Post by CCADP on Aug 23, 2005 6:08:21 GMT -5
Lee's Supreme Court appeal gets number, brief deadlines
By JOE GYAN JR.
jgyan@theadvocate.com
New Orleans bureau
NEW ORLEANS -- 2005-KA-2098 is not just another case number at the Louisiana Supreme Court. It's the number that has been assigned to the capital murder case titled "State of Louisiana vs. Derrick Todd Lee."
The assignment of a case number to the appeal of the St. Francisville man convicted and condemned to die last fall for the May 2002 murder of former LSU student Charlotte Murray Pace of Baton Rouge is not the only new development in the case.
East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors and Lee's attorneys also have been told when their written appeal briefs are to be filed at the high court. Lee's brief is due Sept. 8, and the state's brief is to follow Oct. 8.
But a Supreme Court Clerk's Office spokeswoman said the initial briefing schedule in capital murder cases often is extended 120 days at the request of the defense, which could delay the filing of Lee's brief until early next year. The state would be given a similar extension.
The state Supreme Court, which automatically reviews all death sentences handed down in Louisiana, will scheduled a hearing once all briefs have been filed.
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Lee has been on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola since he was found guilty and sentenced to death in October for the slaying of Pace. The transcript and exhibits from Lee's trial arrived at the Supreme Court earlier this month. The case could not be given a case number until the transcript and exhibits were reviewed and officially lodged at the court.
The 22-year-old Pace died after being attacked at her Sharlo Avenue home. Authorities testified that she had been raped, bludgeoned, and stabbed more than 80 times. DNA lifted from semen found on her leg matched Lee's profile.
Lee also was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in Port Allen in the January 2002 stabbing death of 21-year-old Geralyn Barr DeSoto of Addis. He has been booked on first-degree murder counts in the deaths of four women in East Baton Rouge -- Carrie Lynn Yoder, Pam Kinamore, Gina Wilson Green and Randi Mebruer. He also has been booked in the death of Trineisha Dene' Colomb of Lafayette and charged with the attempted murder and attempted rape of Diane Alexander of Breaux Bridge.
Yoder, Kinamore, Green, Mebruer and Colomb were killed between September 2001 and March 2003.
Lee's attorneys contend the Pace trial should have been moved from Baton Rouge because many prospective jurors were aware that Lee was convicted across the river last August for killing DeSoto. Many prospective jurors said before the Pace trial began that Lee was guilty.
The lawyers also claim Lee is mentally retarded, and that evidence from other murders Lee is accused of committing should not have been presented to jurors.
By JOE GYAN JR.
jgyan@theadvocate.com
New Orleans bureau
NEW ORLEANS -- 2005-KA-2098 is not just another case number at the Louisiana Supreme Court. It's the number that has been assigned to the capital murder case titled "State of Louisiana vs. Derrick Todd Lee."
The assignment of a case number to the appeal of the St. Francisville man convicted and condemned to die last fall for the May 2002 murder of former LSU student Charlotte Murray Pace of Baton Rouge is not the only new development in the case.
East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors and Lee's attorneys also have been told when their written appeal briefs are to be filed at the high court. Lee's brief is due Sept. 8, and the state's brief is to follow Oct. 8.
But a Supreme Court Clerk's Office spokeswoman said the initial briefing schedule in capital murder cases often is extended 120 days at the request of the defense, which could delay the filing of Lee's brief until early next year. The state would be given a similar extension.
The state Supreme Court, which automatically reviews all death sentences handed down in Louisiana, will scheduled a hearing once all briefs have been filed.
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Lee has been on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola since he was found guilty and sentenced to death in October for the slaying of Pace. The transcript and exhibits from Lee's trial arrived at the Supreme Court earlier this month. The case could not be given a case number until the transcript and exhibits were reviewed and officially lodged at the court.
The 22-year-old Pace died after being attacked at her Sharlo Avenue home. Authorities testified that she had been raped, bludgeoned, and stabbed more than 80 times. DNA lifted from semen found on her leg matched Lee's profile.
Lee also was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in Port Allen in the January 2002 stabbing death of 21-year-old Geralyn Barr DeSoto of Addis. He has been booked on first-degree murder counts in the deaths of four women in East Baton Rouge -- Carrie Lynn Yoder, Pam Kinamore, Gina Wilson Green and Randi Mebruer. He also has been booked in the death of Trineisha Dene' Colomb of Lafayette and charged with the attempted murder and attempted rape of Diane Alexander of Breaux Bridge.
Yoder, Kinamore, Green, Mebruer and Colomb were killed between September 2001 and March 2003.
Lee's attorneys contend the Pace trial should have been moved from Baton Rouge because many prospective jurors were aware that Lee was convicted across the river last August for killing DeSoto. Many prospective jurors said before the Pace trial began that Lee was guilty.
The lawyers also claim Lee is mentally retarded, and that evidence from other murders Lee is accused of committing should not have been presented to jurors.