The defense attorney says Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb is more concerned with public opinion than conducting a fair trial.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published November 14, 2003
DADE CITY - An attorney representing a woman accused of killing her son demanded Thursday that the judge overseeing the case step aside, claiming he is more concerned with public perception of his case management than of the defendant's rights.
Tampa attorney Lyann Goudie made the allegation in a motion to have Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb recuse himself from the first-degree murder trial of Kristina Gaime, a 38-year-old Land O'Lakes mother accused of killing one young son and trying to kill another in what investigators describe as a failed murder-suicide plot.
Gaime's case has lingered in the court system since her arrest in May 1999, a month after her family discovered her dead son Mathew Rotell, 6, inside her minivan. Gaime was in her townhouse April 12, alive but groggy, with her other son, Adam Rotell, then 8.
Investigators say she had drugged the boys, placed them in the minivan, directed the exhaust into the passenger cabin and gotten inside with them.
Goudie is leading Gaime's second defense team, replacing her first team in March. On Nov. 5, Goudie said that the scheduled Dec. 1 trial date was unreasonable and that she still had more work to do, including investigating some new, secret evidence.
Cobb refused to hear about her new evidence in a private, closed-door hearing and refused to delay the case. He said it was "an embarrassment" that the case had been unresolved so long.
Cobb on Thursday declined to discuss Goudie's request that he step aside.
Goudie, in her motion, seized on Cobb's Nov. 5 comments and said they indicate bias.
"The court was concerned more about his docket and the perception of the community than one of Kristina Gaime's most fundamental rights," Goudie wrote.
She said Gaime fears any defense arguments would fall on "deaf ears by a court predisposed to "move' this case."
Goudie's motion, filed in Circuit Court, also claims Cobb's office would not grant blocks of time to conduct other preliminary hearings without seeing specific motions first. She called that practice "unreasonable interference."
Attached to the motion is an affidavit, signed by Gaime, that reads, "I became fearful I would not be given a fair trial by Judge Cobb. . . . I felt Judge Cobb was punishing me because he felt that the length of time that this case has been pending was in some way my fault."
Gaime's case remains scheduled for Dec. 1, and prosecutor Phil Van Allen said Thursday the state remains ready for trial.
He said he has seen no indication of bias on Cobb's part.
"I am sure that Judge Cobb will very judiciously consider their motion," he said.
