A judge finds that the mother of a 12-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in a state-approved household is too upset to testify.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published August 19, 2003
TAMPA - A Hillsborough judge declared a mistrial Friday on the grounds that Patricia Murtha, who is suing the state over the murder of her daughter, was too emotionally distraught to proceed.
Murtha's 12-year-old daughter, Michele, who suffered a seizure disorder and mental disabilities, was stabbed to death in October 2000 in the Seffner home of a state-funded caregiver.
Murtha and her husband, Tom, who live in Charlotte County, claimed in a suit that the Department of Children and Families jeopardized their daughter's safety by failing to adequately monitor the home. The case came to trial Aug. 11 before Circuit Judge James Barton.
Tom Murtha testified that he and his wife allowed their daughter to stay in the Seffner home of 57-year-old Nancy Marlins on the state's assurance that it would be a temporary stay en route to a Quest Inc. group home.
On Oct. 20, 2000, prosecutors say, Marlins' grandson, Dexter Levingston, killed Marlins; her sister, Lillie Cacciamani, 56; Lillie's husband, Barry Cacciamani, 47; Lillie's daughter, Connie Carter, 40; and Michele Murtha.
During opening statements last week, an attorney representing DCF said the department had done more for the girl's care than her parents had, and that the burden for her care lay with her parents.
Thursday night, the Murthas' lawyer Richard Hirsch received a call from Patricia Murtha's psychologist warning him about calling her to testify, as he had planned to do. Sitting through four days of trial had unhinged her, Hirsch said.
"She was fragile to begin with," Hirsch said. "She was under psychological care as a result of the death, and that type of pressure - sitting there hearing that in effect you may have been responsible for the death of your own child - caused her psychologist to call me."
On Friday, the Murthas' lawyers asked for a mistrial. Judge Barton granted it after speaking directly to the psychologist.
"We want to get this case tried as soon as (Patricia Murtha) is ready to cope," Hirsch said.
Questions of mental competence have so far prevented Levingston from standing trial on murder charges.
