May 4
VIRGINIA:
Moussaoui's Bid to Fire Counsel Rejected
A federal judge on Tuesday denied another effort by admitted terrorist
Zacarias Moussaoui to fire his court-appointed lawyers, though one already
has left on his own.
In a four-page handwritten filing, Moussaoui said his attorneys are trying
to guarantee his death by saying he had only a minor role in the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
In claiming ineffective assistance by his defense counsel, Moussaoui
asserts he had no part in the Sept. 11 plot but that he was to have
participated in a separate plan approved by Osama bin Laden to fly a 747
airliner into the White House if the U.S. government refused to negotiate
the release of an imprisoned terrorist.
It's the same claim Moussaoui made April 22 when he pleaded guilty to
conspiracy charges that could bring the death penalty.
In his filing, Moussaoui also claimed two of his lawyers leaked
information from a sealed court hearing to the news media and undermined
his ability to mount an effective defense. The closed hearing was a
prelude to Moussaoui's guilty plea two days later.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected Moussaoui's claims and noted
public defender Frank Dunham recently withdrew from the case. Brinkema
said that with Moussaoui's guilty plea he needs legal help to save him
from the death sentence he vowed to fight "every inch."
In regard to Dunham's withdrawal, Brinkema wrote that the case now
requires expertise in issues regarding the penalty rather than guilt or
innocence.
Moussaoui fired his lawyers early in the case after insisting that he be
allowed to defend himself. Over his objections, Brinkema later put the
legal team back on the case.
(source: Associated Press)
INDIANA:
Murder trial begins with tears Man weeps for slain wife, child;
defendant's lawyers ask jurors to see beyond the horror. ****
About the trial
The murder trial of Fredrick Baer, which started Tuesday, could take up to
3 weeks.
Baer, who has admitted killing Cory Clark and her young daughter, Jenna,
is seeking to avoid the death penalty with a mental illness defense.
Jurors have been brought from Huntington County to hear the case in
Anderson.
****
John Clark could hardly speak. Tears streaked his face as he remembered.
There, on a large screen during the opening day of the murder trial of
Fredrick Baer, the prosecution flashed photos.
Clark's daughter, Jenna -- in an image taken months before her throat was
slashed at age 4 -- smiled sweetly with her hands clasped as if in prayer.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings tried to prompt Clark as the
next photo flashed on the screen.
Who, Cummings asked, is this?
"Cory," Clark answered, barely audible. "My wife."
Cummings on Tuesday told jurors in a Madison Circuit Courtroom that Baer
entered the family's rural home near Lapel in February 2004 and cut the
throat of 26-year-old Cory Clark, almost decapitating her. Then, he went
after the only possible witness -- Jenna.
Calling the slayings the most heinous crimes imaginable, Cummings said
they were perpetrated by a man "looking for a woman to assault."
Baer's attorney, Bryan Williams, said his client does not deny the
killings. And he warned jurors they will see death photos that "will scar
your minds forever." But he urged the panel not to be swayed by emotion.
He asked them to consider Baer's troubled past, which included repeated
psychiatric problems, including a two-month hospitalization when he was a
teen.
The defense hopes Baer's mental history will convince jurors to come back
with a verdict that would spare him the death penalty sought by Cummings.
John Clark testified he last saw his wife and Jenna a few days before the
killings. Out of work, he left for Florida to seek new employment.
Baer lived in Indianapolis. Tips from neighbors who said they saw him in
the Lapel area around the time of the murders and that he'd acted
suspiciously, drew police to the construction site where Baer worked.
Shortly after his arrest, Baer proclaimed his innocence.
"I was driving up and down the road, I was aggravated, I was high -- I'm
not going to deny that," he told reporters. "But I didn't kill anybody."
Cummings on Tuesday ridiculed those statements, saying that at the time
Baer knew little of the case being built against him. This included blood
evidence and tire-tread prints from his vehicle in the gravel driveway of
the Clarks' residence.
Tonia Little, who called Cory Clark her best friend, took the witness
stand to talk about the day of the killings. Clark had been expected at
the elementary school that afternoon to meet with her older daughter,
Morgan, who was then 7 years old. When Clark didn't show, Little went to
her home and made the grisly discovery.
"There was just a lot of blood," Little said a trembling voice.
The defense seeks a jury finding of guilty but mentally ill -- a plea Baer
tried to enter earlier this year in favor of his original pleading of "not
guilty." A judge rejected the request in March, however.
The attempt was made after 2 court-appointed psychiatrists found that Baer
suffers from mental illness.
Cummings fought the request, noting that the psychiatrists said the mental
illness is connected to extensive drug use. Drug abuse, Cummings said, is
no excuse for criminal behavior.
(source: Indianapolis Star)
