August 18 CALIFORNIA: Defendant accuses his friend in slaying of transgender teen ---- He says he falsely confessed to save others' families A man accused of killing a Newark transgender teen after learning she was biologically male denied Tuesday that he strangled Gwen Araujo, despite his earlier confession to police -- and pointed the finger at the prosecution's key witness. Michael Magidson, 25, of Fremont, testified in his retrial that Jaron Nabors, 1 of 4 men arrested in the killing of the 17-year-old Araujo in October 2002, admitted to him that he had killed Araujo after a struggle at a party. He testified that after he, Nabors and Jose Merel struck Araujo with fists, a frying pan and a 5-pound weight, Magidson went to clean up and left Nabors with the bleeding Araujo. He said he thought the group was going to drop her off on the street -- alive -- after she regained consciousness. When he returned, Magidson said, he asked Nabors how she was. "He said, 'She's dead. I killed her,' " Magidson said. Magidson -- who had confessed to police on videotape that he had strangled Araujo -- said he had told his friends he would tell the police he committed the crime alone to protect their families. "I didn't want their children to be raised without their fathers," said Magidson. Nabors has a son, and Merel a daughter. Magidson has no children. "I guess I was ignorant that my friends would take me up on that offer to save their own ass," he said. "I never imagined it coming to what it is." Nabors pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Magidson, Merel and a third man, Jason Cazares. Nabors testified earlier in the retrial that Magidson had strangled Araujo before the men drove to a remote part of the Eldorado National Forest and buried her body in a shallow grave. Magidson did not testify at the first trial, which ended in June 2004 with the jury deadlocked on charges against him and the 2 others. During that trial, defense attorneys for the 3 men worked together to attack Nabors' credibility, while arguing the crime was at worst a crime of passion that should have been charged as manslaughter. But during the retrial, each defendant has taken the stand in his own defense, in some cases bolstering the prosecution's case. Earlier this month, Merel reluctantly told jurors that Araujo had died at Magidson's hands. Dressed in a dark suit and with his parents watching in the Hayward courtroom, Magidson described the chaos in the home as he and his friends revealed the biological gender of Araujo, who called herself Lida to the men. "I pinned Lida down," said Magidson, who previously had oral sex with her. "I was on top. Lida was on her back. Somehow I used at least one arm, maybe my whole body, to pull her legs up." One of the other men pulled her underwear aside, revealing her male genitalia, he said. "I was shocked," he said. "I think my mind went blank at that point." Magidson said he remembered grabbing Araujo by the throat and pinning her against a wall. "I was yelling back at Lida, asking 'Do you think this is a game? Why would you do something like this?' " he said. Later, Magidson said, he gagged her and tied her hands and feet. When asked why the attack occurred, Magidson said he felt disgusted that he had had oral sex with a man. "Lida had hurt me, and I wanted to hurt her back," he said. "I'm disappointed in myself, but I don't think I had any control over myself that night." (source: San Francisco Chronicle) ******************** Shoe Print at Crime Scene Not Lisker's, FBI Confirms Experts at the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Va., have determined that a bloody shoe print used to help convict a San Fernando Valley teenager of killing his mother 22 years ago was not made by the teen's shoes. FBI analysts also determined that the shoes worn by Bruce Lisker, now 40, did not match an apparent shoe impression found behind his mother's right ear. The findings, which strongly suggest the presence of another suspect, confirm the earlier work of an analyst in the Los Angeles Police Department's crime lab. David Cunningham III, the outgoing president of the civilian Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD, said the bureau's findings have convinced him that the department should reopen its investigation into the 1983 slaying. "I absolutely think it warrants further investigation," Cunningham said. Prior to leaving the commission this week, Cunningham asked department officials to press forward on the case, but he said they were non-committal. Fearing the matter may get dropped, Cunningham said he had written to incoming commissioners appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, offering to brief them on important matters, including the Lisker case. "I hope that they will recognize that this is an important issue," he said. Only 1 commissioner, Alan J. Skobin, will remain on the panel from the board appointed by former Mayor James K. Hahn. He and four new commissioners will hold their first meeting next week. One of the those commissioners, John W. Mack, said in a brief interview Wednesday that he was troubled by what he knew of the case and planned to "study up" on the matter. "On its face, it's very disturbing to think that an innocent man might be in prison," said Mack, former president of the Los Angeles Urban League. The FBI's findings, he said, "add a lot of credence to this person's innocence." William Genego, one of Lisker's attorneys, said the FBI's results further supported his client's claims of innocence. He said LAPD officials "have been told twice that what they told the jury is absolutely, indisputably false, and I would hope they would not have to be told a third time. Someone should take responsibility for correcting the injustice that resulted from that false information." Genego said he hoped the new Police Commission would follow through on Cunningham's desire to reopen the case. Deputy Chief Gary Brennan, who oversaw an internal review of the Lisker case, could not be reached for comment. Brennan said in June, however, that the new shoe print evidence did not mean that Lisker had been falsely convicted. He said the LAPD had no plans to further investigate the case. "An innocent man is not in prison," Brennan said. "If we thought there was, we would continue to press forward in the interest of justice." Genego said there was a difference between what the police may believe and what the evidence supports. "Whatever they may subjectively believe is not a basis for keeping Bruce Lisker in jail," Genego said. Dorka Lisker, 66, was fatally beaten and stabbed in her Sherman Oaks home on March 10, 1983. Her son, Bruce, then 17, told police that he had returned home to find his mother near death and called paramedics for help. Lisker, who had a history of drug abuse and fighting with his mother, immediately became the prime suspect. He was arrested the day of the killing and has been behind bars ever since, having been sentenced to 16 years-to-life in prison. Over the years, he twice confessed to the killing but now says he confessed out of desperation, to minimize his time behind bars for a crime that he did not commit. In May, The Times published an article detailing new and previously overlooked evidence that raised doubts about Lisker's conviction. Even the prosecutor who convicted him told reporters that he had developed "reasonable doubt" about Lisker's guilt. The evidence included a bloody shoe print left in the bathroom of the Lisker home. At trial, the prosecutor said Lisker had left the shoe print. But last year, an LAPD crime lab analyst determined that the print did not come from Lisker's Pacer tennis shoes. At the request of Times reporters, the same analyst determined that the shoe print impression found on Dorka Lisker's shaved head during an autopsy was "similar in size and dimension" to the mystery shoe print in the bathroom. The findings bolstered Lisker's statements that he had returned home to find his mother near death, and that the assault had been committed by an unknown intruder. In June, LAPD officials asked the FBI for a second opinion on their own analyst's work. The FBI report, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, confirmed that neither the print in the bathroom nor the mark on the victim's head, were made by Lisker's shoes. The report does not address whether the two prints were made by the same shoe or whether the impression near the victim's ear was made by a shoe. Lisker, in a telephone interview from Mule Creek State Prison, said Wednesday that he was pleased - but not surprised - by the FBI's findings. "I wasn't worried," he said. "It's one of the benefits of having truth on your side." Last month, a U.S. magistrate judge found that Lisker had made a persuasive "preliminary" case that "he is innocent of the crime for which he has been convicted." As a result, he ordered an evidentiary hearing for October to further consider his claim of innocence, a development that legal experts said was rare. Buoyed by the recent attention to Lisker's case, his stepmother, Joy Mitchell Lisker, has launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at persuading Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley to join defense attorneys in seeking to have Lisker's conviction overturned. "The D.A. has the power to do this," Joy Lisker said in a letter to Lisker's supporters. "Government officials pay attention to letters from the public. It's time to create an outcry from those of us who care." Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Cooley, said the district attorney's office is monitoring the Lisker case. "The district attorney's office has been in contact with the California attorney general's office, which is handling this matter in U.S. District Court," Gibbons said. "We will take the proper action when this latest legal challenge is resolved." ********************************** Man Pleads Not Guilty in Killing A gang member accused of fatally shooting a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in June pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. Jose Luis Orozco, 27, has been held without bail since June 24, the day authorities say he shot Deputy Jerry Ortiz in the head as Ortiz investigated a gang-related shooting in Hawaiian Gardens. The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, murder while lying in wait and murder to avoid arrest, which means Orozco could face the death penalty. The attempted murder charge stems from a shooting 4 days earlier that injured a man working in his yard in Hawaiian Gardens. Ortiz, of Diamond Bar, was a 15-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department who worked with a gang enforcement team. He is survived by his wife, whom he married a few weeks before being shot, and 2 sons, ages 16 and 6. Ortiz was checking identifications just outside an apartment door when he was shot by someone inside. (source for both: Los Angeles Times) ILLINOIS: Lawyer in Death Row Case Found in Contempt In Chicago, a federal judge found a former attorney for Aaron Patterson in civil contempt Wednesday for staging 2 tearful walkouts during the former death row inmate's trial on drug and firearms charges. Defense attorney Demitrus Evans, 37, first stormed out of the courtroom after one of Patterson's many emotional outbursts in June during his pretrial hearings. U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer ordered U.S. marshals to find Evans, and they eventually brought her back to court. The 2nd walkout resulted in her being dropped from the case. Pallmeyer ruled Wednesday that Evans' actions justified civil contempt, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher S. Niewoehner. Evans likely will be required to pay the government about $3,000 in restitution for costs incurred during the delays her actions caused in the proceedings, he said. Evans' attorney, Arvin Boddie, had told the judge his client's behavior was the result of great personal and professional pressure and "youth and inexperience." He declined to comment on the ruling Wednesday. Patterson was 1 of 4 former death row inmates pardoned by then-Gov. George Ryan 2 1/2 years ago. When Patterson left prison after 17 years, he said he would devote his life to uncovering police corruption. But in August 2004, he was arrested on drug and gun charges. A jury convicted him of those charges on July 29. Evans' walkouts contributed to the unruly atmosphere surrounding Patterson's trial. Throughout the proceedings, Patterson repeatedly yelled at Pallmeyer and prosecutors and even scuffled with his own attorneys. Pallmeyer banished him from the courtroom several times for causing disruptions. (source: Associated Press ************************** Judge limits Ryan's remarks on death penalty Former Gov. George Ryan can tell jurors at his upcoming corruption trial that he worked on the death penalty issue, but he can't put his historic decision to clear death row in marquee lights to show what a man of character he is, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. In a setback to Ryan's defense, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer significantly limited how Ryan can refer to his death penalty work during his trial next month. "The court sees no meaningful relationship between Ryan's decisions regarding the death penalty and the offense conduct with which he is charged here," the judge wrote. "Ryan's legitimate official acts, such as commuting death sentences, are not alleged to be part of the scheme or conspiracy to commit fraud." Ryan can use his death penalty work only to show he was tied up with that issue and other tasks as governor and not engaged in the alleged corruption detailed in the indictment. No plea discussions planned Ryan is charged with engaging in systemic corruption while he was governor and secretary of state to help his friends, who in turn helped Ryan and his family. One Ryan friend, Republican businessman Larry Warner, is on trial with him. Despite the judge's ruling on the death penalty issue and on other matters against Ryan, his attorney, Dan Webb, said Thursday that Ryan is going to trial and won't engage in plea discussions. "There have been absolutely no plea negotiations," Webb said. "Zero. And there won't be. I don't know how it can be any clearer than that." The judge also suggested she would have little tolerance for any arguments by Ryan's defense team that Ryan's actions were nothing more than politics as usual and nothing illegal. (source: Chicago Sun-Times) INDIANA: Jury in murder trial deadlocks, is dismissed A Marion Superior Court jury deliberating the fate of murder suspect Chad McKinney deadlocked and was dismissed by the judge, a court spokesman announced shortly before 1 a.m. today. The jury had deliberated into Wednesday night after the testimony was completed in the trial, in which Marion County prosecutors chose not to present DNA evidence to block a defense attorney's attempt to discredit the county crime lab. McKinney, 29, was charged with shooting to death Mark Anthony Laurenzo, 36, on Dec. 19, 2003, in a mobile home in the 3100 block of Nightsong Drive. A pretrial hearing will be held at 9 a.m. Sept. 7 to determine whether prosecutors will seek to retry McKinney, according to the court spokesman. (source: Indianapolis Star) ALABAMA----new execution date Death row inmate John W. Peoples Jr. scheduled for execution In Montgomery, the Alabama Supreme Court on Wednesday set a Sept. 22 execution date for John W. Peoples Jr., who was convicted of the 1983 murders of 3 members of a St. Clair county family. The bodies of Paul and Judy Franklin and their 10-year-old son, Paul Franklin Jr., were found in a wooded area in Talladega County a week after they disappeared from their St. Clair County home. They had died after being struck in the head with a rifle or other object, according to court papers. Prosecutors charged that Peoples killed the Franklins after Paul Franklin Sr. refused to sell him a red 1968 Corvette. The state Supreme Court set an execution date for Peoples after he lost 2 rounds of appeals in his capital murder case. (source: Associated Press) **************************** Theodore man fights death sentence----Trial 'marked by the prosecutor's extreme misconduct,' brief alleges A Theodore man on death row for the 1997 murder of a man who was bludgeoned with his own carpentry tools has gone to federal court in an attempt to avoid lethal injection. Joseph Clifton Smith, 35, was convicted in 1998 of capital murder in the death of Durk Van Dam, a carpenter from Michigan. In a written argument filed in U.S. District Court, Smith's attorney maintains that the trial judge committed several serious errors and that Smith's lawyers at the time failed to mount a good defense in a trial "that was marked by the prosecutor's extreme misconduct." Clay Crenshaw, chief of the capital litigation division of the attorney general's office, said Wednesday that he was unaware of the details of the case. He said there are 42 so-called "ha beas corpus" appeals on death cases pending before federal courts in Alabama. "We'll eventually be served with it, and we will typically file a written answer," he said. Smith and another man, Larry Reid, were arrested hours after Van Dam's mutilated body was discovered in his pickup truck in south Mobile County in November 1997. Van Dam had been robbed of about $150 and his tools. Prosecutors alleged that Smith bludgeoned Van Dam with those tools, including a saw and a hammer, and portrayed the defendant as a cold-blooded murderer. Then-Circuit Judge Chris Galanos followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Smith to death. Having exhausted all of his appeals in the Alabama courts, Smith on Tuesday filed what is known as a "habeas corpus" petition in U.S. District Court. Appeals to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court likely will follow. A federal defender appointed to represent Smith filed a 117-page brief alleging that a variety of errors and shortcomings took place during his trial in Mobile County Circuit. The most serious claims include that he is retarded; that the judge should have bowed out of the case; that Smith's attorneys mounted an inadequate defense, partially due to insufficient compensation from the state; that potential black jurors improperly were struck from the panel; and that the judge gave incorrect instructions to the jurors. Smith's federal defender, Katherine Puzone, did not return phone calls seeking comment. In her brief, she asserts that her client is mentally retarded and points to a 2002 decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of retarded defendants. (source: Mobile Register) ******************************* Appeals court weighs call for retrial in Tipton slaying A state appeals court deciding whether to order a retrial of Daniel Wade Moore, once sentenced to death in the slaying of a psychiatrist's wife in Decatur, heard defense claims of destroyed or withheld evidence. Moore, 31, remained in the Morgan County jail as his lawyers and prosecutors from the attorney general's office argued Tuesday before the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals. State prosecutors said the evidence from Moore's first trial has been preserved. "The only remedy in this case is a new trial," said Assistant Attorney General Corey Maze. Moore is accused of killing Karen Tipton in 1999 in Tipton's home during a sexual assault. At his 1st trial, a jury convicted Moore of capital murder. Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson sentenced him to death, but Thompson later dismissed the capital murder charge, saying the state prosecutor and a Decatur police sergeant had withheld evidence at trial that would have aided the defense. During Tuesday's hearing, defense attorneys focused on missing evidence, which they said includes a computer hard drive with pornographic images on it and sex toys. But Maze said the defense wants to make the victim look bad. "All they're doing is slandering her name in the newspaper," Maze said. "Those had nothing to do with the case. We don't have a box of sex toys we didn't give them." But defense attorney Tim Kyle disputed the accusation. "It's not slander, it's fact," Kyle told the 5 judges. Maze said the prosecution has not withheld or destroyed evidence. In successfully getting Thompson to dismiss the capital murder charge, Moore's lawyers said the prosecution withheld 245 pages of files from the FBI without turning them over to the defense. Prosecutors denied doing anything improper. "If this appeared in a law school exam, no one would believe it could happen," said Kyle, who joined Sherman Powell, Moore's trial attorney, for the hearing. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals earlier ordered Moore held in the Morgan County Jail until the court decides if he should be retried. Appeals Judge Sue Bell Cobb asked several questions of both sides and called Thompson a "really courageous trial judge." While the lawyers discussed what was just in the face of alleged misconduct by the prosecution, Cobb said, "We don't expect perfection, but we expect it to be fair." The court has given no indication when it will rule on a retrial. (source: The Huntsville Times) **************************** Short-staffed prison offering free room, raises for new guards One of Alabama's toughest prisons is offering free room and board plus a pay raise to guards who agree to work there for 6 months. Officials hope the perks will attract new employees to Donaldson prison, which is overcrowded, isolated and understaffed. The prison, built to house 992 men, has 1,585 prisoners, including some who live on death row. It has lost 31 correctional officers this year and is 41 officers short of its authorized staff of 244. To lure new workers, the state has fixed up a nearby building that once housed inmates and is offering free dorm-style accommodations and meals to officers who agree to transfer to Donaldson. They also will get a 5 % pay raise. The building is 25 miles from the prison, but the state is offering free transportation, too. The offers underscore the department's struggle to reform the reputation of the lockup, first called West Jefferson Correctional Facility. It was renamed after a 27-year-old officer, William E. Donaldson, who was stabbed to death by an inmate in 1990, 8 years after it opened. Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell blames the staff shortages mostly on the prison's location and reputation more than on actual danger inside its walls. "As commissioner, I really don't see Donaldson as more problematic than other prisons, except for the staffing and the location," he told The Birmingham News in a story Wednesday. "I've seen that happen in other states. There's always a facility or facilities that have the reputation as difficult to manage." While Donaldson isn't badly overcrowded by Alabama standards, it has fewer jobs and programs than many other prisons, forcing inmates to remain indoors much of the time. It also is designated to house some of the toughest inmates who have caused trouble at other prisons. Drugs and weapons are confiscated fairly routinely, and a mentally ill prisoner died while being restrained earlier this year. The facility's roof is in need of costly repairs, as is the sewage system, which dumps raw waste into the Black Warrior River system. The department announced the offer in a mid-July memo asking interested officers to submit transfer requests by July 22. The deadline has been extended, and Campbell believes interest will pick up. (source: Associated Press) *********************** Sweet home Alabama If you are a poor person of color accused of a capital crime in Alabama, what stands between you and the death penalty? Not much. Alabama has no statewide public defender system, and your court-appointed lawyer from the local bar may not be very happy to see you. After all, defending your life will net him barely a third of what he might have made closing a real-estate transaction assuming he ranked highly enough in the local legal food chain to be awarded these lucrative deals. Besides, being seen with you may strike him as an economic, social, and political liability in a state where professional advancement to the bench depends entirely upon the will of the electorate. Come trial time, theres a good chance that youll be the only person of color in the courtroom. All 19 of Alabamas appellate court judges are white, as are 41 of its 42 elected District Attorneys. Odds are 1 in 3 that your jury will be all white as well. Since Alabamas resumption of the death penalty in 1975, courts have found that prosecutors illegally excluded black people from serving as jurors in at least 28 capital cases. Statistics outline the grim results of Alabamas systemic judicial inequities in irrefutable black and white. Its death row population has doubled in the past decade, with an overall death-sentencing rate that is 3-10 times greater than that of other Southern states. Though black people account for only 26% of Alabamas population overall, nearly 63% of its prisoners are black. Of the 23 people executed in Alabama between 1975 and 2001, 70% were black. These figures get a boost from a local law that allows an elected judge to reject a jurys verdict of life and unilaterally sentence a prisoner to death. Nearly 22% of the people sitting on Alabamas death row were initially handed life sentences by their juries. Once convicted to death row, prisoners have no right to counsel. Those that do receive permission to seek legal recourse are faced with the nearly impossible task of attracting a lawyer who will work with a state-imposed $1,000 salary cap. By representing dozens of the condemned men, women, and juveniles currently facing execution, the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama (EJI), a non-profit organization based in Montgomery, works against this tide. While their victories have not yet added up to the top-to-bottom overhaul Alabamas judicial system needs, they have been significant. EJI won most of the 23 cases in the last decade where convictions were reversed after it was proven that prosecutors illegally excluded black people from jury service. This past January, it obtained Alabamas first judgment barring imposition of the death penalty for a death row prisoner because of mental retardation. Several more successes this spring earned death row prisoners represented by EJI new trials or cleared the way for them to appeal their convictions. "It's very tempting to look tough on crime in Alabama," says Bryan Stevenson, EJI's Executive Director, and Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law. "A judge comes up for re-election every 4-6 years, and since the state went red 20 years ago, the pressure is really on." He explains that this is one of the factors behind the high percentage of judicial overrides. "A very partisan electoral process like Alabama's, that forces candidates to adhere to popular opinion, never plays out well for people who are disadvantaged or disfavored." But where are all of those ardent supporters of the so-called "culture of life" when it comes to the routine execution of citizens who face inadequate counsel in a biased system? "There's been a stunning silence from people who talk about the value of life when it comes to these issues," Stevenson sighs. "And this is disingenuous. We dont have to execute people to protect public safety. While the Pope is explicit about being against execution, American political leadership, including Catholic leadership, is not only silent, but also resistant to any portion of the culture of life that refers to the death penalty. The black church, which has given us a great deal of support, and communities of color have been the exceptions." Beyond EJIs life-and-death issues lies an even larger bte noir: the systematic perversion of states rights. Right-wingers emboldened by a solid Republican grip on power are using states rights rhetoric to attack everything from Roe v. Wade to gay rights. Retrograde lawmakers and lobbying groups are seeking to undermine the US Constitution and innumerable federal laws enacted to ensure that all states grant their citizens full civil rights. Stevenson speaks not just from professional experience, but from personal experience as well when he says that most reforms in Alabama have happened on the federal level: he grew up attending "colored" schools whose separate and unequal structure was mandated by state law until the federal government intervened. "The ugly underside of limiting the power of the federal government," he warns, "is allowing states to do ALL that they want. If the politics of the locality prevail, and are unchecked by some kind of oversight, we are really in a lot of trouble." And what might Alabama do without federal oversight, guided only by the will of the majority? Exhibit A: In last Novembers election, 51% of Alabama's voters upheld a statewide referendum to keep segregation-era wording which required separate schools for "white and colored children" in its constitution. Just this past June, when the Senate's resolution apologizing for not passing anti-lynching legislation reached the floor, Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was 1 of only 4 senators who insisted that a recorded vote not be taken. Richard Shelby (R-AL) was one of only 13 senators who went on record opposing it. Against the odds and the political tide, Stevenson and his staff continue to work with community groups, lawyers, the church, and the media to reform Alabamas criminal justice system. He is inspired by his memories of the 50s and 60s - "a time when young people advocating for a different America could say, 'we don't have power or resources, but we have moral integrity and we think you should be ashamed.'" Stevenson still follows the credo of those times - that one should judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the wealthy, but by how it treats the poor and disadvantaged and disfavored. "If you want to talk about democracy and human rights, you have to confront this," he says. "What we're doing to disadvantaged and disfavored people in the name of protecting ourselves is horrible, and it says something about our character. (source: Column, Nancy Goldstein, The Raw Story) FLORIDA: State again seeks death for LeBron----Hearing 4th attempt to sentence killer for 95 murder State prosecutors this week are again seeking the death penalty for convicted killer Jermaine "Bugsy" LeBron after a mistrial was declared in May. It's the 4th time that Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry will attempt to sentence LeBron, 30, who was convicted of killing 22-year-old Belle Isle resident Larry Neal Oliver Jr. in 2002 after luring him to a Buenaventura Lakes home in 1995, promising him some accessories for his 1993 customized red Chevrolet truck. "It brings it all up again," said Rebecca Oliver, Larry's mother. "I think it gets harder each time we do it." Perry declared a mistrial at a May sentencing hearing after testimony provided by Osceola County Sheriffs Office Lt. Andy Lang. Lang, who worked the case as a sheriffs office violent crimes bureau detective at the time of the shooting, violated a Florida Supreme Court order by inadvertently naming LeBron as the man who killed Oliver in 1995. While on the stand in May, Lang testified that LeBron had told an acquaintance to get rid of Olivers body after shooting him. Because the original jury seven years ago said that the state did not prove that LeBron shot and killed Oliver in 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that the trial courts had to exclude any and all evidence and testimony, which specifically named LeBron as the individual who actually shot Oliver. It was the 2nd time the Supreme Court had overturned LeBrons death sentence. State Prosecutor Jeff Ashton said he wasnt as concerned about another mistrial than he was obeying the Supreme Court's orders. "I think we tried to follow what the Supreme Court said we should do," he said after opening statements Tuesday in Osceola County Circuit Court. Witnesses testified that LeBron lured Oliver to the home in Buenaventura Lakes on Nov. 25, 1995, after he offered to sell him the truck accessories. Shortly after, according to witnesses, LeBron ordered Oliver to his knees inside the home, put a 12-gauge shotgun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. He then ordered several other acquaintances present to dispose of Olivers body, which was found later near Walt Disney World property. The 1st trial ended in a mistrial because of a deadlocked jury. A second trial in 1998 was moved out of Osceola County and into Pinellas County because of pre-trial publicity. Perry handed down a death sentence to LeBron, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2001 after it found that the circuit court had erred in sentencing LeBron to die for his crimes. The jury in that case ruled 7-5 that LeBron was guilty of 1st-degree murder although they didnt identify him as the shooter. Special verdict forms were given to the jury indicating that police could not prove that LeBron was the shooter, despite eyewitness testimony. Because the jury expressed confusion using these forms, the Supreme Court said the confusion gave reason for LeBron to be re-sentenced. The court also noted that Perry did not correctly apply Florida law when sentencing LeBron. Perrys death sentence was based on the fact that LeBron was the triggerman in the 1995 murder, which was contrary to the jurys findings. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the 1st-degree murder conviction. The jury this week will decide whether LeBron receives the death sentence for Olivers death or life in prison. He is already serving a life sentence without parole for kidnapping, robbing and attempting to murder a taxi driver in an orange grove near St. Cloud in 1995. "I don't think he deserves life," Oliver said. (source: Osceola Gazette)
