Post by CCADP on Apr 16, 2006 14:39:15 GMT -5
Judge: Deltona massacre trial must move to St. Augustine.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The Orlando Sentinel
Byline: Kristen Reed
Apr. 14--DeLAND -- Kay Shukwit intended to be there every day.
She wanted to watch with her own eyes as the justice system decided the fate of the three men accused of beating and stabbing to death her 19-year-old daughter, Michelle Ann Nathan.
Now, she said, that won't be possible.
The trial of the three suspects in the Deltona massacre will move to St. Augustine because the case has received too much publicity and stirred too much emotion for the defendants to receive a fair trial in Volusia County, a judge in DeLand decided Thursday.
"How can we possibly do this with having a family, kids that go to school, just living our lives?" Shukwit said by phone after learning of the decision. She let out a huge sigh and said her blood pressure was reaching the "boiling point."
"I wish I could put someone in my place for an hour . . . and let them see the emotions I deal with," said Shukwit of Deltona. "It's just like reliving everything all over again."
Circuit Judge William A. Parsons and attorneys spent four days questioning potential jurors before Parsons agreed that an impartial jury could not be found in Volusia. Parsons had denied repeated change-of-venue requests by the defense but relented after State Attorney John Tanner said he agreed that a move had become necessary.
"I have a duty greater than prosecuting these men and convicting them, and that is to see to it that they receive a fair trial the best I can," Tanner said. "I do not believe in the current state at this time the defendants can receive a fair trial in Volusia County."
The turning point came when the court learned Thursday of a chance meeting between two potential jurors at a 7-Eleven. A legal secretary said she was approached by a contractor who offered her a can of beer while she pumped gas. He told her the jury didn't need weak people who couldn't handle looking at the graphic crime-scene photographs.
"He said, 'We are all the victims have left. We need to see to it those guys get what's coming to them,' " the woman told the judge.
The man denied making any comments about the case. The judge said he would consider whether to charge the man with criminal contempt of court.
Defense attorneys feared the man had tainted other potential jurors. Tanner said he thought the man's comments were indicative of a community attitude that would be hard to escape so close to the brutal killings.
Troy Victorino, 29, Jerone Hunter, 19, and Michael Salas, 20, are charged with murder, mutilating a dead body and other felonies in the Aug. 6, 2004, beating deaths of two couples who shared a Deltona home and two of their friends who were staying over. The three men face the death penalty if convicted. Robert Anthony Cannon, 20, will receive life in prison for his role in the crime in exchange for his testimony.
Investigators said the four men used aluminum baseball bats to kill Nathan; her boyfriend Anthony Vega, 34; Erin Belanger, 22; her boyfriend Francisco Ayo Roman, 30; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; and Jonathan Gleason, 17.
Parsons said he knew finding a jury in Volusia would be difficult but remained optimistic when the process began and said the attorneys needed to try, out of respect for the victims' families.
"When we move a trial that has a consequence to the victims' families," the judge said.
Because of logistics, the trial cannot begin until June or July, and the attorneys will meet next week to pick a date.
Families of the slaying victims, however, were aggravated with the news.
"The whole time it has been about them," Patty Gleason said of the defendants charged with killing her son Jonathan. "I want to know when it will be about us."
Gleason, who lives in Deltona, was not going to attend the trial because she couldn't take any more misery.
Bill Belanger, whose daughter Erin was beaten beyond recognition, thinks the trial should stay in the area where the killings occurred.
"I think the people of Volusia County should have had a say," he said. Belanger, who will drive from his New Hampshire home for the trial, said he wondered whether the move to St. Augustine would really guarantee a fair jury for the three men.
"They're guaranteed all these rights," Belanger said. "Erin had a guarantee to live her life."
The last time the court moved a case out of Volusia County was the 1998 trial of Deidre Hunt, who was convicted for the 1989 killings of two Daytona Beach teens as part of a bungled murder-for-hire scheme. After a withdrawn plea, the former cocktail waitress went on trial in St. Augustine when a judge decided there was too much publicity about the case and the woman's confession.
But high-profile cases have stayed in the county -- such as the trials of serial killer Aileen Wuornos; Jeff and Anthony Farina, who were convicted in a 1992 Taco Bell murder; and the Trull brothers, convicted in a 1998 spring-break attack on two Maryland college students.
But jury selection for the massacre trial was proving more difficult. Frank Bankowitz, who represents Hunter, said he had never seen so many potential jurors excused for cause -- which covers people who have already formed opinions, have conscientious beliefs about reaching a guilty verdict or the death penalty or hardships that are so serious they would distract them from the work in court.
"I've never seen so many jurors with so much knowledge and already have their minds made up," Hunter's co-counsel, Ed Mills, said.
Kristen Reed can be reached at kreed@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7924.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The Orlando Sentinel
Byline: Kristen Reed
Apr. 14--DeLAND -- Kay Shukwit intended to be there every day.
She wanted to watch with her own eyes as the justice system decided the fate of the three men accused of beating and stabbing to death her 19-year-old daughter, Michelle Ann Nathan.
Now, she said, that won't be possible.
The trial of the three suspects in the Deltona massacre will move to St. Augustine because the case has received too much publicity and stirred too much emotion for the defendants to receive a fair trial in Volusia County, a judge in DeLand decided Thursday.
"How can we possibly do this with having a family, kids that go to school, just living our lives?" Shukwit said by phone after learning of the decision. She let out a huge sigh and said her blood pressure was reaching the "boiling point."
"I wish I could put someone in my place for an hour . . . and let them see the emotions I deal with," said Shukwit of Deltona. "It's just like reliving everything all over again."
Circuit Judge William A. Parsons and attorneys spent four days questioning potential jurors before Parsons agreed that an impartial jury could not be found in Volusia. Parsons had denied repeated change-of-venue requests by the defense but relented after State Attorney John Tanner said he agreed that a move had become necessary.
"I have a duty greater than prosecuting these men and convicting them, and that is to see to it that they receive a fair trial the best I can," Tanner said. "I do not believe in the current state at this time the defendants can receive a fair trial in Volusia County."
The turning point came when the court learned Thursday of a chance meeting between two potential jurors at a 7-Eleven. A legal secretary said she was approached by a contractor who offered her a can of beer while she pumped gas. He told her the jury didn't need weak people who couldn't handle looking at the graphic crime-scene photographs.
"He said, 'We are all the victims have left. We need to see to it those guys get what's coming to them,' " the woman told the judge.
The man denied making any comments about the case. The judge said he would consider whether to charge the man with criminal contempt of court.
Defense attorneys feared the man had tainted other potential jurors. Tanner said he thought the man's comments were indicative of a community attitude that would be hard to escape so close to the brutal killings.
Troy Victorino, 29, Jerone Hunter, 19, and Michael Salas, 20, are charged with murder, mutilating a dead body and other felonies in the Aug. 6, 2004, beating deaths of two couples who shared a Deltona home and two of their friends who were staying over. The three men face the death penalty if convicted. Robert Anthony Cannon, 20, will receive life in prison for his role in the crime in exchange for his testimony.
Investigators said the four men used aluminum baseball bats to kill Nathan; her boyfriend Anthony Vega, 34; Erin Belanger, 22; her boyfriend Francisco Ayo Roman, 30; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; and Jonathan Gleason, 17.
Parsons said he knew finding a jury in Volusia would be difficult but remained optimistic when the process began and said the attorneys needed to try, out of respect for the victims' families.
"When we move a trial that has a consequence to the victims' families," the judge said.
Because of logistics, the trial cannot begin until June or July, and the attorneys will meet next week to pick a date.
Families of the slaying victims, however, were aggravated with the news.
"The whole time it has been about them," Patty Gleason said of the defendants charged with killing her son Jonathan. "I want to know when it will be about us."
Gleason, who lives in Deltona, was not going to attend the trial because she couldn't take any more misery.
Bill Belanger, whose daughter Erin was beaten beyond recognition, thinks the trial should stay in the area where the killings occurred.
"I think the people of Volusia County should have had a say," he said. Belanger, who will drive from his New Hampshire home for the trial, said he wondered whether the move to St. Augustine would really guarantee a fair jury for the three men.
"They're guaranteed all these rights," Belanger said. "Erin had a guarantee to live her life."
The last time the court moved a case out of Volusia County was the 1998 trial of Deidre Hunt, who was convicted for the 1989 killings of two Daytona Beach teens as part of a bungled murder-for-hire scheme. After a withdrawn plea, the former cocktail waitress went on trial in St. Augustine when a judge decided there was too much publicity about the case and the woman's confession.
But high-profile cases have stayed in the county -- such as the trials of serial killer Aileen Wuornos; Jeff and Anthony Farina, who were convicted in a 1992 Taco Bell murder; and the Trull brothers, convicted in a 1998 spring-break attack on two Maryland college students.
But jury selection for the massacre trial was proving more difficult. Frank Bankowitz, who represents Hunter, said he had never seen so many potential jurors excused for cause -- which covers people who have already formed opinions, have conscientious beliefs about reaching a guilty verdict or the death penalty or hardships that are so serious they would distract them from the work in court.
"I've never seen so many jurors with so much knowledge and already have their minds made up," Hunter's co-counsel, Ed Mills, said.
Kristen Reed can be reached at kreed@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7924.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.