later this year or in January, according to various court officials.
A Leon County court spokesman earlier today said the trial was beginning this morning. It's been delayed, however, because one of the attorneys involved is ill.
morning update
One of two men charged in the 2002 shooting death of a Gadsden County woman is set to go on trial today in Quincy.
Hernandez Lopaz Daniels, currently serving a life sentence on federal drug-dealing charges, faces the death penalty in the killing of Constance Dupont. Investigators say Daniels hired another man, Fernando Taylor, to kill Dupont, who had been working as a confidential informant for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
On Aug. 3, 2002, the 39-year-old grandmother heard a knock on a window at her Havana apartment. When she peeked through the blinds, bullets shot through the glass and into her chest.
Taylor, who is in state prison for armed robbery, also faces the death penalty. He is being tried separately. A date hasn't been set.
Jury selection happened earlier this month in Daniels' trial. Leon Circuit Judge Thomas Bateman is presiding.
Check back with Tallahassee.com for more on this story.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Tough new policies in Florida schools target bullies
Dave Weber
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 18, 2008
Schoolhouse bullies, your days are numbered.
Tough new policies being rushed into schools across Florida call for swift, sharp punishment for students who pick on others. They may be spending time in detention or even be expelled.
"We want to make sure every student who comes to school feels safe and protected," said Keith Baber, a district counselor leading the counterattack on bullying for Orange schools.
Many school districts across the state, including Orange, have increased their anti-bullying efforts in recent years. But a new law passed by the Legislature last spring requires every school district to have a strict bullying and harassment policy in place by Dec. 1 that meets state guidelines.
The policies must spell out a process for students to report bullying, allow anonymous complaints, and require school officials to investigate immediately and report quickly. The Seminole school district's policy calls for an investigation to be completed within 10 school days.
The definition of bullying is broad, too.
"This is not just about somebody beating you up for lunch money," said Jeanne Morris, a Seminole School Board member. "It's teasing and exclusion, too."
Morris said schools need to clearly explain ramifications of the new policy so students understand that they could ultimately be kicked out of school.
For example, isolating kids by constantly leaving them out of group activities could end up as a bullying issue. That doesn't mean everybody has to be your best friend, officials said, but repeatedly saying, "We don't want Bobby on our team" in gym class could be an offense.
Broad authority
The policies must cover cyberbullying, too, and will give schools broad authority to deal with students who use computers to pick on others.
Employees, school volunteers and anyone visiting a school will fall under the policies along with students.
Districts will set punishments for students who bully and harass. Depending upon the severity of the infraction, in Seminole bullies could face Saturday school, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion or even arrest.
"Bullying is all over. It is sad how much bullying goes on," said Terri Iannuzzi, a physical-education teacher at Winter Springs High who leads a group of students called Safe School Ambassadors.
The ambassadors, including senior Greg Black, are trained to defuse fights and discourage bullying. Iannuzzi says the ambassadors have had a lot of success.
But Black, kicker on the school's football team, says there still is a lot of work to do. Bullying these days often entails head games, he said.
"Bullying is not so much physical fighting anymore. It is more of put-downs and teasing and excluding kids that is more serious," he said. "It is really kind of scary."
The December deadline has set districts scurrying to meet the requirements. Seminole and Lake gave tentative approval to their policies this week, with a final nod expected next month. Orange, Osceola and Volusia are working on policies, too.
Broward County was among the first school districts in the state to approve a bullying policy, and the Department of Education is using that one as a model for others.
Ironically, the state is holding a club over districts to make them comply with the anti-bullying requirements. Districts that don't have a policy won't receive Safe Schools funding that they use to pay for school-resource officers and other safety-related items. Orange County alone is in line for more than $5.2 million of the $73.5 million statewide pot of Safe Schools money this year.
Victims are frustrated
Much of the public and many educators for years accepted bullying, which experts say is ingrained by fourth grade and peaks in middle school, as a normal part of growing up. But thinking has changed more recently.
That has been prompted in part by the growing number of school shootings, with authorities concluding many of the shooters were frustrated victims of bullying. Last spring, a DeLand Middle School boy who threatened to kill fellow students said he was reacting to intense bullying.
Other bullying victims become so frustrated that they kill themselves. The new law is called the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, named after a Cape Coral teenager who hanged himself in his bedroom closet after repeatedly being bullied at middle school.
But those extremes are only a fraction of the millions of kids who are scarred by bullying, officials say. Most adults remember being bullied or seeing someone bullied in school, Orange counselor Baber said. That means the incident left a mark, he said.
Federal figures show that in 2005, almost 30 percent of students 12 to 18 years old reported being bullied.
"A lot of students' lives are miserable because they are bullied," said Walt Griffin, supervisor of secondary education for Seminole schools. "Now they will know they can report it."
Dave Weber can be reached at dweber@orlandosentinel.com or 407-320-0915.
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 18, 2008
Schoolhouse bullies, your days are numbered.
Tough new policies being rushed into schools across Florida call for swift, sharp punishment for students who pick on others. They may be spending time in detention or even be expelled.
"We want to make sure every student who comes to school feels safe and protected," said Keith Baber, a district counselor leading the counterattack on bullying for Orange schools.
Many school districts across the state, including Orange, have increased their anti-bullying efforts in recent years. But a new law passed by the Legislature last spring requires every school district to have a strict bullying and harassment policy in place by Dec. 1 that meets state guidelines.
The policies must spell out a process for students to report bullying, allow anonymous complaints, and require school officials to investigate immediately and report quickly. The Seminole school district's policy calls for an investigation to be completed within 10 school days.
The definition of bullying is broad, too.
"This is not just about somebody beating you up for lunch money," said Jeanne Morris, a Seminole School Board member. "It's teasing and exclusion, too."
Morris said schools need to clearly explain ramifications of the new policy so students understand that they could ultimately be kicked out of school.
For example, isolating kids by constantly leaving them out of group activities could end up as a bullying issue. That doesn't mean everybody has to be your best friend, officials said, but repeatedly saying, "We don't want Bobby on our team" in gym class could be an offense.
Broad authority
The policies must cover cyberbullying, too, and will give schools broad authority to deal with students who use computers to pick on others.
Employees, school volunteers and anyone visiting a school will fall under the policies along with students.
Districts will set punishments for students who bully and harass. Depending upon the severity of the infraction, in Seminole bullies could face Saturday school, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion or even arrest.
"Bullying is all over. It is sad how much bullying goes on," said Terri Iannuzzi, a physical-education teacher at Winter Springs High who leads a group of students called Safe School Ambassadors.
The ambassadors, including senior Greg Black, are trained to defuse fights and discourage bullying. Iannuzzi says the ambassadors have had a lot of success.
But Black, kicker on the school's football team, says there still is a lot of work to do. Bullying these days often entails head games, he said.
"Bullying is not so much physical fighting anymore. It is more of put-downs and teasing and excluding kids that is more serious," he said. "It is really kind of scary."
The December deadline has set districts scurrying to meet the requirements. Seminole and Lake gave tentative approval to their policies this week, with a final nod expected next month. Orange, Osceola and Volusia are working on policies, too.
Broward County was among the first school districts in the state to approve a bullying policy, and the Department of Education is using that one as a model for others.
Ironically, the state is holding a club over districts to make them comply with the anti-bullying requirements. Districts that don't have a policy won't receive Safe Schools funding that they use to pay for school-resource officers and other safety-related items. Orange County alone is in line for more than $5.2 million of the $73.5 million statewide pot of Safe Schools money this year.
Victims are frustrated
Much of the public and many educators for years accepted bullying, which experts say is ingrained by fourth grade and peaks in middle school, as a normal part of growing up. But thinking has changed more recently.
That has been prompted in part by the growing number of school shootings, with authorities concluding many of the shooters were frustrated victims of bullying. Last spring, a DeLand Middle School boy who threatened to kill fellow students said he was reacting to intense bullying.
Other bullying victims become so frustrated that they kill themselves. The new law is called the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, named after a Cape Coral teenager who hanged himself in his bedroom closet after repeatedly being bullied at middle school.
But those extremes are only a fraction of the millions of kids who are scarred by bullying, officials say. Most adults remember being bullied or seeing someone bullied in school, Orange counselor Baber said. That means the incident left a mark, he said.
Federal figures show that in 2005, almost 30 percent of students 12 to 18 years old reported being bullied.
"A lot of students' lives are miserable because they are bullied," said Walt Griffin, supervisor of secondary education for Seminole schools. "Now they will know they can report it."
Dave Weber can be reached at dweber@orlandosentinel.com or 407-320-0915.
Teen admitted hiding girl's body but says her death was accident
But he said teen died accidentally when she attacked him after sex
By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 18, 2008
First, he lied about everything.
Then Jason Hartley told a Fort Lauderdale police detective that he found the body of Neica Marie Gibbs, 14, near the trailer where he lives.
Later, in a videotaped statement shown by his attorney Friday, Hartley, 15, tearfully admitted Gibbs was with him when she died. But he said her death was an accident.
Hartley, 15, is being charged as an adult with second-degree murder in the June 28 death of Gibbs and could face life in prison if convicted.
In his 90-minute interview with Detective John Curcio, recorded July 24, Hartley initially said he and Gibbs had sex and that she left his trailer.
Then he claimed he found Gibbs dead and hid her body out of fear he would be held responsible for her death.
"Why didn't you just call 911?" Curcio asked.
"I was scared," Hartley responded. After further questioning, Hartley leaned in toward Curcio.
"You're trying to make me say I did kill her," he said.
"I'm trying to get you to tell the truth," Curcio said. "That's all I want from you, man."
Sobbing, gulping for air and sometimes struggling to get his words out, Hartley finally said he agreed to pay Gibbs for the sexual encounter, but that she got angry because he didn't have any money on him. She threatened him, Hartley said, and then got violent, attacking him with a piece of a broken vacuum cleaner in Hartley's bedroom.
Hartley said he fought back, and that in the struggle, a strap hanging on a treadmill ended up wrapped around the girl's neck.
Before Hartley could make sense of what was happening, he said, the girl stopped moving.
"She fell to the ground," he said, crying almost uncontrollably. "I checked her arm. She wasn't breathing."
Afraid no one would believe it was an accident, Hartley said he put Gibbs' body in a tarp and lugged it outside on a dolly to a trash bin.
No one saw him, he said, contradicting an 11-year-old friend who, in a sworn deposition, told the same detective he saw Hartley and touched the body through the tarp, not knowing what was underneath.
Hartley's lawyer, George Reres, said Hartley never intended to kill Gibbs.
"He had a long-term crush on the girl," Reres said.
In the video, Hartley tells the detective his sexual encounter with Gibbs was his first with anyone.
Gibbs was missing for three weeks before her body was found. Hartley was arrested soon afterward.
"The totality of the evidence proves this was not an accident," Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider wrote in e-mail to the Sun Sentinel. "I believe that an impartial jury will see this quite clearly."
Staff Writer Joel Marino contributed to this report. Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4694.
By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 18, 2008
First, he lied about everything.
Then Jason Hartley told a Fort Lauderdale police detective that he found the body of Neica Marie Gibbs, 14, near the trailer where he lives.
Later, in a videotaped statement shown by his attorney Friday, Hartley, 15, tearfully admitted Gibbs was with him when she died. But he said her death was an accident.
Hartley, 15, is being charged as an adult with second-degree murder in the June 28 death of Gibbs and could face life in prison if convicted.
In his 90-minute interview with Detective John Curcio, recorded July 24, Hartley initially said he and Gibbs had sex and that she left his trailer.
Then he claimed he found Gibbs dead and hid her body out of fear he would be held responsible for her death.
"Why didn't you just call 911?" Curcio asked.
"I was scared," Hartley responded. After further questioning, Hartley leaned in toward Curcio.
"You're trying to make me say I did kill her," he said.
"I'm trying to get you to tell the truth," Curcio said. "That's all I want from you, man."
Sobbing, gulping for air and sometimes struggling to get his words out, Hartley finally said he agreed to pay Gibbs for the sexual encounter, but that she got angry because he didn't have any money on him. She threatened him, Hartley said, and then got violent, attacking him with a piece of a broken vacuum cleaner in Hartley's bedroom.
Hartley said he fought back, and that in the struggle, a strap hanging on a treadmill ended up wrapped around the girl's neck.
Before Hartley could make sense of what was happening, he said, the girl stopped moving.
"She fell to the ground," he said, crying almost uncontrollably. "I checked her arm. She wasn't breathing."
Afraid no one would believe it was an accident, Hartley said he put Gibbs' body in a tarp and lugged it outside on a dolly to a trash bin.
No one saw him, he said, contradicting an 11-year-old friend who, in a sworn deposition, told the same detective he saw Hartley and touched the body through the tarp, not knowing what was underneath.
Hartley's lawyer, George Reres, said Hartley never intended to kill Gibbs.
"He had a long-term crush on the girl," Reres said.
In the video, Hartley tells the detective his sexual encounter with Gibbs was his first with anyone.
Gibbs was missing for three weeks before her body was found. Hartley was arrested soon afterward.
"The totality of the evidence proves this was not an accident," Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider wrote in e-mail to the Sun Sentinel. "I believe that an impartial jury will see this quite clearly."
Staff Writer Joel Marino contributed to this report. Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4694.
Gateway double-killing suspect will be retried
BY PAT GILLESPIE
pgillespie@news-press.com
Fred Cooper will be back in court Tuesday as prosecutors prepare to retry him on charges of murdering a Gateway couple in December 2005 after a jury came back deadlocked late Friday.
Cooper, 30, is charged with shooting to death Steven Andrews and strangling Michelle Andrews in their Gateway home Dec. 27, 2005. Jurors spent six days listening to testimony and viewing evidence and deliberated for most of four days — 321⁄2 hours, to be exact — but declared they couldn’t come to a unanimous verdict around 9 p.m.
The judge didn’t ask each juror which verdict he or she favored before he dismissed the panel.
As Lee Circuit Judge Thomas Reese declared a mistrial, Cooper had no reaction. His sister, Angela Cox, wept as she sat beside family members with her head in her hands. Just five feet away, the mother of Steven Andrews, Barbara Andrews, sat quietly as family members stood around her, seemingly in disbelief. Michelle Andrews’ parents — Daniel and Linda Kokora — weren’t in the courtroom when the mistrial was declared.
“We are extremely disappointed; the Andrewses and the Kokoras are extremely disappointed,” assistant state attorney Anthony Kunasek told a horde of reporters.
“We are going to start preparing the case and getting ready for another trial.”
Jurors offered no comment as they were escorted out of the courthouse and onto a bus back to their cars. Some covered their faces to avoid cameras; others didn’t acknowledge reporters’ questions.
They had labored longer than any Lee County jury in recent history.
No family members of Cooper or the Andrewses wanted to comment.
Assistant deputy public defender Beatriz Taquechel had no explanation for what hung up the jury.
“I have no idea,” she said. “It’s really hard on everyone.”
In Gateway, former neighbors of Steven and Michelle Andrews were distraught when they heard about the mistrial.
“I’m in shock,” neighbor Sarah Smiarowski said. “The jury was persuaded by lies and not facts. The only thing Michelle wanted was to save her marriage and her family.”
Neighbors Brad and Jennifer Buffington also were upset.
“Some of the stories that were told in court ... concerning his relationship with Michelle is unbelievable,” Brad Buffington said. “We’re not the only ones who are going to be shocked when they hear the news.”
If this case follows the pattern of previous mistrials, Cooper will be retried within 90 days and he will remain in custody at the Lee County Jail until his second trial.
The trial
The state made its case in chronological order, beginning with the deputy who arrived at the Gateway house around 7 a.m. Dec. 27, 2005. Sheriff’s dispatchers received a call with no one on the other line. Deputy Tracie Gaydash saw 2-year-old Lukasz Andrews and he guided her upstairs. There, she discovered the bodies of Steven and Michelle Andrews.
Detectives swarmed the house and crime scene investigators poured through the inside, looking for DNA, fingerprints and clues.
Medical Examiner Rebecca Hamilton determined Steven Andrews was shot to death, while Michelle Andrews was strangled.
That afternoon, Cooper called his girlfriend, Kellie Ballew, to tell her the Andrewses had been killed. He said he’d seen a report on television. She called sheriff’s detectives and gave them a statement.
That led them to Cooper, whom detectives believe knew of an affair between Ballew and Steven Andrews and, in a jealous rage, drove his motorcycle to Gateway and slaughtered the couple in their home. Prosecutors tried to show Cooper went back to the house around 7 a.m. and called 911.
After he was arrested Jan. 11, 2006, he confessed to having a sexual affair with Michelle Andrews, which explained why his DNA was found on her, detectives said at the time.
The defense presented four witnesses, but its case hinged on Cooper, who took the stand Monday.
During testimony, Cooper admitted he knew Ballew and Andrews were having an affair, but he denied harming the couple.
“I did not kill Steven and Michelle,” Cooper declared.
That contradicted his statements Dec. 27 and Dec. 29, 2005, when he told investigators he had no idea Ballew and Steven Andrews were having an affair and he had never been to Gateway. Prosecutors pointed out at least a dozen lies they said Cooper made between the statements and his testimony.
Cooper said he lied to detectives because he never thought he’d be a suspect and that he didn’t want to lose his daughter, then 5.
He also testified he didn’t tell detectives of his sexual encounter with Michelle Andrews before his arrest because he didn’t want Ballew to find out.
Prosecutors presented DNA evidence that indicated Cooper could have been in contact with Michelle Andrews’ nightgown. A DNA analyst said she didn’t know what type of stain was on the nightgown.
In his closing argument, Chief Assistant State Attorney Randy McGruther said Cooper’s testimony was an extravagant story made up while Cooper was sitting in the Lee County Jail for the last 32 months.
“The only person who could say, ‘That didn’t happen; we were not together,’ is dead,” McGruther told jurors. “Just like she was unable to defend herself on Dec. 26, 2005, in her bedroom, she was unable to defend herself on Oct. 14, 2008, in this courtroom.”
But Deputy Public Defender Ken Garber offered a different perspective on the state’s evidence. He said the crime scene — where Steven Andrews was shot in the cheek and Michelle Andrews was dragged off their bed, beaten and strangled — supports the theory Michelle Andrews was the target instead of her husband.
“She could be the target of this crime, not Steven,” he told them. “I think when you look at this case, coolly, calmly, reviewing all the evidence, setting aside sympathy, setting aside false assumptions, there’s only one fair and just verdict in this case — and that is to find Fred Cooper not guilty.”
The jury was not convinced.
— Staff writers Sam Cook and Francesca Donlan contributed to this report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
pgillespie@news-press.com
Fred Cooper will be back in court Tuesday as prosecutors prepare to retry him on charges of murdering a Gateway couple in December 2005 after a jury came back deadlocked late Friday.
Cooper, 30, is charged with shooting to death Steven Andrews and strangling Michelle Andrews in their Gateway home Dec. 27, 2005. Jurors spent six days listening to testimony and viewing evidence and deliberated for most of four days — 321⁄2 hours, to be exact — but declared they couldn’t come to a unanimous verdict around 9 p.m.
The judge didn’t ask each juror which verdict he or she favored before he dismissed the panel.
As Lee Circuit Judge Thomas Reese declared a mistrial, Cooper had no reaction. His sister, Angela Cox, wept as she sat beside family members with her head in her hands. Just five feet away, the mother of Steven Andrews, Barbara Andrews, sat quietly as family members stood around her, seemingly in disbelief. Michelle Andrews’ parents — Daniel and Linda Kokora — weren’t in the courtroom when the mistrial was declared.
“We are extremely disappointed; the Andrewses and the Kokoras are extremely disappointed,” assistant state attorney Anthony Kunasek told a horde of reporters.
“We are going to start preparing the case and getting ready for another trial.”
Jurors offered no comment as they were escorted out of the courthouse and onto a bus back to their cars. Some covered their faces to avoid cameras; others didn’t acknowledge reporters’ questions.
They had labored longer than any Lee County jury in recent history.
No family members of Cooper or the Andrewses wanted to comment.
Assistant deputy public defender Beatriz Taquechel had no explanation for what hung up the jury.
“I have no idea,” she said. “It’s really hard on everyone.”
In Gateway, former neighbors of Steven and Michelle Andrews were distraught when they heard about the mistrial.
“I’m in shock,” neighbor Sarah Smiarowski said. “The jury was persuaded by lies and not facts. The only thing Michelle wanted was to save her marriage and her family.”
Neighbors Brad and Jennifer Buffington also were upset.
“Some of the stories that were told in court ... concerning his relationship with Michelle is unbelievable,” Brad Buffington said. “We’re not the only ones who are going to be shocked when they hear the news.”
If this case follows the pattern of previous mistrials, Cooper will be retried within 90 days and he will remain in custody at the Lee County Jail until his second trial.
The trial
The state made its case in chronological order, beginning with the deputy who arrived at the Gateway house around 7 a.m. Dec. 27, 2005. Sheriff’s dispatchers received a call with no one on the other line. Deputy Tracie Gaydash saw 2-year-old Lukasz Andrews and he guided her upstairs. There, she discovered the bodies of Steven and Michelle Andrews.
Detectives swarmed the house and crime scene investigators poured through the inside, looking for DNA, fingerprints and clues.
Medical Examiner Rebecca Hamilton determined Steven Andrews was shot to death, while Michelle Andrews was strangled.
That afternoon, Cooper called his girlfriend, Kellie Ballew, to tell her the Andrewses had been killed. He said he’d seen a report on television. She called sheriff’s detectives and gave them a statement.
That led them to Cooper, whom detectives believe knew of an affair between Ballew and Steven Andrews and, in a jealous rage, drove his motorcycle to Gateway and slaughtered the couple in their home. Prosecutors tried to show Cooper went back to the house around 7 a.m. and called 911.
After he was arrested Jan. 11, 2006, he confessed to having a sexual affair with Michelle Andrews, which explained why his DNA was found on her, detectives said at the time.
The defense presented four witnesses, but its case hinged on Cooper, who took the stand Monday.
During testimony, Cooper admitted he knew Ballew and Andrews were having an affair, but he denied harming the couple.
“I did not kill Steven and Michelle,” Cooper declared.
That contradicted his statements Dec. 27 and Dec. 29, 2005, when he told investigators he had no idea Ballew and Steven Andrews were having an affair and he had never been to Gateway. Prosecutors pointed out at least a dozen lies they said Cooper made between the statements and his testimony.
Cooper said he lied to detectives because he never thought he’d be a suspect and that he didn’t want to lose his daughter, then 5.
He also testified he didn’t tell detectives of his sexual encounter with Michelle Andrews before his arrest because he didn’t want Ballew to find out.
Prosecutors presented DNA evidence that indicated Cooper could have been in contact with Michelle Andrews’ nightgown. A DNA analyst said she didn’t know what type of stain was on the nightgown.
In his closing argument, Chief Assistant State Attorney Randy McGruther said Cooper’s testimony was an extravagant story made up while Cooper was sitting in the Lee County Jail for the last 32 months.
“The only person who could say, ‘That didn’t happen; we were not together,’ is dead,” McGruther told jurors. “Just like she was unable to defend herself on Dec. 26, 2005, in her bedroom, she was unable to defend herself on Oct. 14, 2008, in this courtroom.”
But Deputy Public Defender Ken Garber offered a different perspective on the state’s evidence. He said the crime scene — where Steven Andrews was shot in the cheek and Michelle Andrews was dragged off their bed, beaten and strangled — supports the theory Michelle Andrews was the target instead of her husband.
“She could be the target of this crime, not Steven,” he told them. “I think when you look at this case, coolly, calmly, reviewing all the evidence, setting aside sympathy, setting aside false assumptions, there’s only one fair and just verdict in this case — and that is to find Fred Cooper not guilty.”
The jury was not convinced.
— Staff writers Sam Cook and Francesca Donlan contributed to this report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inmate charged for bringing anxiety medication into jail
Wendy Victora
September 10, 2008 - 8:53AM
CRESTVIEW -- A man reporting for weekend incarceration to the Okaloosa County Jail added a felony charge to his record.
Landon L. Blair, 32, was charged with introducing contraband into a detention facility after a routine property and strip search uncovered about 20 green capsules in his bag. After those pills were discovered, Blair reached into his shirt pocket and produced two more, according to his Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
The capsules were identified as Vistaril and are used to treat anxiety.
September 10, 2008 - 8:53AM
CRESTVIEW -- A man reporting for weekend incarceration to the Okaloosa County Jail added a felony charge to his record.
Landon L. Blair, 32, was charged with introducing contraband into a detention facility after a routine property and strip search uncovered about 20 green capsules in his bag. After those pills were discovered, Blair reached into his shirt pocket and produced two more, according to his Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
The capsules were identified as Vistaril and are used to treat anxiety.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Man sentenced to life in 'Joe Cool' boat slayings
MIAMI (AP) — An Arkansas man convicted of murdering four people aboard the Florida charter boat "Joe Cool" will spend the rest of his life in prison.
A Florida judge sentenced Kirby Archer to five consecutive life terms Tuesday as tearful family members and friends of the victims looked on. The 36-year-old Archer pleaded guilty in July to first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and hijacking the boat last year after it left Miami for the Bahamas.
The plea spared Archer the possible death penalty, although he admitted in court that he deserved to die.
Prosecutors say Archer hijacked the boat to escape child molestation and theft investigations in Arkansas.
A mistrial was declared earlier this month for a second man accused in the slayings.
A Florida judge sentenced Kirby Archer to five consecutive life terms Tuesday as tearful family members and friends of the victims looked on. The 36-year-old Archer pleaded guilty in July to first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and hijacking the boat last year after it left Miami for the Bahamas.
The plea spared Archer the possible death penalty, although he admitted in court that he deserved to die.
Prosecutors say Archer hijacked the boat to escape child molestation and theft investigations in Arkansas.
A mistrial was declared earlier this month for a second man accused in the slayings.
Trial Date Set For Sottile Murder Suspect
By BRAD DICKERSON
Highlands Today
Published: October 9, 2008
SEBRING A March trial date has been set for a Sebring man charged with killing Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Sottile.
Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said 20-year-old Joshua Lee Altersberger will face a jury starting March 9.
Altersberger is charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm after previously being convicted of a juvenile offense.
The charges stem from a Jan. 12, 2007, incident, where authorities say Altersberger shot and killed Sottile, 48, a 24-year FHP veteran, after the officer stopped a 2003 Toyota Camry driven by the defendant. A passenger, Quintin Jerome Kinder, of Bainbridge, Ga., then fled into a nearby orange grove following the shooting.
Houchin said the prosecution will seek the death penalty for Altersberger, who remains in the Highlands County Jail.
Kinder, who surrendered to authorities on Jan. 13, will testify in the case, according to Houchin.
He was charged with trespassing in a cultivated grove following his surrender to authorities. Kinder was then taken back to Georgia to face a violation of probation charge.
Houchin added that Kinder is still residing in Georgia, where he is on probation. Records from Georgia's Decatur County Jail listed several past criminal charges for Kinder, including theft, burglary and possession of marijuana.
Defense attorneys had previously discussed seeking a change of venue for the case so it could be held outside Highlands County. Houchin said that, so far, no such motion has been filed.
Calls to public defender Debra Goins seeking comment weren't returned before press time Wednesday.
Professor Charles Rose, with Stetson University's College of Law, said that, in order for a change of venue motion to be granted in such cases, the defense would have to show that the jury pool has been so polluted that it would be impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury.
This could be accomplished through a legal issue, such as potential jurors hearing about a suspect's confession that a judge ruled inadmissible for trial, according to Rose.
Such was the case in the 2007 murder trial of John Evander Couey, who was eventually found guilty of raping and murdering 11-year-old Jessica Lunsford. The death penalty was recommended.
The case was moved to Miami after a Lake County judge stopped jury selection because most of the potential jurors had heard about Couey's confession that was ruled inadmissible.
It was the second change of venue granted in the case, after a judge in Citrus County - where the crime took place - ruled that high publicity would make it impossible to seat a jury.
Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838.
Highlands Today
Published: October 9, 2008
SEBRING A March trial date has been set for a Sebring man charged with killing Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Sottile.
Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said 20-year-old Joshua Lee Altersberger will face a jury starting March 9.
Altersberger is charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm after previously being convicted of a juvenile offense.
The charges stem from a Jan. 12, 2007, incident, where authorities say Altersberger shot and killed Sottile, 48, a 24-year FHP veteran, after the officer stopped a 2003 Toyota Camry driven by the defendant. A passenger, Quintin Jerome Kinder, of Bainbridge, Ga., then fled into a nearby orange grove following the shooting.
Houchin said the prosecution will seek the death penalty for Altersberger, who remains in the Highlands County Jail.
Kinder, who surrendered to authorities on Jan. 13, will testify in the case, according to Houchin.
He was charged with trespassing in a cultivated grove following his surrender to authorities. Kinder was then taken back to Georgia to face a violation of probation charge.
Houchin added that Kinder is still residing in Georgia, where he is on probation. Records from Georgia's Decatur County Jail listed several past criminal charges for Kinder, including theft, burglary and possession of marijuana.
Defense attorneys had previously discussed seeking a change of venue for the case so it could be held outside Highlands County. Houchin said that, so far, no such motion has been filed.
Calls to public defender Debra Goins seeking comment weren't returned before press time Wednesday.
Professor Charles Rose, with Stetson University's College of Law, said that, in order for a change of venue motion to be granted in such cases, the defense would have to show that the jury pool has been so polluted that it would be impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury.
This could be accomplished through a legal issue, such as potential jurors hearing about a suspect's confession that a judge ruled inadmissible for trial, according to Rose.
Such was the case in the 2007 murder trial of John Evander Couey, who was eventually found guilty of raping and murdering 11-year-old Jessica Lunsford. The death penalty was recommended.
The case was moved to Miami after a Lake County judge stopped jury selection because most of the potential jurors had heard about Couey's confession that was ruled inadmissible.
It was the second change of venue granted in the case, after a judge in Citrus County - where the crime took place - ruled that high publicity would make it impossible to seat a jury.
Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838.
Fred Cooper says he was not in Gateway
Jury hears his 2006 denials of murders
BY PAT GILLESPIE
pgillespie@news-press.com
Jurors heard continued denials by Fred Cooper that he killed Steven and Michelle Andrews in their Gateway home December 2005.
That was the highlight of Wednesday's testimony in Day 6 of Cooper's trial in Fort Myers.
The case's lead detective was on the stand most of the afternoon and prosecutors played three taped statements Cooper made the month of the killings.
"I have nothin' to worry about -I know I wasn't there," Cooper said defiantly. "I don't know what you're talkin' about 'cause I wasn't there and I did not do this."
The Andrewses were slain in their home Dec. 27, 2005. On Jan. 11, 2006, Cooper was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed burglary. He faces the death penalty, if convicted of the crimes.
Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Walter Ryan, the lead investigator, testified that Cooper was quickly established as a suspect based on his girlfriend Kellie Ballew's admission that she was having an affair with Steven Andrews. They asked him to provide statements, fingerprint sets and DNA samples, which he did, Ryan said.
Ryan testified detectives sent off three guns for testing, but none matched the bullet found in the Andrews' master bedroom.
On cross-examination by Deputy Public Defender Ken Garber, Ryan admitted that fingerprints were lifted from a sliding glass door and none matched Cooper's. A fingerprint was found at the top of the door, but matched no one, Ryan said.
He said there is no forensic evidence that connects Cooper to the house, but then on re-direct examination, Ryan said there is evidence that connects Cooper to Michelle Andrews' body. He didn't say what the evidence is.
Cooper's former boss, Jim Peters of Sun Sports Cycle & Watercraft, testified that two days after the homicides, detectives visited Cooper, who was a motorcycle mechanic. After a brief chat, detectives left and Cooper ran an errand for about 25 minutes. When he returned, Peters testified, Cooper worked on his camouflage jacket.
"When he came back to the shop, he had his camouflage jacket with him and spent about the next hour cleaning and scrubbing on it," Peters said. He testified Cooper used spray solvents, which are typically used to clean dirt and debris from motorcycle parts to clean the jacket. Cooper also cut the lining out of the jacket.
Later, Peters asked whether Cooper killed the couple.
"I asked him if he did it," Peters testified. "He said, 'No, I had nothing to do with it.'"
Ryan explained that detectives went to the shop and asked Cooper for his camouflage jacket - because they believed he was wearing it and walked through the Gateway neighborhood the night of Dec. 26 and the morning of Dec. 27.
Cooper gave them consent to search his house and they left. When they came back to Sun Sports, Cooper had the jacket.
"I told him that I just left his home. It wasn't in the garage as he said," Ryan testified. "He said, 'I'm sorry I sent you all the way down there, it's there in my work trunk.'"
Detectives also found the lining of the jacket at the top a garbage can in Cooper's work station.
In his statement to detectives, Cooper said the lining was torn, so he cut it off. He told detectives he didn't know Ballew was having an affair until detectives told him. Investigators believe that was the motive for murder.
"Up until tonight, I had no motive," he said. "I've never - I didn't know that she was seeing Steven until just now. I had no idea that was the case."
Cooper talked with detectives Dec. 27 and then after retrieving the jacket, they talked with him again after work Dec. 29.
That's when detectives laid out evidence against him.
They said they had DNA evidence against him, video surveillance of a motorcycle riding down Gateway Boulevard on Dec. 27 and neighbors of the Andrewses saying they saw a man wearing a camouflage jacket the night before and the morning the bodies were found.
"I know ... my whereabouts ... last night and it wasn't in Gateway," he said. "It was only an hour. From Bonita to Gateway, drove back to Bonita? My bike's fast, but not that damn fast."
Two Florida Department of Law Enforcement experts testified about gunshot residue and what type of bullet could have been shot and killed Steven Andrews.
Rosemary Jassoy testified she couldn't determine from what type of gun the bullet was fired. Deborah Lightfoot, a gunshot residue expert, testified that gunshot residue found on Steven Andrews' hand indicates he could have been shot from between three inches to three feet away.
The trial will continue Friday because today is Yom Kippur and the courthouse is closed for the day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BY PAT GILLESPIE
pgillespie@news-press.com
Jurors heard continued denials by Fred Cooper that he killed Steven and Michelle Andrews in their Gateway home December 2005.
That was the highlight of Wednesday's testimony in Day 6 of Cooper's trial in Fort Myers.
The case's lead detective was on the stand most of the afternoon and prosecutors played three taped statements Cooper made the month of the killings.
"I have nothin' to worry about -I know I wasn't there," Cooper said defiantly. "I don't know what you're talkin' about 'cause I wasn't there and I did not do this."
The Andrewses were slain in their home Dec. 27, 2005. On Jan. 11, 2006, Cooper was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed burglary. He faces the death penalty, if convicted of the crimes.
Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Walter Ryan, the lead investigator, testified that Cooper was quickly established as a suspect based on his girlfriend Kellie Ballew's admission that she was having an affair with Steven Andrews. They asked him to provide statements, fingerprint sets and DNA samples, which he did, Ryan said.
Ryan testified detectives sent off three guns for testing, but none matched the bullet found in the Andrews' master bedroom.
On cross-examination by Deputy Public Defender Ken Garber, Ryan admitted that fingerprints were lifted from a sliding glass door and none matched Cooper's. A fingerprint was found at the top of the door, but matched no one, Ryan said.
He said there is no forensic evidence that connects Cooper to the house, but then on re-direct examination, Ryan said there is evidence that connects Cooper to Michelle Andrews' body. He didn't say what the evidence is.
Cooper's former boss, Jim Peters of Sun Sports Cycle & Watercraft, testified that two days after the homicides, detectives visited Cooper, who was a motorcycle mechanic. After a brief chat, detectives left and Cooper ran an errand for about 25 minutes. When he returned, Peters testified, Cooper worked on his camouflage jacket.
"When he came back to the shop, he had his camouflage jacket with him and spent about the next hour cleaning and scrubbing on it," Peters said. He testified Cooper used spray solvents, which are typically used to clean dirt and debris from motorcycle parts to clean the jacket. Cooper also cut the lining out of the jacket.
Later, Peters asked whether Cooper killed the couple.
"I asked him if he did it," Peters testified. "He said, 'No, I had nothing to do with it.'"
Ryan explained that detectives went to the shop and asked Cooper for his camouflage jacket - because they believed he was wearing it and walked through the Gateway neighborhood the night of Dec. 26 and the morning of Dec. 27.
Cooper gave them consent to search his house and they left. When they came back to Sun Sports, Cooper had the jacket.
"I told him that I just left his home. It wasn't in the garage as he said," Ryan testified. "He said, 'I'm sorry I sent you all the way down there, it's there in my work trunk.'"
Detectives also found the lining of the jacket at the top a garbage can in Cooper's work station.
In his statement to detectives, Cooper said the lining was torn, so he cut it off. He told detectives he didn't know Ballew was having an affair until detectives told him. Investigators believe that was the motive for murder.
"Up until tonight, I had no motive," he said. "I've never - I didn't know that she was seeing Steven until just now. I had no idea that was the case."
Cooper talked with detectives Dec. 27 and then after retrieving the jacket, they talked with him again after work Dec. 29.
That's when detectives laid out evidence against him.
They said they had DNA evidence against him, video surveillance of a motorcycle riding down Gateway Boulevard on Dec. 27 and neighbors of the Andrewses saying they saw a man wearing a camouflage jacket the night before and the morning the bodies were found.
"I know ... my whereabouts ... last night and it wasn't in Gateway," he said. "It was only an hour. From Bonita to Gateway, drove back to Bonita? My bike's fast, but not that damn fast."
Two Florida Department of Law Enforcement experts testified about gunshot residue and what type of bullet could have been shot and killed Steven Andrews.
Rosemary Jassoy testified she couldn't determine from what type of gun the bullet was fired. Deborah Lightfoot, a gunshot residue expert, testified that gunshot residue found on Steven Andrews' hand indicates he could have been shot from between three inches to three feet away.
The trial will continue Friday because today is Yom Kippur and the courthouse is closed for the day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kopsho's new trial for wife's murder delayed until 2009
By Suevon Lee
Star-Banner
Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 6:33 p.m.
OCALA - The capital murder retrial for William Michael Kopsho won't proceed as planned next week.
Circuit Judge David Eddy ruled Tuesday to grant a defense motion to continue the trial on the grounds that the four days remaining wasn't enough time to depose a new witness the state recently announced for the trial's penalty phase.
The earliest the new trial could occur is February 2009 because of conflicting schedules the rest of the calendar year.
The penalty phase, which comes after the guilt phase in capital cases, is when jurors hear testimony from family members and other witnesses close to the defendant to help guide them toward a recommendation of a life sentence or the death penalty.
Kopsho is facing a possible death penalty if convicted on charges he shot and killed his wife, Lynne, in October 2000. The 54-year-old was previously convicted and sentenced to death during a high-profile case in 2005. Due to pretrial publicity, the case was moved from Marion to Sumter County.
However, last June the Florida Supreme Court vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial based on a technicality during jury selection.
Kopsho's lawyer, Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller, expressed somber relief at the judge's decision to continue the case.
"I know I've got a lot more work to do in the next four months," he said. "I don't make those motions lightly."
As he told the court Tuesday, Miller was concerned about the narrow window of time he had in which to depose the new witness, Debra Dahlen — Kopsho's first wife — and a person who Miller said "could put my client in a death chamber."
Prosecutors plan to use Dahlen to rebut statements Kopsho made to psychologist Elizabeth McMahon that suggest he was victimized by all his former wives, of whom there were five, because they either cheated on him or left him.
That was Kopsho's only real shot at mitigating evidence, prosecutors said Tuesday.
"She is the impeachment of Dr. McMahon's analysis of Kopsho," State Attorney Brad King said of Dahlen, who lives in Indiana.
Kopsho is charged with first-degree murder and armed kidnapping for shooting his 21-year-old wife at close range three times along State Road 40 while preventing bystanders from coming to her aid. The couple was estranged at the time and earlier court testimony revealed that jealousy factored into the strained three-year relationship.
Judge Eddy expressed reluctance to continue the trial but, in making his ruling Tuesday, said the defense had the right to properly depose Dahlen, a non-expert, material witness.
Eddy, who presided over the case the first time around, will keep the case, despite a docket change scheduled for January 2009 in which the judges will trade dockets.
"I've had this case since the inception of this case," Eddy said in court. "I think it's the only feasible way to proceed."
Suevon Lee may be reached at suevon.lee@starbanner.com or 867-4065.
Star-Banner
Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 6:33 p.m.
OCALA - The capital murder retrial for William Michael Kopsho won't proceed as planned next week.
Circuit Judge David Eddy ruled Tuesday to grant a defense motion to continue the trial on the grounds that the four days remaining wasn't enough time to depose a new witness the state recently announced for the trial's penalty phase.
The earliest the new trial could occur is February 2009 because of conflicting schedules the rest of the calendar year.
The penalty phase, which comes after the guilt phase in capital cases, is when jurors hear testimony from family members and other witnesses close to the defendant to help guide them toward a recommendation of a life sentence or the death penalty.
Kopsho is facing a possible death penalty if convicted on charges he shot and killed his wife, Lynne, in October 2000. The 54-year-old was previously convicted and sentenced to death during a high-profile case in 2005. Due to pretrial publicity, the case was moved from Marion to Sumter County.
However, last June the Florida Supreme Court vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial based on a technicality during jury selection.
Kopsho's lawyer, Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller, expressed somber relief at the judge's decision to continue the case.
"I know I've got a lot more work to do in the next four months," he said. "I don't make those motions lightly."
As he told the court Tuesday, Miller was concerned about the narrow window of time he had in which to depose the new witness, Debra Dahlen — Kopsho's first wife — and a person who Miller said "could put my client in a death chamber."
Prosecutors plan to use Dahlen to rebut statements Kopsho made to psychologist Elizabeth McMahon that suggest he was victimized by all his former wives, of whom there were five, because they either cheated on him or left him.
That was Kopsho's only real shot at mitigating evidence, prosecutors said Tuesday.
"She is the impeachment of Dr. McMahon's analysis of Kopsho," State Attorney Brad King said of Dahlen, who lives in Indiana.
Kopsho is charged with first-degree murder and armed kidnapping for shooting his 21-year-old wife at close range three times along State Road 40 while preventing bystanders from coming to her aid. The couple was estranged at the time and earlier court testimony revealed that jealousy factored into the strained three-year relationship.
Judge Eddy expressed reluctance to continue the trial but, in making his ruling Tuesday, said the defense had the right to properly depose Dahlen, a non-expert, material witness.
Eddy, who presided over the case the first time around, will keep the case, despite a docket change scheduled for January 2009 in which the judges will trade dockets.
"I've had this case since the inception of this case," Eddy said in court. "I think it's the only feasible way to proceed."
Suevon Lee may be reached at suevon.lee@starbanner.com or 867-4065.
State attorney's candidates say budget crisis is priority
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 04, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH — Two attorneys who say there are few distinct policy differences between them seek the seat of one of the chief law enforcement officers in the county, the state attorney, who leads more than 100 lawyers in prosecuting crimes.
Republican Joseph Tringali and heavily endorsed Democrat Michael McAuliffe will square off on Election Day Nov. 4.
Both men say the dramatic budget cuts recently hitting the Palm Beach County office will be a top priority for them - keeping the office stable, staffed and functioning. Over the past year and a half, legislators have cut the office's budget by about 14 percent, and some veteran lawyers have gone. Fewer and fewer lawyers have to handle more and more cases.
Tringali, 62, who has worked as an assistant attorney general for 17 years, says he knows well the stresses of being a government lawyer with his current salary of about $60,000 a year.
"I'm well-aware of the financial situation. I'm living it," he said.
A former mayor and councilman in North Palm Beach, Tringali said his political experience and work under former Attorney General Charlie Crist, now governor, will help open doors for him in Tallahassee. Tringali is also a neighbor of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and says he knows him personally.
Tringali said he understands from practicing bankruptcy law that when there is no money, there is no money, but the contacts he knows may at least get him in the door to talk with legislators. Tallahassee would be his first stop if elected state attorney.
He has mulled using more volunteers in the office to handle cases, but he has done no specific research on various programs.
McAuliffe, 45, who is endorsed by State Attorney Barry Krischer, said if more of the budget is lost, the office will face a real operational crisis - not enough lawyers to staff courtrooms, for example. McAuliffe said he has looked specifically at programs on the west coast where volunteer lawyers from the private Bar are used to prosecute lower-level misdemeanor crimes, freeing sworn prosecutors to work on more serious ones.
"I think I bring to the role an energy and passion and purpose for being a very assertive state attorney," he said.
A former lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, McAuliffe was most recently in private practice. He would leave a salary he estimates at $350,000 a year for the state attorney's salary of about $153,000.
"I would be taking a substantial pay cut and would be happy to do so. That's clearly a voluntary choice I am making," McAuliffe said.
Other priorities, he said, would be protecting children and the elderly. A current domestic violence unit that uses grant money is an example of creative solutions that can be used, he said.
The state attorney wields tremendous power in the criminal justice system: setting policies for the prosecution of tens of thousands of criminal cases, launching grand jury investigations and leading the largest law firm in the county.
He or she also may make trenchant individual decisions, including when to pursue the death penalty and who should be given protection from prosecution, or immunity, for cooperation.
Tringali said he alone would make the ultimate decision about seeking the death penalty. McAuliffe has said he will continue a committee review process in which top prosecutors also review the cases.
Assistant State Attorney Paula Russell ran against McAuliffe in the Democratic primary. Russell has said McAuliffe's lack of experience in the state system will put him at a great disadvantage in leading prosecutions there.
Russell has since endorsed Tringali, who said he also is endorsed by former State Attorney David Bludworth.
McAuliffe has garnered almost every significant endorsement, including those of Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and various voter and political organizations.
According to the Division of Elections, McAuliffe's campaign account is filled with nearly a half million dollars. Tringali's campaign has about $25,000.
Tringali said he was prompted to seek the seat to give back to the community. He also saw the justice system from a victim's perspective after his adult daughter was robbed.
He said the robber originally received just a two-year sentence when he would have gotten a 10-year sentence in most other counties.
"It really more than anything brought home to me what victims of crime go through. It's time to do something about that," he said.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 04, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH — Two attorneys who say there are few distinct policy differences between them seek the seat of one of the chief law enforcement officers in the county, the state attorney, who leads more than 100 lawyers in prosecuting crimes.
Republican Joseph Tringali and heavily endorsed Democrat Michael McAuliffe will square off on Election Day Nov. 4.
Both men say the dramatic budget cuts recently hitting the Palm Beach County office will be a top priority for them - keeping the office stable, staffed and functioning. Over the past year and a half, legislators have cut the office's budget by about 14 percent, and some veteran lawyers have gone. Fewer and fewer lawyers have to handle more and more cases.
Tringali, 62, who has worked as an assistant attorney general for 17 years, says he knows well the stresses of being a government lawyer with his current salary of about $60,000 a year.
"I'm well-aware of the financial situation. I'm living it," he said.
A former mayor and councilman in North Palm Beach, Tringali said his political experience and work under former Attorney General Charlie Crist, now governor, will help open doors for him in Tallahassee. Tringali is also a neighbor of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and says he knows him personally.
Tringali said he understands from practicing bankruptcy law that when there is no money, there is no money, but the contacts he knows may at least get him in the door to talk with legislators. Tallahassee would be his first stop if elected state attorney.
He has mulled using more volunteers in the office to handle cases, but he has done no specific research on various programs.
McAuliffe, 45, who is endorsed by State Attorney Barry Krischer, said if more of the budget is lost, the office will face a real operational crisis - not enough lawyers to staff courtrooms, for example. McAuliffe said he has looked specifically at programs on the west coast where volunteer lawyers from the private Bar are used to prosecute lower-level misdemeanor crimes, freeing sworn prosecutors to work on more serious ones.
"I think I bring to the role an energy and passion and purpose for being a very assertive state attorney," he said.
A former lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, McAuliffe was most recently in private practice. He would leave a salary he estimates at $350,000 a year for the state attorney's salary of about $153,000.
"I would be taking a substantial pay cut and would be happy to do so. That's clearly a voluntary choice I am making," McAuliffe said.
Other priorities, he said, would be protecting children and the elderly. A current domestic violence unit that uses grant money is an example of creative solutions that can be used, he said.
The state attorney wields tremendous power in the criminal justice system: setting policies for the prosecution of tens of thousands of criminal cases, launching grand jury investigations and leading the largest law firm in the county.
He or she also may make trenchant individual decisions, including when to pursue the death penalty and who should be given protection from prosecution, or immunity, for cooperation.
Tringali said he alone would make the ultimate decision about seeking the death penalty. McAuliffe has said he will continue a committee review process in which top prosecutors also review the cases.
Assistant State Attorney Paula Russell ran against McAuliffe in the Democratic primary. Russell has said McAuliffe's lack of experience in the state system will put him at a great disadvantage in leading prosecutions there.
Russell has since endorsed Tringali, who said he also is endorsed by former State Attorney David Bludworth.
McAuliffe has garnered almost every significant endorsement, including those of Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and various voter and political organizations.
According to the Division of Elections, McAuliffe's campaign account is filled with nearly a half million dollars. Tringali's campaign has about $25,000.
Tringali said he was prompted to seek the seat to give back to the community. He also saw the justice system from a victim's perspective after his adult daughter was robbed.
He said the robber originally received just a two-year sentence when he would have gotten a 10-year sentence in most other counties.
"It really more than anything brought home to me what victims of crime go through. It's time to do something about that," he said.
Jason Wheeler case heads to Supreme Court
STEPHEN HUDAK | Sentinel Staff Writer
5:15 PM EDT, October 6, 2008
TAVARES - A public defender will attempt to persuade the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday that Jason Wheeler did not receive a fair trial or sentence for killing Lake County Deputy Sheriff Wayne Koester in an armed ambush.
Wheeler, 33, sentenced to death in the Feb. 9, 2005, slaying, will not attend the hearing scheduled for 9:40 a.m. Tuesday in Tallahassee, but Koester's widow, Ashley Koester, will.
"I just want to see it through," said Ashley Koester, now 35 and a deputy sheriff in Volusia County. "I want to make sure the truth is told and the sentence is carried out."
She said she will be wearing a sheriff's badge bearing a black ribbon, a gift from the late Lake County Sheriff Chris Daniels that honors her husband's sacrifice.
Wheeler, confined to a death-row cell at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford that accommodates his wheelchair, was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for wounding deputies Tom McKane and William Crotty. The lawmen were investigating a sexual-assault complaint filed by Wheeler's girlfriend, Sarah Heckerman. Wheeler was paralyzed when shot during his capture by a pursuing deputy.
Court filings show Public Defender James S. Purdy, who handles death-penalty appeals, will argue that Lake Circuit Judge T. Michael Johnson should have given the jury a special instruction outlining the "heat of passion" defense and should have limited "prejudicial" closing remarks by State Attorney Brad King.
Purdy also complained in written arguments that Johnson allowed excessive victim-impact testimony, suggesting it unfairly persuaded the jury to vote, 10-2, to recommend death over life in prison.
Assistant State Attorney Bill Gladson, who helped prosecute Wheeler, also plans to attend the proceedings scheduled for live broadcast over the Internet (http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel) and slated to feature the arguments of Senior Assistant Attorney General Kenneth S. Nunnelly.
In a written rebuttal, Nunnelly refuted Wheeler's arguments, suggesting the Paisley man acted with premeditation - not the "heat of passion" - when he emerged from surrounding woods and ambushed the lawmen.
The state's defense of the verdict and sentence include reference to a conversation between Wheeler and deputy Rick Brown, who was assigned to guard Wheeler while he recovered from his wounds at Orlando Regional Medical Center. In the secretly recorded chat, Wheeler confided to Brown that he had a choice when he saw the deputies arrive.
"I could either run or I could go out in a blaze of glory," Brown said.
Wheeler's case is one of seven death-penalty appeals that will be heard this week by the state's high court.
5:15 PM EDT, October 6, 2008
TAVARES - A public defender will attempt to persuade the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday that Jason Wheeler did not receive a fair trial or sentence for killing Lake County Deputy Sheriff Wayne Koester in an armed ambush.
Wheeler, 33, sentenced to death in the Feb. 9, 2005, slaying, will not attend the hearing scheduled for 9:40 a.m. Tuesday in Tallahassee, but Koester's widow, Ashley Koester, will.
"I just want to see it through," said Ashley Koester, now 35 and a deputy sheriff in Volusia County. "I want to make sure the truth is told and the sentence is carried out."
She said she will be wearing a sheriff's badge bearing a black ribbon, a gift from the late Lake County Sheriff Chris Daniels that honors her husband's sacrifice.
Wheeler, confined to a death-row cell at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford that accommodates his wheelchair, was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for wounding deputies Tom McKane and William Crotty. The lawmen were investigating a sexual-assault complaint filed by Wheeler's girlfriend, Sarah Heckerman. Wheeler was paralyzed when shot during his capture by a pursuing deputy.
Court filings show Public Defender James S. Purdy, who handles death-penalty appeals, will argue that Lake Circuit Judge T. Michael Johnson should have given the jury a special instruction outlining the "heat of passion" defense and should have limited "prejudicial" closing remarks by State Attorney Brad King.
Purdy also complained in written arguments that Johnson allowed excessive victim-impact testimony, suggesting it unfairly persuaded the jury to vote, 10-2, to recommend death over life in prison.
Assistant State Attorney Bill Gladson, who helped prosecute Wheeler, also plans to attend the proceedings scheduled for live broadcast over the Internet (http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel) and slated to feature the arguments of Senior Assistant Attorney General Kenneth S. Nunnelly.
In a written rebuttal, Nunnelly refuted Wheeler's arguments, suggesting the Paisley man acted with premeditation - not the "heat of passion" - when he emerged from surrounding woods and ambushed the lawmen.
The state's defense of the verdict and sentence include reference to a conversation between Wheeler and deputy Rick Brown, who was assigned to guard Wheeler while he recovered from his wounds at Orlando Regional Medical Center. In the secretly recorded chat, Wheeler confided to Brown that he had a choice when he saw the deputies arrive.
"I could either run or I could go out in a blaze of glory," Brown said.
Wheeler's case is one of seven death-penalty appeals that will be heard this week by the state's high court.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Death penalty sought in Sumter murder case
Carl DauschMILLARD K. IVES
Staff Writer
BUSHNELL -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a hitchhiker if he is convicted on accusations of tying up, raping, robbing and stomping to death a Lake Panasoffkee man.
A trial date has not been set yet for Carl Dausch, 47, who now faces capital murder charges as well as sexual battery charges in the death of Adrian Renard Mobley.
Dausch will have his next court appearance Oct. 20 in the Sumter County courthouse.
He is being held at the Sumter County jail on no bail.
State Attorney Brad King would not go into details today of why they decided to seek the death penalty. But he said based on aggravated and mitigating factors in the case, they are sure the Florida Supreme Court would uphold the death penalty.
Dausch was serving 60 years in an Indiana prison on an unrelated rape and battery, when he was indicted in the Mobley murder. He was brought back to Sumter County in August to begin facing court proceedings here.
Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino couldn't be reach for comment today but said earlier he wanted to study Dausch's criminal record and other factors in the case before making the decision whether to seek the death penalty.
Magrino, who worked on the case of convicted child rapist and killer John Couey, called the Mobley murder a horrendous crime, but stopped short of ranking it among other heinous murders for which he has sought the death penalty.
Staff Writer
BUSHNELL -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a hitchhiker if he is convicted on accusations of tying up, raping, robbing and stomping to death a Lake Panasoffkee man.
A trial date has not been set yet for Carl Dausch, 47, who now faces capital murder charges as well as sexual battery charges in the death of Adrian Renard Mobley.
Dausch will have his next court appearance Oct. 20 in the Sumter County courthouse.
He is being held at the Sumter County jail on no bail.
State Attorney Brad King would not go into details today of why they decided to seek the death penalty. But he said based on aggravated and mitigating factors in the case, they are sure the Florida Supreme Court would uphold the death penalty.
Dausch was serving 60 years in an Indiana prison on an unrelated rape and battery, when he was indicted in the Mobley murder. He was brought back to Sumter County in August to begin facing court proceedings here.
Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino couldn't be reach for comment today but said earlier he wanted to study Dausch's criminal record and other factors in the case before making the decision whether to seek the death penalty.
Magrino, who worked on the case of convicted child rapist and killer John Couey, called the Mobley murder a horrendous crime, but stopped short of ranking it among other heinous murders for which he has sought the death penalty.
Florida to reprimand judge in capital case
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A Florida judge had yet to decide Tuesday if she would seek a new hearing on allegations she abused defense lawyers during a death-penalty trial.
Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Aleman has the option to seek a new hearing after the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday that she should be reprimanded for her conduct in the case.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said the court issued a 13-page opinion stating Aleman was "arrogant, discourteous and impatient" with the attorneys in the case.
Specifically, Aleman at one point limited defense motions to 15 minutes and threatened to cite the attorneys with contempt if they went too long.
The justices wrote that the time limit "forced defense counsel to decide between diligently representing their client and abiding by the court's order."
The newspaper said the judge's lawyer unsuccessfully argues that the complaint stemmed from her rulings in the case rather than the manner in which she ran the trial.
Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Aleman has the option to seek a new hearing after the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday that she should be reprimanded for her conduct in the case.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said the court issued a 13-page opinion stating Aleman was "arrogant, discourteous and impatient" with the attorneys in the case.
Specifically, Aleman at one point limited defense motions to 15 minutes and threatened to cite the attorneys with contempt if they went too long.
The justices wrote that the time limit "forced defense counsel to decide between diligently representing their client and abiding by the court's order."
The newspaper said the judge's lawyer unsuccessfully argues that the complaint stemmed from her rulings in the case rather than the manner in which she ran the trial.
Confession of Suspect in Florida Officer's Death Could Be Tossed
Alfred Gordon SrPosted: September 26th, 2008 12:01 PM EDT
Story by wftv.com
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --
An attorney says Orange County deputies broke the rules interrogating an accused cop killer and his confession could be thrown out.
Davin Smith is accused of killing Orlando Police Officer Alfred Gordon last October. Smith is on tape claiming to detectives he accidentally shot Alfred Gordon minutes after Gordon took money out of an ATM. Now that testimony may be thrown out, because the defense says they got his statement illegally.
When Orange County detectives arrested Smith and Hugo Terry for allegedly murdering Alfred Gordon, they thought they had a slam dunk. In fact, Smith even admitted in a videotaped interrogation that he killed the off-duty officer.
"I heard the gunshot go off and that was it," Smith told investigators.
Gordon had just left the ATM at a Bank of America parking lot in Pine Hills when the two suspects approached him. Detectives said Gordon reached for his gun and Smith reached for his gun and that's when Smith shot him. The state is asking for the death penalty.
But now, Eyewitness News has learned Judge Belvin Perry may throw out Smith's statements to two detectives, including his confession while homicide detectives were interrogating Smith. The defense says they ignored his repeated requests for an attorney, a possible Miranda rights violation.
"He wanted to terminate that interview," said assistant public defender Marc Burnham.
"I want to call my mom and tell her to get my lawyer because this s*** ain't right," Smith told investigators.
The defense says detectives obtained Smith's statements illegally and without that confession the state has no case.
"Without that, all they have is Hugo Terry and his brothers making statements bringing my client into this," Burnham said.
With or without Smith's statement, prosecutors still feel they have a good case.
The public defender's office also claimed a deputy lied about whether he interviewed Smith and wanted the judge to take the death penalty off the table. Perry ruled the deputy may have simply forgotten.
Copyright 2008 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Story by wftv.com
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --
An attorney says Orange County deputies broke the rules interrogating an accused cop killer and his confession could be thrown out.
Davin Smith is accused of killing Orlando Police Officer Alfred Gordon last October. Smith is on tape claiming to detectives he accidentally shot Alfred Gordon minutes after Gordon took money out of an ATM. Now that testimony may be thrown out, because the defense says they got his statement illegally.
When Orange County detectives arrested Smith and Hugo Terry for allegedly murdering Alfred Gordon, they thought they had a slam dunk. In fact, Smith even admitted in a videotaped interrogation that he killed the off-duty officer.
"I heard the gunshot go off and that was it," Smith told investigators.
Gordon had just left the ATM at a Bank of America parking lot in Pine Hills when the two suspects approached him. Detectives said Gordon reached for his gun and Smith reached for his gun and that's when Smith shot him. The state is asking for the death penalty.
But now, Eyewitness News has learned Judge Belvin Perry may throw out Smith's statements to two detectives, including his confession while homicide detectives were interrogating Smith. The defense says they ignored his repeated requests for an attorney, a possible Miranda rights violation.
"He wanted to terminate that interview," said assistant public defender Marc Burnham.
"I want to call my mom and tell her to get my lawyer because this s*** ain't right," Smith told investigators.
The defense says detectives obtained Smith's statements illegally and without that confession the state has no case.
"Without that, all they have is Hugo Terry and his brothers making statements bringing my client into this," Burnham said.
With or without Smith's statement, prosecutors still feel they have a good case.
The public defender's office also claimed a deputy lied about whether he interviewed Smith and wanted the judge to take the death penalty off the table. Perry ruled the deputy may have simply forgotten.
Copyright 2008 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Victims' parents: Allred should be in court
By NASEEM S. MILLER
Star-Banner
Published: Monday, September 22, 2008 at 9:36 a.m.
SEMINOLE - The parents of the two young people whom Andrew Allred has admitted killing were upset this afternoon that Allred wasn't in court during his sentencing hearing.
"He was my son's judge and jury," said Janice Ruschak, whose son, Michael, was killed last year along with his friend Tiffany Barwick, an Ocala native.
Allred previously pleaded guilty to killing the two last September inside an Oviedo house.
The state is seeking the death penalty. The defense is seeking life in prison. Allred has waived his right to a jury in the sentencing hearing. The judge has granted his wish to be absent from the courtroom.
The state took testimony from a man who lives across from 100 Shady Oak Lane in Oviedo, where the killings happened. He told the judge that he saw Allred drive up to the house the night of the killings, ram into Barwick's car, then go inside.
The judge also heard from the other people who were inside the house that night, including one young man whom Allred shot, though not fatally. Barwick and Ruschak both were shot to death.
In its opening statement, the prosecution listed the aggravating factors that it says apply to the killing of Tiffany Barwick. Among them: that the killing was heinous, atrocious and cruel; that it was cold, calculated and premeditated; that it was committed during an armed burglary; and that it created a great risk of death to many people.
For Ruschak's case, the factors were the same except for the heinous, atrocious and cruel portion.
The defense, meantime, listed the mitigating factors that it intends to prove. Among them: that Allred lacked the capability to conform to the law; and that he was suffering a severe emotional disturbance.
The proceedings halted this afternoon and are scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Seminole County courthouse.
Allred was present in court briefly during the morning because Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton wanted to make sure he still didn't want to attend the full proceedings.
Allred said loudly and firmly, "No, sir."
Allred appeared disheveled, his hair and beard long and unkempt. He covered his face from the cameras, while raising his middle finger.
In comments after court, the victims' families said Allred shouldn't be allowed to take a pass.
"All these kids have a right to face him," Mrs. Ruschak said, referencing the witnesses who had been inside the house that night.
Star-Banner
Published: Monday, September 22, 2008 at 9:36 a.m.
SEMINOLE - The parents of the two young people whom Andrew Allred has admitted killing were upset this afternoon that Allred wasn't in court during his sentencing hearing.
"He was my son's judge and jury," said Janice Ruschak, whose son, Michael, was killed last year along with his friend Tiffany Barwick, an Ocala native.
Allred previously pleaded guilty to killing the two last September inside an Oviedo house.
The state is seeking the death penalty. The defense is seeking life in prison. Allred has waived his right to a jury in the sentencing hearing. The judge has granted his wish to be absent from the courtroom.
The state took testimony from a man who lives across from 100 Shady Oak Lane in Oviedo, where the killings happened. He told the judge that he saw Allred drive up to the house the night of the killings, ram into Barwick's car, then go inside.
The judge also heard from the other people who were inside the house that night, including one young man whom Allred shot, though not fatally. Barwick and Ruschak both were shot to death.
In its opening statement, the prosecution listed the aggravating factors that it says apply to the killing of Tiffany Barwick. Among them: that the killing was heinous, atrocious and cruel; that it was cold, calculated and premeditated; that it was committed during an armed burglary; and that it created a great risk of death to many people.
For Ruschak's case, the factors were the same except for the heinous, atrocious and cruel portion.
The defense, meantime, listed the mitigating factors that it intends to prove. Among them: that Allred lacked the capability to conform to the law; and that he was suffering a severe emotional disturbance.
The proceedings halted this afternoon and are scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Seminole County courthouse.
Allred was present in court briefly during the morning because Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton wanted to make sure he still didn't want to attend the full proceedings.
Allred said loudly and firmly, "No, sir."
Allred appeared disheveled, his hair and beard long and unkempt. He covered his face from the cameras, while raising his middle finger.
In comments after court, the victims' families said Allred shouldn't be allowed to take a pass.
"All these kids have a right to face him," Mrs. Ruschak said, referencing the witnesses who had been inside the house that night.
Testimony ends for day in trial of Oviedo man who murdered former girlfriend, UCF student
Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
4:38 PM EDT, September 22, 2008
Testimony had concluded for the day in Sanford at the trial of a 22-year-old Oviedo man who murdered his former girlfriend and a University of Central Florida student last year.
Andrew Allred pleaded guilty in April to those slayings.
The penalty phase of his trial began today even though he refused to go into the courtroom. That didn't stop the judge and attorneys. They began picking a panel anyway while Allred sat in a holding cell at Seminole's Criminal Justice Center and watched the proceedings by video.
Testimony is to continue in the morning.
Jurors this week will decide one issue – whether Allred should be given the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.
Allred shot Tiffany Barwick, 19, and her friend Michael Ruschak, 22, on Sept, 24, 2007, at Ruschak's home in Oviedo, where several friends had gathered.
Allred crashed his car into the house then shot his way inside. He wounded a third person.
Allred and Barwick had broken up, but he had been cyberstalking Barwick, according to police records. The day of the slayings, Barwick and Ruschak had asked the Seminole County Sheriff's Office to arrest Allred, but that didn't happen.
4:38 PM EDT, September 22, 2008
Testimony had concluded for the day in Sanford at the trial of a 22-year-old Oviedo man who murdered his former girlfriend and a University of Central Florida student last year.
Andrew Allred pleaded guilty in April to those slayings.
The penalty phase of his trial began today even though he refused to go into the courtroom. That didn't stop the judge and attorneys. They began picking a panel anyway while Allred sat in a holding cell at Seminole's Criminal Justice Center and watched the proceedings by video.
Testimony is to continue in the morning.
Jurors this week will decide one issue – whether Allred should be given the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.
Allred shot Tiffany Barwick, 19, and her friend Michael Ruschak, 22, on Sept, 24, 2007, at Ruschak's home in Oviedo, where several friends had gathered.
Allred crashed his car into the house then shot his way inside. He wounded a third person.
Allred and Barwick had broken up, but he had been cyberstalking Barwick, according to police records. The day of the slayings, Barwick and Ruschak had asked the Seminole County Sheriff's Office to arrest Allred, but that didn't happen.
Editorial Endorsement: 19th Judicial Circuit Judge, the general election
RACE: 19th Judicial Circuit Judge
SEAT: Group 4
PARTY: Non-partisan
CANDIDATES:
Dwight Geiger, 65, Stuart
Fran Ross, 54, Fort Pierce
PRIMARY RESULTS: Geiger, 47.2 percent of 76,578 votes cast Treasure Coast-wide; Ross, 27.5 percent; Faith Litvack, 25.3 percent
KEY ISSUES: Knowledge of the law, efficiency, fairness, temperament, leadership
WHY WE ENDORSED: Geiger's (judicial) and Ross' (personal and legal) experiences stand out. Likewise, Ross' common-sense, regular-Jane, real-world approach to the court is refreshing.
Geiger was a solid circuit judge on the Treasure Coast for 28 years, handling all sorts of cases - from imposing the death penalty to rendering complex civil judgments. He also has given to his country, having retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army reserves and serving in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. He is known as a methodical judge, whose court pace occasionally slows in his efforts to be fair to all.
Ross started her education in Gifford schools, before desegregation in Indian River County. The route to her own law practice has been unorthodox and inspiring, having worked at a Woolworth's, a prison and school system to pay her way through Indian River Community College, Florida Atlantic and Southern universities.
A single mother and criminal defense attorney, Ross knows the pulse of the Fort Pierce teen community, gangs and all. Her ascension to the bench would provide a role model with a tough-love demeanor. Ross pledged to collaborate with officials in the justice system to make the courts work more efficiently and limit crowding in county jails.
WHY WE DIDN'T ENDORSE: While Ross lacks the experience and legal knowledge of Geiger, she has more upside in the long run. Geiger will be prohibited from seeking office again in 2014, unless the state constitution is changed to allow judges to run after age 70. Geiger said he has looked into changing the constitution, noting he would hope to work into his 80s assuming his health holds out. While a noble goal, Geiger's explanation seemed more aimed at personal job satisfaction than serving the community.
WE RECOMMEND FRAN ROSS
Ross says: "The appropriate temperament is to be respectful to all parties, litigants and others appearing before the court. With juveniles, I will take the same approach, however, I will probably take a sterner tone of cautioning them of the dangers of breaking the law and at the same time encourage them to get an education or trade in order to better themselves in life."
SEAT: Group 4
PARTY: Non-partisan
CANDIDATES:
Dwight Geiger, 65, Stuart
Fran Ross, 54, Fort Pierce
PRIMARY RESULTS: Geiger, 47.2 percent of 76,578 votes cast Treasure Coast-wide; Ross, 27.5 percent; Faith Litvack, 25.3 percent
KEY ISSUES: Knowledge of the law, efficiency, fairness, temperament, leadership
WHY WE ENDORSED: Geiger's (judicial) and Ross' (personal and legal) experiences stand out. Likewise, Ross' common-sense, regular-Jane, real-world approach to the court is refreshing.
Geiger was a solid circuit judge on the Treasure Coast for 28 years, handling all sorts of cases - from imposing the death penalty to rendering complex civil judgments. He also has given to his country, having retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army reserves and serving in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. He is known as a methodical judge, whose court pace occasionally slows in his efforts to be fair to all.
Ross started her education in Gifford schools, before desegregation in Indian River County. The route to her own law practice has been unorthodox and inspiring, having worked at a Woolworth's, a prison and school system to pay her way through Indian River Community College, Florida Atlantic and Southern universities.
A single mother and criminal defense attorney, Ross knows the pulse of the Fort Pierce teen community, gangs and all. Her ascension to the bench would provide a role model with a tough-love demeanor. Ross pledged to collaborate with officials in the justice system to make the courts work more efficiently and limit crowding in county jails.
WHY WE DIDN'T ENDORSE: While Ross lacks the experience and legal knowledge of Geiger, she has more upside in the long run. Geiger will be prohibited from seeking office again in 2014, unless the state constitution is changed to allow judges to run after age 70. Geiger said he has looked into changing the constitution, noting he would hope to work into his 80s assuming his health holds out. While a noble goal, Geiger's explanation seemed more aimed at personal job satisfaction than serving the community.
WE RECOMMEND FRAN ROSS
Ross says: "The appropriate temperament is to be respectful to all parties, litigants and others appearing before the court. With juveniles, I will take the same approach, however, I will probably take a sterner tone of cautioning them of the dangers of breaking the law and at the same time encourage them to get an education or trade in order to better themselves in life."
State Attorney's Office Seeking Death Penalty in Hoffman Case
The State Attorney's Office has confirmed that they have filed a notice to seek the death penalty against the two defendants charged with murdering Tallahassee police informant Rachel Hoffman.
The notice was filed Monday but was not added to the docket until this morning. It is signed by Assistant State Attorney Frank Allman.
The notice was filed Monday but was not added to the docket until this morning. It is signed by Assistant State Attorney Frank Allman.
Should we seek death penalty?
MILLARD K. IVES
Staff Writer
BUSHNELL -- Prosecutors are trying to determine whether to seek the death penalty for a hitchhiker accused of tying up, raping, robbing and stomping to death a Lake Panasoffkee man.
Carl Dausch, 47, will be arraigned Tuesday in the Sumter County courthouse on murder and sexual battery charges in the death of Adrian Renard Mobley.
Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino said he is studying Dausch's criminal record and other factors in the case -- including the wishes of the victim's family -- before making the decision.
Magrino, who worked on the case of convicted child rapist and killer John Couey, called the Mobley murder a horrendous crime, but stopped short of ranking it among other heinous murders for which he has sought the death penalty.
"On a dark road in the middle of nowhere, I can't imagine how scared the victim was," Magrino said.
On July 15, 1987, Mobley was found on County Road 475, just north of Bushnell -- hog-tied with a blue bedsheet and white T-shirt and beaten to death. An autopsy revealed he had been kicked and stomped -- so hard that a fracture to the nasal bone caused massive swelling in the brain, which was the proximate cause of death.
Mobley's 1981 red Honda Accord also was missing. It later turned up in Whitehouse, Tenn., just north of Nashville. A witness told detectives he saw a white male with blond, shaggy ear-length hair, leave the car there and begin hitchhiking.
Sumter County sheriff's officials didn't know the identity of the hitchhiker. But Lt. Steve Binegar said detectives knew Mobley had a history of picking up blond males.
The murder would go unsolved for 17 years.
Then in 2004, the cold case heated up after cigarette butts retrieved from the car were tested for DNA. That DNA pointed to Dausch, an Indiana prison inmate, serving 60 years on an unrelated rape and battery conviction.
Sheriff's Capt. Gary Brannen said detectives began putting the pieces together:
Dausch was on a trip with family members from Ohio to Florida when an argument ensued, and they left him stranded. Mobley, a local Wal-Mart employee, picked up Dausch. Brannen said they believe Dausch had ulterior motives, wanting to get a ride back to Ohio, any way he could.
Brannen said Mobley wouldn't give him a ride to Ohio or give him the car, and Dausch got upset.
"What makes the crime so heinous crime is he didn't have to kill him," Brannen said. "He was in a position where he could have just taken the car."
A Sumter County grand jury eventually indicted Dausch for the murder and battery and he was brought back to the Sumter County jail in August to begin court proceedings in the Mobley case. The statue of limitations had run out for any robbery or grand theft charges.
Magrino said he has 45 days from the time Dausch is arraigned Tuesday to make a decision to seek the death penalty, although he could ask for more time.
Staff Writer
BUSHNELL -- Prosecutors are trying to determine whether to seek the death penalty for a hitchhiker accused of tying up, raping, robbing and stomping to death a Lake Panasoffkee man.
Carl Dausch, 47, will be arraigned Tuesday in the Sumter County courthouse on murder and sexual battery charges in the death of Adrian Renard Mobley.
Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino said he is studying Dausch's criminal record and other factors in the case -- including the wishes of the victim's family -- before making the decision.
Magrino, who worked on the case of convicted child rapist and killer John Couey, called the Mobley murder a horrendous crime, but stopped short of ranking it among other heinous murders for which he has sought the death penalty.
"On a dark road in the middle of nowhere, I can't imagine how scared the victim was," Magrino said.
On July 15, 1987, Mobley was found on County Road 475, just north of Bushnell -- hog-tied with a blue bedsheet and white T-shirt and beaten to death. An autopsy revealed he had been kicked and stomped -- so hard that a fracture to the nasal bone caused massive swelling in the brain, which was the proximate cause of death.
Mobley's 1981 red Honda Accord also was missing. It later turned up in Whitehouse, Tenn., just north of Nashville. A witness told detectives he saw a white male with blond, shaggy ear-length hair, leave the car there and begin hitchhiking.
Sumter County sheriff's officials didn't know the identity of the hitchhiker. But Lt. Steve Binegar said detectives knew Mobley had a history of picking up blond males.
The murder would go unsolved for 17 years.
Then in 2004, the cold case heated up after cigarette butts retrieved from the car were tested for DNA. That DNA pointed to Dausch, an Indiana prison inmate, serving 60 years on an unrelated rape and battery conviction.
Sheriff's Capt. Gary Brannen said detectives began putting the pieces together:
Dausch was on a trip with family members from Ohio to Florida when an argument ensued, and they left him stranded. Mobley, a local Wal-Mart employee, picked up Dausch. Brannen said they believe Dausch had ulterior motives, wanting to get a ride back to Ohio, any way he could.
Brannen said Mobley wouldn't give him a ride to Ohio or give him the car, and Dausch got upset.
"What makes the crime so heinous crime is he didn't have to kill him," Brannen said. "He was in a position where he could have just taken the car."
A Sumter County grand jury eventually indicted Dausch for the murder and battery and he was brought back to the Sumter County jail in August to begin court proceedings in the Mobley case. The statue of limitations had run out for any robbery or grand theft charges.
Magrino said he has 45 days from the time Dausch is arraigned Tuesday to make a decision to seek the death penalty, although he could ask for more time.
Public defender wins capital murder case
BY JOHN A. TORRES
FLORIDA TODAY
Assistant Public Defender Mike Pirolo couldn't remember the last time the public defender's office won a capital murder case. Now, he can.
Pirolo and George McCarthy successfully defended 20-year-
old Nikee Turner, who was facing life in prison in the shooting death of Lonsley Dortly Jr. in 2005. A jury acquitted Turner of first-degree murder.
Pirolo and McCarthy argued that Turner was supposed to take the fall and that he was threatened since his arrest not to "rat out" the real killer. They said that fear was what prompted Turner to make a videotaped confession -- a confession that never matched the facts.
A few months after being charged with the murder, Turner tried hanging himself in the Brevard County jail where he was being held until the trial.
Police said Dortly was killed at the Colonial Arms Apartments on Merritt Island after buying crack cocaine and that Turner shot him in retaliation for threats made against Turner's brother.
"There was a video introduced into evidence containing a confession," Pirolo said. "We argued that it was a false confession because he had to take the fall for the person who really committed the crime.
The state presented three convicted felons as witnesses in the case, including one who admitted to being a gang member and two who said they received deals in exchange for their testimony.
Because of his age, Turner was not facing the death penalty.
"It's tragic what happened to Mr. Dorlty, however, Nikee was not the one who committed the crime," Pirolo said.
Usually hamstrung by small budgets and an inability to spend what the prosecution does, the public defender's office rarely is able to boast of an acquittal in such a serious case.
Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com.
FLORIDA TODAY
Assistant Public Defender Mike Pirolo couldn't remember the last time the public defender's office won a capital murder case. Now, he can.
Pirolo and George McCarthy successfully defended 20-year-
old Nikee Turner, who was facing life in prison in the shooting death of Lonsley Dortly Jr. in 2005. A jury acquitted Turner of first-degree murder.
Pirolo and McCarthy argued that Turner was supposed to take the fall and that he was threatened since his arrest not to "rat out" the real killer. They said that fear was what prompted Turner to make a videotaped confession -- a confession that never matched the facts.
A few months after being charged with the murder, Turner tried hanging himself in the Brevard County jail where he was being held until the trial.
Police said Dortly was killed at the Colonial Arms Apartments on Merritt Island after buying crack cocaine and that Turner shot him in retaliation for threats made against Turner's brother.
"There was a video introduced into evidence containing a confession," Pirolo said. "We argued that it was a false confession because he had to take the fall for the person who really committed the crime.
The state presented three convicted felons as witnesses in the case, including one who admitted to being a gang member and two who said they received deals in exchange for their testimony.
Because of his age, Turner was not facing the death penalty.
"It's tragic what happened to Mr. Dorlty, however, Nikee was not the one who committed the crime," Pirolo said.
Usually hamstrung by small budgets and an inability to spend what the prosecution does, the public defender's office rarely is able to boast of an acquittal in such a serious case.
Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
High Court Upholds Death Sentence In Local Couple's Slaying
TBO.com
Published: September 29, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed on William Deparvine for killing a Tierra Verde couple in November 2003.
A jury found Deparvine guilty of killing Richard and Karla Van Dusen, whose bodies were found on a dirt road east of Oldsmar.
Prosecutors said Deparvine met the couple when he responded to a newspaper add they placed to sell their 1971 Chevrolet pickup.
Justice R. Fred Lewis and Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince dissented, saying the jury should not have been allowed to hear purportedly spontaneous statements Deparvine made to authorities.
Published: September 29, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed on William Deparvine for killing a Tierra Verde couple in November 2003.
A jury found Deparvine guilty of killing Richard and Karla Van Dusen, whose bodies were found on a dirt road east of Oldsmar.
Prosecutors said Deparvine met the couple when he responded to a newspaper add they placed to sell their 1971 Chevrolet pickup.
Justice R. Fred Lewis and Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince dissented, saying the jury should not have been allowed to hear purportedly spontaneous statements Deparvine made to authorities.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Price isn't right for the death penalty
By Jack Payden-Travers
Article Launched: 09/27/2008 10:56:50 PM PDT
AS the country's economic woes continue to mount, frightening many Americans, it has become clear that the United States simply cannot afford capital punishment.
The death penalty is the revenue-guzzling SUV to the cost-efficient hybrid of life without parole. Researchers all over the country are crunching the numbers and coming to the same conclusion - the death penalty is far too expensive.
In its recently released report, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice found that California's current death penalty system costs $137 million annually compared with $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty. The commission also reported that California's system is "dysfunctional" and that it will cost an additional $200 million a year to fix it.
In January 2008, New Jersey became the first state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years.
The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission's report included the costs of a capital punishment system as one of the seven issues it studied. It noted that costs associated with death penalty cases are significantly higher than those associated with life without parole cases.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections estimated an average savings to the state of over $1 million over each inmate's lifetime. In addition the Commission noted "the devastating emotional costs of the death penalty ... the adverse effects of executions on third parties: judges, jurors, judicial staff, correctional staff, journalists, clergy and spiritual advisors, as well as the families of the victim and the families of the condemned inmate ... these intangible emotional and psychological costs must also be taken into consideration in weighing the costs of the death penalty."
In Maryland, the Urban Institute study of March 2008 noted that it costs the state three times more to try a death penalty case than a non-death penalty case. The report stated that "an average capital-eligible case resulting in a death sentence will cost approximately $3 million, $1.9 million more than a case where the death penalty was not sought."
A 2004 study in Tennessee said the findings were the same. Capital trials cost almost 50 percent more than trials where life without parole is sought. Similar findings have been made in Washington, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Kansas and Texas.
The death penalty is a failed government program for many reasons. One is that it is a colossal waste of government resources. Since 1977 we've carried out over 1,100 executions in this country to the tune of what is conservatively estimated over $1 billion. We would have been far wiser using this money to meet our many pressing needs, such as improving our schools, building safer communities, fixing our deteriorating infrastructures, shoring up our social security system, providing health insurance for children, etc.
That money has only purchased a system that doesn't work. In the last 3 decades, 129 individuals have been released from death row because they were innocent. That's one exoneration for every 9 executions. Would you buy a car that failed to start one time out of 10?
Whether one believes in the death penalty or not, we have to face the true costs of this policy. Nearly 3,300 men and women sit on death row right now.
Even if the United States were to return to the heyday of the death penalty, 1998 with 98 executions, it would take more than 30 years to kill all of these individuals. What will the cost of execution have risen to by then?
The reality is that most individuals remain on death row for at least 10 years before all state and federal appeals are completed. Based on the 129 exonerations so far we know it takes on average nine years and three appeals to reverse a wrongful conviction.
Many prisoners will die of natural causes before they can be executed. It would be far cheaper to commute these sentences to life without parole than to continue this failed policy of state killing. Indeed juries which now have the option of life in prison without parole in 35 of the 36 death penalty states are increasingly refusing to sentence people to death.
The death penalty is a bankrupting policy. Let's abolish it.
Jack Payden-Travers is the public education associate with the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project
Article Launched: 09/27/2008 10:56:50 PM PDT
AS the country's economic woes continue to mount, frightening many Americans, it has become clear that the United States simply cannot afford capital punishment.
The death penalty is the revenue-guzzling SUV to the cost-efficient hybrid of life without parole. Researchers all over the country are crunching the numbers and coming to the same conclusion - the death penalty is far too expensive.
In its recently released report, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice found that California's current death penalty system costs $137 million annually compared with $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty. The commission also reported that California's system is "dysfunctional" and that it will cost an additional $200 million a year to fix it.
In January 2008, New Jersey became the first state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years.
The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission's report included the costs of a capital punishment system as one of the seven issues it studied. It noted that costs associated with death penalty cases are significantly higher than those associated with life without parole cases.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections estimated an average savings to the state of over $1 million over each inmate's lifetime. In addition the Commission noted "the devastating emotional costs of the death penalty ... the adverse effects of executions on third parties: judges, jurors, judicial staff, correctional staff, journalists, clergy and spiritual advisors, as well as the families of the victim and the families of the condemned inmate ... these intangible emotional and psychological costs must also be taken into consideration in weighing the costs of the death penalty."
In Maryland, the Urban Institute study of March 2008 noted that it costs the state three times more to try a death penalty case than a non-death penalty case. The report stated that "an average capital-eligible case resulting in a death sentence will cost approximately $3 million, $1.9 million more than a case where the death penalty was not sought."
A 2004 study in Tennessee said the findings were the same. Capital trials cost almost 50 percent more than trials where life without parole is sought. Similar findings have been made in Washington, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Kansas and Texas.
The death penalty is a failed government program for many reasons. One is that it is a colossal waste of government resources. Since 1977 we've carried out over 1,100 executions in this country to the tune of what is conservatively estimated over $1 billion. We would have been far wiser using this money to meet our many pressing needs, such as improving our schools, building safer communities, fixing our deteriorating infrastructures, shoring up our social security system, providing health insurance for children, etc.
That money has only purchased a system that doesn't work. In the last 3 decades, 129 individuals have been released from death row because they were innocent. That's one exoneration for every 9 executions. Would you buy a car that failed to start one time out of 10?
Whether one believes in the death penalty or not, we have to face the true costs of this policy. Nearly 3,300 men and women sit on death row right now.
Even if the United States were to return to the heyday of the death penalty, 1998 with 98 executions, it would take more than 30 years to kill all of these individuals. What will the cost of execution have risen to by then?
The reality is that most individuals remain on death row for at least 10 years before all state and federal appeals are completed. Based on the 129 exonerations so far we know it takes on average nine years and three appeals to reverse a wrongful conviction.
Many prisoners will die of natural causes before they can be executed. It would be far cheaper to commute these sentences to life without parole than to continue this failed policy of state killing. Indeed juries which now have the option of life in prison without parole in 35 of the 36 death penalty states are increasingly refusing to sentence people to death.
The death penalty is a bankrupting policy. Let's abolish it.
Jack Payden-Travers is the public education associate with the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project
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