Nov. 20
FLORIDA:
Suspected Miami serial killer pleads guilty to 1994 murder of elderly woman
Suspected Miami serial killer Reginald Smith, who has been facing the death
penalty for a staggering 18 years without going to trial, pleaded guilty
Wednesday and agreed to consecutive life prison sentences.
He was first arrested in January 1995 for the vicious beating death of a
79-year-old widow, as well as the near-murder of another elderly woman and the
robbery of a hair salon.
Homicide detectives suspected Smith in the murders of at least 2 other elderly
women, but there was never enough evidence to charge him. He agreed Wednesday
to speak to Miami and Miami-Dade detectives about his involvement in those
cases.
Smith pleaded guilty to the murder of Dorothy Cooper, 79, and the attempted
murder and robbery of nature guide Virginia Hoffmann, 73, who was beaten so
badly that she nearly died.
In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors waived the death penalty.
"There's no such thing as closure," said Cooper's daughter, Judy Cooper, 69, of
Boston. "He has no remorse. This man has no conscious. He targeted the most
vulnerable."
His attorney, Jimmy Dellaferra, said: "The fact that he has taken
responsibility for his crimes, and will be leaving prison in a body bag, is
appropriate justice."
Smith was convicted years ago of the hair salon armed robbery. But the other
cases lingered for nearly two decades, going through a parade of defense
lawyers, prosecutors and judges.
"It should never have gone on for 19 years," said Judy Cooper, who praised the
latest prosecutors, Gary Winston and Lisa Jacobs, for their work to resolve the
case.
The string of slayings, all of which began as home-invasion robberies, occurred
in North Miami-Dade in November and December 1994. They prompted police to warn
older women against opening their front doors to strangers.
Smith had just been released from state prison after serving 36 months of a
42-month sentence on a gun-possession conviction.
Dorothy Cooper, a widow, found beaten to death in her bedroom at 10760 NW Fifth
Ave., just west of Miami Shores, on Dec. 9, 1994.
The crime was discovered when Cooper, a feisty, independent woman who lived in
her house since 1946, failed to respond to a senior citizens' transport service
van that picked her up every Friday.
The other victims: an 81-year-old woman who was found bludgeoned and stabbed to
death in her Shorecrest house. The home had been ransacked house with no signs
of forced entry.
Smith's suspected accomplice, Barbara Laidler, is now doing life in prison for
that murder.
The 3rd murder victim was 79-year-old woman. Her best friend found her beaten
to death inside her home on the 200 block of Northwest 119th Street, near
Cooper's home.
Smith was also charged with the armed robbery of a hair salon at 14904 W. Dixie
Hwy. on Tuesday. Investigators said Smith held a knife to the victim's throat
and bound his hands before fleeing with several thousand dollars.
Authorities, at the time, said they believe Smith had been using crack cocaine.
He boasted a lengthy criminal record for armed burglary, armed robbery and
other violent crimes.
(source: Miami Herald)
ARIZONA:
1 of 3 defendants charged in burned-body case wants separate trial
The attorney for Veronica Rutherford, 1 of the 3 defendants in the murder of
Clifford Williamson, on Tuesday argued that her client should not be tried with
the other 2.
4 people - Rutherford, 31, Robert Hinderliter, 21, Juan Carlos Sanchez, 24, and
Joseph Parsons, 28- all were charged in multiple-count indictments, including
1st-degree murder, in connection with the killing of Williamson, whose burned
body was found Sept. 17, 2011, by campers near Senator Highway adjacent to
Spruce Mountain Road.
Hinderliter and Sanchez face the death penalty if convicted at trial.
Parsons took a plea deal in return for testifying against the others and in
April was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.
Rutherford's attorney, Rena Glitsos, contended that, because Hinderliter and
Sanchez are death penalty cases, trying her with them would unfairly prejudice
the jury against her.
"There is a huge disparity in the evidence against her and the evidence against
the other defendants," Glitsos said. "She was not present when the homicide
occurred."
Deputy County Attorney Steve Young said the cases were "properly joined"
pursuant to rules and that "the evidence is so closely interconnected, it would
be hard to separate.
"The defense of Mr. Rutherford is clearly not so mutually exclusive as to
require severance," he said.
Glitsos also asserted that Parsons' testimony would also be problematic.
"I suspect he's going try to implicate (Rutherford) as much as possible simply
because it makes his story look better," Glitsos said.
Superior Court Judge Tina Ainley took the matter under advisement, saying she
would have to re-read the grand jury transcript before making a decision.
Attorneys for the other 2 defendants have yet to file motions to sever the
cases, and may not. Sanchez attorney David Shaw said they "haven't made that
decision yet."
(source: Daily Courier)
***************
Man held in son's '04 death ordered freed----Judge cites prosecutorial
misconduct in dismissing 1st-degree murder case
Whether Jeffrey Martinson killed his 5-year-old son, Josh, in 2004 may never be
determined in a court of law because of prosecutor misconduct in trying his
case.
On Tuesday, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed the 1st-degree
murder indictment against Martinson with prejudice, meaning that Ahwatukee man
cannot be retried for murder because of the theory of double jeopardy.
Judge Sally Duncan ordered that Martinson be released from jail at noon on Nov.
26. She described the prosecutors' actions as "a win-by-any-means strategy."
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has options to appeal.
"We will review the Judge's allegations as well as refer the record of the
proceedings to our Ethics Committee and Appellate section for review," County
Attorney Bill Montgomery said in an e-mail to The Arizona Republic. "We will
also review the conduct of defense counsel and that of the Judge for
appropriate action."
Duncan wrote a 28-page ruling detailing the conduct by the prosecution team,
led by Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Frankie Grimsman.
"When viewing the totality of circumstances, the Court finds that during trial
the Prosecutors engaged in a pattern and practice of misconduct designed to
secure a conviction without regard to the likelihood of reversal," Duncan
wrote.
Duncan then detailed the misconduct. The prosecutors had charged Martinson with
felony murder, specifically saying that Martinson???s son, Josh, died because
of child abuse, and then tried the case as if he were charged with intentional,
premeditated murder. Grimsman had been warned by Duncan several times over the
course of the trial not to do so.
After the conviction was thrown out because of improper testimony from a
medical examiner and juror misconduct, Duncan wrote, Grimsman tried to
re-indict Martinson for premeditated murder. She then repeatedly tried to get
Duncan and the defense attorneys, Michael Terribile and Treasure VanDreumel,
removed from the case.
Accordingly, the prosecutors relentlessly sought to remove defense counsel and
the assigned judicial officer specifically to avoid the risk of acquittal
during any trial," Duncan wrote.
Criminal cases, especially homicides, are rarely overturned because of
misconduct, even in appellate courts. A recent investigation by The Republic
found that only 2 of 82 death sentences in Arizona since 2002 had been
overturned on appeal because of prosecutors' actions.
Verdicts are even less frequently overturned with prejudice by a trial court
judge.
"I am pleased that judges at the trial-court level are giving credence to
allegations of prosecutorial misconduct," VanDreumel said. "Often, it's a paper
tiger and they prefer the decision to be made at the appellate level."
Martinson, 47, has been in jail for 9 years awaiting a final verdict.
On the night the child died in 2004, Martinson was in a custody battle with his
ex-wife. Martinson claimed he found the boy floating in the bathtub and could
not resuscitate him. Then, Martinson claimed, in his anguish, he tried to kill
himself but failed.
An autopsy showed the boy had muscle relaxants in his bloodstream, and the
medical examiner ruled Josh died of a drug overdose.
It appeared to be a murder-suicide, but Martinson was not charged with
1st-degree premeditated murder, but rather with 1st-degree felony murder,
meaning prosecutors wanted to prove that Josh died during child abuse by
Martinson.
Terribile and VanDreumel argued that the death was consistent with drowning and
that there was DNA on the bottle of muscle-relaxant tablets that could not be
identified but could not be eliminated as coming from the boy. The defense
maintained the boy may have taken the tablets himself, and Terribile pointed
out that the pills resembled candy.
After several years of changing defense attorneys, Martinson went to trial in
July 2011. Martinson was found guilty in November 2011, and the jury determined
there were aggravating factors that made him eligible for the death penalty.
But before the jury could sentence Martinson, a juror came forward to tell
Terribile and VanDreumel about what was going on in the jury room. The
forewoman was accused of browbeating other jurors into finding Martinson
guilty. The guilty verdict was thrown out in March 2012.
In fall 2012, Grimsman told the judge that the original indictment and the
intent to seek the death penalty had been dropped and that she had asked that
another judge and defense team be appointed. Terribile and VanDreumel fought
the new charge.
In late 2012, The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that Grimsman could indeed
re-indict Martinson, unless Duncan found that Grimsman had done so in bad
faith.
On Tuesday, Duncan made that finding, in addition to the finding of
prosecutorial misconduct.
Defending the case had cost taxpayers $2.97 million as of last July, nearly
twice the amount paid for the defense of Jodi Arias.
**************************
An Ahwatukee Foothills man has been convicted of 1st-degree murder and child
abuse in the 2004 death of his young son.
Maricopa County prosecutors say jurors found 43-year-old Jeffrey Martinson
guilty on Monday and he could face the death penalty. The aggravation phase of
his case begins Tuesday afternoon in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Martinson was accused of killing his 5-year-old son Joshua Eberle-Martinson
after a weekend visitation in August 2004.
The trial was delayed for years. It finally began 3 months ago with a private
attorney assigned to Martinson -- his 5th set of legal counsel.
Authorities say the boy was found dead in a bunk bed at his father's apartment.
A laboratory tested Joshua's blood at the time of death and found toxic levels
of a muscle relaxer.
Joshua's mother, Kris Eberle, was one of about 350 people who gathered at
Encanto Park in Phoenix in September 2010 as part of the National Day of
Remembrance honoring murder victims.
"People mean well, but they say, 'It's been 6 years. Don't you think you should
move on?' " Eberle said at the event. "I'll never get over it."
(source: Arizona Republic)
CALIFORNIA:
Alleged LAX shooter moved from hospital to federal facility
The man charged in a deadly shooting rampage at Los Angeles International
Airport has been released from a local hospital and taken to a federal holding
facility, law enforcement sources confirmed.
The sources said Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, was released from Ronald Reagan UCLA
Medical Center on Monday and taken to the federal facility. He has not been
scheduled for a court date.
Authorities allege it was Ciancia who opened fire inside the airport the
morning of Nov. 1, killing Transportation Security Administration Officer
Gerardo I. Hernandez and wounding 3 others. Ciancia was shot in the head and
leg during a gun battle with police.
Ciancia was initially listed in critical condition. He was upgraded to fair
condition on Nov. 12.
Ciancia has been charged with the murder of a federal officer and the
commission of violence at an airport. If convicted of the charges, he could
face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Authorities allege that Ciancia targeted TSA workers in the attack and had
written in a signed note that he wanted to kill TSA agents and "instill fear in
their traitorous minds." Witnesses to the shooting said the gunman asked
whether they worked for the TSA before moving on.
(source: The Columbian)
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