Judge denies retrial in Subway murder

An attorney was challenging her client's ability to waive his right to a unanimous verdict.

By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 31, 2002

LARGO -- A Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge has rejected a request for a new trial by a man convicted last month of first-degree murder for his part in the killing of a Subway sandwich shop employee in 1998.

Anthony Lanza, 26, waived his right to a unanimous jury verdict after jurors reported that they were deadlocked 11-1. Facing the prospect of a mistrial and not knowing whether jurors were leaning toward acquittal or conviction, Lanza gambled and lost.

This month, his attorney, Maura Kiefer, asked for a new trial, saying Lanza's waiver wasn't truly voluntary.

She said Lanza, while awaiting trial at the Pinellas County Jail, was painfully bitten by a spider and was under the influence of a narcotic prescribed by a doctor at the time he waived the unanimous verdict.

But prosecutors say Lanza declined medication the day he made the decision. Judge Nancy Moate Ley ruled on Wednesday that Lanza was clear-headed when he made his decision and promised, at the time, to waive any appeal of the jury verdict.

Lanza, who was sentenced to life in prison, was the driver of the getaway car in the robbery of the South Pasadena Subway during which Ann Marie Sherman was shot and killed.

Lanza will remain in the Pinellas County Jail, pending an appeal of his conviction to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

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