Jan 23, 2007 8:36 pm US/Eastern
Chavez Attorney: I Told My Client To Lie
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Juan Carlos Chavez, in court, Jan. 9, 2007
CBS
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Jimmy Ryce was 9-years-old when he was killed.
Family Photo
The current attorney for Jimmy Ryce's murderer is arguing that the suspect's public defender was under the influence of medication and not able to make the right decisions during Juan Carlos Chavez's 1998 trial.
Chavez's previous hearings were adjourned because of scheduling issues of the witnesses set to appear at hearings. Chavez was expected to take the stand in an effort to get a new trial or at least get off Death Row, by claiming his defense attorney Art Koch was not apt to represent him.
"I was under medication," said Art Koch. "I was under a doctor's suggestion, order not to try the case."
Bob Norgard, who is now representing Chavez, claims Koch ordered Chavez to lie and admit he raped and murdered Ryce.
In a January 9th hearing, Attorney Bennett Brummer, who was the public defender at the time, testified by telephone from Colorado where he is on vacation, denied under oath that he ordered his assistants not to vigorously defend Chavez. He denied that his own political future influenced decisions in the case and said he gave his lawyers free professional rein.
Brummer was adamant that he did nothing to interfere with the defense of Chavez. Three other assistant public defenders who worked on the case also testified Wednesday. All three said Brummer never interfered with their work.
However, one of his former assistants, Art Koch, who was Chavez's chief defense attorney during the 1998 trial in Orlando, testified Tuesday that Brummer repeatedly interfered in the case because he was up for re-election in 1996 and didn't want to be perceived as helping Chavez.
Chavez was convicted and sentenced to death after confessing to raping and killing Jimmy after he abducted the boy at gunpoint in September 1995.
Having exhausted several avenues of appeal, Chavez is trying to get a new trial.
Circuit Judge Marc Schumacher is not expected to rule on the issue this week.
Jimmy's parents, Don and Claudine Ryce, are disgusted that their push for justice for their son is not over yet.
Both parents have become ardent crusaders for tougher laws against sexual predators after their 9-year-old was abducted on September 11, 1995 after he got off his school bus near his family's Redland home. Chavez kidnapped, raped, and then shot Jimmy dead when he tried to run. He then dismembered the boy's body and sealed his remains in concrete. He eventually confessed the crime to detectives who were working the case.
A state law bearing Jimmy's name keeps sexual predators in custody even after they have finished their prison sentences if they're still considered a danger.
"We've waited 11 years, over 11 years, for final justice. And it feels like we've got as long to go as we've already come," said Don Ryce.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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