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Trial date set for mother accused of killing son
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer DADE CITY -- A judge on Wednesday set a trial date for Kristina Gaime -- accused of killing her young son in 1999 -- and prosectors said the long-anticipated trial might take two weeks to complete. Judge Wayne Cobb scheduled the trial to begin Nov. 4. Defense attorney Bob Nutter and prosecutor Phil Van Allen agreed to the date. Nutter said he plans to be prepared. "We're simply getting ready," he said Wednesday. "We're ready for the trial to take place and see if we can get justice done." The case involving the 37-year-old Land O'Lakes woman is one of the highest profile cases in the county. Gaime is accused of drugging her two sons -- Mathew Rotell, 6, and Adam Rotell, then 8 -- at their townhouse, then loading them into the family minivan in April 1999. Authorities say she directed the van's exhaust into the van, then got inside with them in an apparent murder-suicide attempt. Mathew died, but his brother survived and now lives with his father. Investigators found Gaime inside the home. Her father told authorities she was barely coherent and not making sense. She had suffered a head injury and what appeared to be deep burns or bruises to her left ankle and buttocks. Gaime's attorneys have filed notice with the court they expect to claim she was insane at the time of the incident. The original purpose for Wednesday's hearing was to consider a motion that Gaime be allowed to undergo X-rays for what Nutter called "foreign bodies" lodged under her skin. "The defendant has reason to believe that there may be certain foreign bodies in the areas where she was mysteriously injured," Nutter stated in the motion. "X-rays of the areas, where she was injured, may reveal information which would be useful to the defendant in her defense." One doctor who examined her determined Gaime's injuries were akin to bedsores and could have been caused by passing out at an awkward angle against a hard surface in the van. The motion was continued until officials could determine whether Gaime could undergo X-rays at the county jail, where she has been without bail since 1999. Nutter said he plans to revisit the issue soon.
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From today's Pasco Times Editorial Letters |
