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CHASE SQUIRESProsecutors will fight the decision that searches of Kristina Gaime's home were illegal.
DADE CITY - The long-running murder case against Kristina Gaime is on hold again, and when the trial is eventually scheduled, another piece of the state's case might be out of the picture, attorneys said Tuesday.
After a judge ruled much of the state's evidence inadmissible last month, prosecutor Phil Van Allen on Tuesday said it appears statements Gaime's surviving son made also might be out, and the boy might never testify.
Both sides agreed the high-profile case cannot be ready for the scheduled April 12 trial date. It has tentatively been set for Sept. 20.
Gaime, 39, has been in a Pasco County Jail since shortly after her May 1999 arrest on charges that she killed her 6-year-old son Mathew Rotell and tried to kill her other son, Adam, then 8. Gaime's mother found Mathew dead in Gaime's minivan at her Land O'Lakes townhouse on April 12, 1999. Gaime and Adam were inside the home, alive.
Investigators say that within hours of discovering Mathew's body, they began theorizing that Gaime was involved in a botched murder-suicide plot.
According to investigators, Gaime tried to kill herself and both sons by drugging the boys, putting them in the minivan and directing the van's exhaust into the cabin before getting inside with them.
Gaime has denied the charges, and the state's case against her has been under attack this year by defense team Lyann Goudie and Mark Ware.
Last month, Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper ruled that searches of Gaime's home were illegal and barred much of the evidence collected. On Tuesday, Van Allen said a March 8 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to block the use of hearsay evidence, which could block statements Adam made to investigators.
Hearsay evidence is one person's account of what another person told them happened.
Pasco sheriff's detectives have testified in depositions that Adam gave them an account of the events and said his mother gave him pills. Goudie has challenged those accounts saying Adam was confused during much of the questioning.
In a deposition, Adam had difficulty testifying and said he was trying to forget.
Van Allen said Tuesday he has never questioned Adam and said a doctor thinks it would be detrimental to the boy if he is forced to testify against his mother in court.
Van Allen and Goudie also continued to spar Tuesday over the wording of Tepper's ruling on the searches.
Once the wording of that order is agreed on, Van Allen told Tepper the state would appeal. It could take a month to reach an accord on the wording, two weeks to prepare the appeal, and up to three months for the 2nd District Court of Appeal to reach a decision, attorneys said.
"We are going to appeal you," Van Allen told the judge. "That being the case, we are not going to trial April 12."
Tepper said she expected the appeal.
"You must," she said. "It's your only opportunity to appeal."
Gaime was in court Tuesday, sitting in the jury box with other Pasco County jail inmates. She did not speak during the hearing.
Tepper scheduled an April 16 hearing to check on the case.