[A misleading newspaper headline to be sure, but still a tale from the Caver's Crackpot Chronicles] Accused cavern shooter heads for retrial _By Zeke MacCormack _ (http://www.mysanantonio.com/email_us?contentID=57804937) - Express-News BOERNE — Suzzie Donofrio felt like she was having a flashback Tuesday, watching jurors getting picked for the trial of Dario Acevedo. She was in the same courtroom four years ago when Acevedo, then 27, was convicted of murder in the 2005 shooting death of her brother Jeffery Donofrio, 39, at Cascade Caverns. Defenders of Acevedo, who worked and lived at the tourist attraction in Kendall County, had pleaded for mercy from state District Judge Steve Ables, calling the shooting an accident. Unmoved, Ables had sentenced Acevedo to life in prison. But the conviction was overturned last year because appellate judges said Ables abused his discretion by allowing suspect testimony by an expert witness for the prosecution. So Donofrio returned from her Ohio home, dismayed at the prospect of another trial but expressing confidence the outcome would be the same. Acevedo family members, for their part, relish the second chance before a new judge to obtain what they consider a fair verdict. “We just thank God we have this opportunity to state our case again,” Ramiro Acevedo, the defendant's father, said in the courthouse hallway. “I don't think we got a fair shake at the last one.” Defense attorney Jimmy Parks Jr., who didn't call any witnesses in the guilt-innocence phase of the first trial, declined to comment. A jury should be seated today. The trial before state District Judge Keith Williams is expected to last three days. If convicted, Acevedo has elected to be sentenced by the judge. Donofrio and Acevedo were working together when Donofrio was shot once in the back. A witness at the first trial who saw Acevedo carrying a firearm and asked him about it said Acevedo responded: “I'm going to get me a couple of cats,” records show. Acevedo was romantically involved with Jill Beardsley, 55, who co-owned the caverns with James Kyle. Beardsley had died of an accidental aspirin overdose 17 days before the shooting of Donofrio, who had traveled from Florida at Kyle's request to help make repairs at the tourist attraction. Ramiro Acevedo said his son had been prescribed medication to battle depression over Beardsley's death, and it caused dramatic mood swings. Just weeks after Donofrio's death, Dario Acevedo slashed the throat of an elderly relative in Bexar County, an assault for which he is now serving a 25-year prison term. Wilke doesn't plan to recall psychiatrist Michael Arambula, whose testimony led the state's 4th Court of Appeals to reverse Acevedo's conviction and order a new trial. Building on another witness' claim that Acevedo used speed the night before the shooting, Arambula gave hypothetical testimony that the drug could cause anxiety, instability, impulsiveness and aggressiveness. The appellate judges said Arambula's testimony — which Parks had asked Ables to strike — was “unsubstantiated ... (and) both unreliable and irrelevant,” according to the Jan. 30 opinion written by Justice Rebecca Simmons. _http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/57804937.html_ (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/57804937.html)
