After error, murder plea brings shorter sentence

LARGO -- A Largo man who won a new trial on a murder conviction because of a judge's error pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on Monday and escaped a life term.

In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Jared L. Dougherty, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was immediately sentenced to 25 years in prison by Pinellas-Pasco Judge Nelly Khouzam.

He had been awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge.

Dougherty was convicted of first-degree murder in April 2000 for slamming his 3-month-old son into his apartment floor after a night of drinking and taking drugs. Defense attorneys argued that Dougherty was immature and unable to understand his actions.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned his conviction and life sentence last year, ordering a new trial. The appeals court said it did so after Dougherty's trial judge, Brandt Downey, showed "blatant disregard" for its instructions on picking a jury.

Pinellas prosecutors said at Dougherty's trial that Dougherty grabbed his son, Brennan, out of his highchair in March 1999 and slammed the boy into the floor of a Largo apartment he shared with his girlfriend.

Defense attorneys said he had argued with his girlfriend, the boy's mother, before the killing and thought if he slightly harmed the child she would return to him to care for Brennan.

Assistant Public Defender John Carballo said the girlfriend, Kathryn Spencer, who could not immediately be reached for comment, supported the plea deal. Prosecutor Tim Hessinger could not be reached for comment.

"She suffered a tremendous loss," Carballo said. "No one was trying to excuse what Jared did. But she understood the circumstances."

The appeals court ruling reversing the original conviction stems from Downey's comments in July 1999 to a jury that acquitted a man accused of dealing crack cocaine. Downey told jurors in that case that he was "disappointed" by their verdict.

He told jurors they should have believed a police officer who testified about an alleged drug deal. He said they should have convicted the defendant.

After his comments, Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger sought to have Downey step aside as the judge in Dougherty's trial, arguing that Downey was generally biased in favor of law enforcement.

Downey refused to step aside. Dillinger appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal. The appeals court ruled that Downey could stay on the case.

But it ordered Downey to allow defense attorneys to question potential jurors in Dougherty's case to see whether they were aware of Downey's much-publicized comments to the jury in the drug trial.

If jurors were aware of Downey's comments, lawyers could ask them whether his comments would have any effect on their ability to render a fair verdict in Dougherty's case.

The court said Downey should follow the same procedure for all cases he heard for the next 90 days. But it ordered that he do it in Dougherty's case regardless of when it came to trial.

However, when Dougherty went to trial, the judge refused to follow the appeals court's instructions and didn't allow attorneys for the Public Defender's Office to question potential jurors about his comments, the ruling said.

By doing so, Downey "infringed upon Mr. Dougherty's constitutional right to an impartial jury," the appeals court said.

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