May 14
note------------my regular postings will resume on May 28
FLORIDA:
Romantic linkage key to defense strategy----A lawyer aims to show an
illicit affair led to a murder-for-hire scheme in a 1989 slaying.
Defense attorney Martin McClain made his final assault Friday on the
credibility of the state's star witness in the murder-for-hire case of
Michael Mordenti, the 63-year-old St. Petersburg used car dealer convicted
of killing an Odessa woman in 1989.
And in large part, McClain focused on romance.
Lacking substantial physical evidence, prosecutors have centered their
case on Gail Milligan, Mordenti's ex-wife, who confessed to setting up the
murder of 54-year-old Thelma Royston and who walked away free in exchange
for naming Mordenti as the killer.
Mordenti, who has spent the past 14 years on death row, was granted a new
trial in December after the Florida Supreme Court ruled prosecutors at his
1st trial withheld crucial evidence. Mordenti's retrial began Monday, and
the state is again seeking the death penalty.
Milligan testified earlier in the week that she wasn't romantically
involved with Larry Royston, Thelma Royston's husband and the man behind
the plot that led to her murder.
That testimony was called into question Friday.
Glenn Donnell, Milligan's former business partner, testified that Milligan
told him she would like to have Mordenti killed, and that he thought
Milligan's relationship with Larry Royston "seemed to be more than a
business relationship."
Another of Milligan's business partners, Jack Gartley, testified the
relationship between Milligan and Royston was "pretty hot.
"I double-dated with them twice," Gartley said. "They were holding hands
and kissing."
Gartley also said Milligan told him two or three times "she wanted to have
his (Mordenti's) knees busted or have him put away."
But the most potentially explosive testimony was never heard by the jury.
Largo attorney John Trevena, who had represented Larry Royston after
Royston was charged in his wife's murder, took the stand while the jury
was out of the courtroom so the judge could decide whether his testimony
should be admitted.
Trevena said Royston told him he'd had an ongoing affair with Milligan,
that she wanted to free him up to marry her, and that Mordenti had nothing
to do with the murder.
According to Trevena, Larry Royston saw Mordenti in court and remarked,
"That's not the guy."
Trevena also said Royston told him a 13-minute cell phone conversation
between Royston and Mordenti a few hours before the murder was an
"innocent call about a boat or motor home" and not the call prosecutors
claim sealed Thelma Royston's fate.
"Overall," Trevena said, "Mr. Royston said Gail Milligan had orchestrated
this. She was responsible and he was extremely troubled she was not being
prosecuted."
Larry Royston committed suicide in 1991, the day before his trial was to
begin.
Hillsborough Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon immediately objected to
Trevena's testimony, calling it "rank hearsay." Circuit Judge Barbara
Fleischer agreed and ruled Trevena's testimony inadmissible.
"If I'm wrong," Fleischer said, "the Supreme Court will tell me."
Closing arguments are Monday.
(source: St. Petersburg Times)
