|
Monroe |
BY ELLEN BILTZ
An accusation yesterday that the Caroline County commonwealth's attorney and representatives from the Sheriff's Office were intimidating witnesses delayed the ongoing murder trial of Lashawn Monroe.
Monroe, 24, is charged with robbing and killing a Guatemalan immigrant on the side of the road in Caroline in May 2007.
David Baugh, one of Monroe's defense attorneys, asked for a hearing yesterday morning after he claimed that many of the commonwealth's witnesses, who were friends and family members of Monroe, were being intimidated.
Baugh said in court that he had been approached by several witnesses who had been subpoenaed by Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer and were expected to testify at the jury trial, which started Tuesday and will go through next week.
Baugh said the witnesses indicated to him that they felt reluctant to talk to the defense attorneys because they were afraid of being "locked up" or had been made promises of reduced charges if they agreed to lie in court in favor of the prosecution.
"If these allegations are true, this is really bad," Baugh said.
Judge Horace A. Revercomb III agreed to hold the hearing and sent jurors home early yesterday morning.
Several witnesses were called to testify about the alleged misconduct and whether or not they were asked to lie.
One witness, Damian Jeter, told Revercomb he was afraid of retaliation.
"He told me if I say that I seen them two together on the day the Mexican was killed, he would give me consideration on my charge," he said. "I'm tired of being harassed by the cops."
Six other witnesses testified as well, some of them saying similar things regarding intimidation.
Spencer, though, called the lead detective, Mac Ellett to the stand and played audio recordings that showed contradictory statements from the witnesses.
Revercomb ruled in Spencer's favor and said he saw no criminal behavior on the side of the commonwealth.
"I found that testimony to be not believable," he said.
Spencer argued that the seven witnesses called at the hearing had a motive for wanting to speak out against him: They were all in some way friends or relatives of Monroe and had been reluctant to testify from the start.
He added that many of them are members of the same gang.
"This is an effort by a criminal street gang to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings here," he said.
According to testimony in court the last two days, most of the witnesses who are not police officers or experts, are friends of Monroe's who saw him the day of the killing or knew something about the killing. Some are also tied to Monroe as co-defendants in a separate murder case.
Spencer said yesterday, that he still plans to call many of the witnesses from the hearing during the jury trial, even though he doesn't know what they will say.
"I don't think anyone knows what they'll say," Revercomb said last night.
The trial has already had several delays including one Wednesday in which there was a disagreement over how to handle the victim's several known names. The resolution to that issue, announced yesterday morning, is that the indictments against Monroe will list all of the victim's known names, including Miguel Dominguez Vasquez, which he is most commonly referred to in court.
The jury trial is expected to resume today and carry through to at least Monday.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com
