Sept. 9 GEORGIA: Lawyers Want Courthouse Shooting Evidence Lawyers for a man accused of killing 4 people, including the judge presiding over his rape trial, said Thursday the courtroom where the shootings began was cleaned before they could view it. Attorneys for Brian Nichols said they had hoped to walk through the crime scene and take their own pictures before the room was altered. They asked for all evidence in the case to be preserved for their independent inspection. "You can't undo what's been done," defense lawyer Henderson Hill said. Prosecutors did not object to the motion and Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller said he was inclined to approve it. The courtroom was cleaned because it is needed for other cases, said court administrator Judith Cramer, adding that no one from the defense approached her about preserving it. Lawyers also discussed a defense motion to move jury selection and the trial out of the Fulton County Courthouse, noting that it is a crime scene. Because the defense is asking for the case to be moved out of the downtown courthouse, and not the county, the motion is not considered a change of venue. Prosecutors said they may be able to work something out, but so far another site has not been suggested. The judge has not ruled on the request. Nichols is accused of overpowering a deputy March 11, grabbing her gun and entering the courtroom where his rape trial was scheduled to resume. Authorities say he killed the judge and a court reporter. He also is accused of killing a sheriff's deputy who chased after him and, that night, a federal agent at a home north of downtown. He was captured the next day after police said he took a woman hostage in an Atlanta suburb. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Security has been tightened at the courthouse since the shootings, and several investigations have been launched. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Boynton man given life sentence for murder Jorge Cortes, convicted of killing 1 man and attempting to end the life of a 2nd, was spared the death penalty Thursday when Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga sentenced him to life in prison instead. Labarga noted that Cortes, 35, overcame the hardships of a tough childhood in the South Bronx to live a life devoid of criminal convictions until May 2003 when he shot Richard "Jeff" Ferayorni, 45, of Fort Lauderdale, in the head, killing him. He also shot Reginald Argentieri, 76, of Lake Worth, in the jaw, wounding him. Cortes had a gunshot wound to an arm, which Argentieri said was self-inflicted. But, the judge added, Ferayorni by all accounts was a "decent, hard-working family man" who "was a living human being entitled to live out the full term of his life." In the end, Labarga - imposing sentence for the 1st time in a case where the state sought death - decided the ultimate penalty was not applicable. Cortes' mother and daughter left the courtroom in tears. Ferayorni's mother and two sisters were dry-eyed. "I thought the judge was very heartfelt and his words were very kind," said Lisa Ferayorni, a Fort Lauderdale gastroenterologist and one of the sisters. She favored the death penalty but assumed Cortes would get life because of Palm Beach County's reputation for seldom imposing death. The judge also sentenced Cortes to life for the attempted murder of Argentieri and to 15 years for shooting into an occupied vehicle. Both run consecutive to the first life sentence. Labarga ruled after listening to witnesses testify for 2 1/2 days 2 weeks ago Aug. 22-24 during the sentencing phase of Cortes' case. The bizarre events of the case unfolded in May 2003 when Cortes drove himself and the wounded men to JFK Medical Center. Prosecutor Dan Galo argued at trial that Cortes shot both men after Ferayorni, a Realtor, discovered Cortes had prepared fraudulent real estate paperwork bilking three people out of more than $100,000. Cortes, who was a Boynton Beach real estate assistant, testified that he shot nobody, but was himself set up in a robbery that ended in the shootings. Galo urged Labarga to impose the death penalty, saying that Cortes acted with careful premeditation and had a sophisticated plan. Public Defender Carey Haughwout said the "weird facts of the case" showed the opposite. Cortes drove to the hospital with the gun by his side and a living witness in the car, she said. (source: Palm Beach Post) CALIFORNIA: Death row inmate gets new hearing ---- Defense says witness was afraid to testify in tot rape-slay case A federal appeals court ordered a new hearing Thursday into whether a Los Angeles prosecutor intimidated a defense witness whose testimony might have helped Ricky Lee Earp avoid a conviction and death sentence for the rape and murder of his 18-month-old goddaughter. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that Earp was entitled to a hearing on a claim that his trial lawyer was incompetent. But the court reluctantly denied a hearing on a third defense claim: that Earp's trial lawyer had a conflict of interest because she and Earp had a romantic and sexual relationship while he was in jail during the trial, and got married after he was sent to death row. Their marriage lasted from 1993 to 2000. Earp's current lawyer argued that the relationship clouded attorney Adrienne Dell's judgment and led her to give Earp too much control over his defense while refraining from presenting evidence of his alleged childhood abuse, emotional problems and brain injury. As a result, the defense contended, Earp's right to fair representation was violated and he should get a new trial. "We strongly disapprove of Adrienne Dell's unprofessional conduct,'' said Judge Richard Tallman in the 3-0 ruling. But he said the court's hands were tied because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in another case that federal courts could uphold a state prisoner's conflict-of-interest claim in only one circumstance: when the defendant's lawyer has also represented someone else connected to the same case. Dell, now a lawyer in San Jose, declined comment. Earp, now 43, of Palmdale (Los Angeles County), was convicted of raping and murdering 18-month-old Amanda Doshier. His girlfriend left the child with him when she went to work in August 1988. He called for help later that day, saying the child had fallen down the stairs. She was taken to a hospital and died two days later. Earp denied guilt and said another man, Dennis Morgan, had come to the house that day and injured the child. Morgan testified that he had never been to the home. In Thursday's ruling, the court ordered a federal judge to hold a hearing on a defense claim that the prosecutor had used threats to dissuade a witness from testifying. According to the claim, a jail inmate named Michael Taylor was prepared to testify that Morgan had admitted being at the home and lying during the trial, but was told by the prosecutor that he would never get out of jail if he stood by his statement. Taylor's testimony might have helped Earp and can be assessed only after a judge has heard from him and the prosecutor, Tallman said. He said a hearing was also needed on defense allegations that Dell acted incompetently by failing to present evidence of Earp's alleged brain damage. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) ************************** Ninth Circuit Rules: Lawyer-Client Romance No Basis for Overturning Death Sentence The alleged conflict of interest resulting from a romance between a defendant on trial for his life and a lawyer who defended him does not warrant overturning the death sentence, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. The panel agreed with U.S. District Judge Manuel Real of the Central District of California, who declared that "[b]eing in love is not a conflict" when he denied Ricky Lee Earps petition for write of habeas corpus. The judges did, however, reverse Real's decision in part, granting Earp an evidentiary hearing on his claims that the prosecution committed misconduct by intimidating a witness who would otherwise have given favorable testimony at a hearing on Earp's motion for a new trial, and that his defense team conducted an inadequate investigation into potential mitigating evidence for the penalty phase. Sentenced by Coen Earp, of Palmdale, was sentenced to death by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Cohen for raping and murdering the 18-month-old child of a friend's daughter. The California Supreme Court affirmed the sentence in 1999, rejecting arguments that the trial judge had unfairly undermined defense efforts to show another man was the killer. Earp, then 26, was living with his girlfriend at her house in the Antelope Valley in August 1988. Several days after a friend left her daughter, Amanda Doshier, in the care of Earp and his girlfriend, a firefighter responding to a radio call found the girl unconscious and not breathing at the bottom of a stairway. She died in a hospital 2 days later of injuries caused by blows to the head and violent shaking. A pathologist testified there were bruises and tears in the genital and rectal areas. Prosecutors' Theory Prosecutors said Earp was the only other person in the home during the period when the fatal blows were likely inflicted. Witnesses testified to various explanations given by Earp, including that the child had fallen down the stairs, was knocked down by his dog, was suffering from the heat or was with another babysitter. He testified at the trial that Dennis Morgan, a friend whom he had met in prison while serving a term for burglary, had been in the house and alone with the child while Earp was outside cleaning paint brushes. Prosecutors said the claim was unbelievable, noting that Earp had said nothing about Morgan in the many conversations he had about Amandas death during the 3 years between the death and his arrest. Morgan denied having anything to do with the death and testified that he was not at the house at the time. In the motion for new trial, the defense claimed that Michael Taylor, who was jailed at the same time that Morgan was being held on charges unrelated to Amanda's death, heard Morgan say that he was at the house on the day in question and that he had lied at the trial. In concluding that Earp's relationship with attorney Adrienne Dell, whom he later married, did not constitute grounds for habeas corpus relief, Ninth Circuit Judge Richard Tallman said there was no proof that Dell acted any differently than she would have if the relationship was purely professional. The marriage of Earp and Dell - who is now a partner in a San Jose firm and is a daughter of Judge George Dell, who retired from the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1985 - ended in 2000 after 7 years. Tallman noted that under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a federal court can only grant habeas corpus relief if the challenged state court ruling is contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. The high court, he said, has not overturned convictions where there have been intimate relations between attorneys and clients, in the absence of proof of actual prejudice. "[W]hile we strongly disapprove of Adrienne Dell's unprofessional behavior as reflected in her conduct at bar, the advent of AEDPA forecloses the option of reversing a state court determination simply because it conflicts with established circuit law," Tallman wrote. "Although we would perhaps reach a different conclusion if addressing this claim on direct review, the Supreme Court has not spoken to this issue and has expressly limited its constitutional conflicts jurisprudence." But Earp is entitled to a hearing on his claim that prosecutors intimidated Taylor into recanting his claim that Morgan admitted being present on the day of the killing, Tallman said, because he has a colorable claim and no more is required, particularly since he did not get an evidentiary hearing on the issue in state court. The case is Earp v. Stokes, 03-99005. (source: Metropolitan News Company)
