Evidence shapes retrial in murder

Jury selection begins in the case of a man on death row because of his ex-wife's testimony.

By TOM ZUCCO
Published May 10, 2005

TAMPA - A 13-minute phone conversation with a man who later committed suicide. A .22-caliber pistol introduced into evidence that wasn't the murder weapon. And most important, an entry in a date book.

Those are among the critical elements in the retrial of Michael Mordenti, a St. Petersburg used-car salesman convicted in 1991 in the murder-for-hire of a 54-year-old woman found shot and stabbed to death in a horse barn on her Odessa ranch.

Mordenti, 63, who has spent the past 14 years on death row, was granted a new trial in December after the Florida Supreme Court concluded Hillsborough prosecutors withheld critical evidence that cast doubt on Mordenti's primary accuser: his ex-wife.

Jury selection began Monday in front of Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Barbara Fleischer. The trial is expected to last well into next week.

At his first trial, prosecutors painted Mordenti as a contract killer who lured Thelma Royston into the barn and then savagely killed her on June 7, 1989. Mordenti, prosecutors said, became involved in the murder after his ex-wife, Gail Mordenti, met with Royston's husband.

Larry Royston had told friends he and his wife of 19 years were divorcing, and that she was planning to take a large chunk of his assets.

About that time, Larry Royston had lunch with Gail Mordenti, Michael Mordenti's ex-wife, and a $17,000 murder-for-hire plot was hatched.

Acting on a tip nine months after the murder, homicide detectives questioned Gail Mordenti. "What would happen to me," she asked detectives, "if I tell you what happened?" Prosecutor Lee Atkinson cut a deal. If she would cooperate, she would receive immunity.

Gail Mordenti admitted she set up the murder. She also told detectives that after unsuccessfully approaching three other men to commit the murder, she found someone who agreed: Michael Mordenti, her ex-husband.

Charged with plotting to kill his wife, Larry Royston killed himself in March 1991, the night before his trial was to begin.

Four months later, it was Michael Mordenti's turn to go on trial. His defense attorney, John Atti, said Mordenti rejected the state's offer of a five- to seven-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.

There was no physical evidence linking him to the murder, and the case hinged on the word of Gail Mordenti. But jurors found him guilty and recommended he die.

Among the evidence introduced by the prosecution was a .22-caliber revolver. The gun was determined not to be the murder weapon.

Prosecutors also introduced evidence of a 13-minute cell-phone call between Michael Mordenti and Larry Royston on the day of the murder. But Mordenti said the two were talking about the purchase of a boat.

A key piece of evidence the prosecution never showed to the defense, and never shared with the jury, was the date book.

Gail Mordenti testified she met with Larry Royston in late February or early March 1989 to plan the murder. But in her date book, she noted her meeting with Royston occurred on April 11, 1989.

Mordenti's appellate lawyer argued that by then, Gail Mordenti was living with the man who would be her next husband, Michael Milligan. Why, the defense argued, would she approach four men, including her ex-husband, but not Michael Milligan?

"There is absolutely no question that the withheld date book would have assisted Mordenti in the impeachment of Gail, the state's critical witness," the Florida Supreme Court said in its ruling.

Gail Mordenti is expected to take the stand again as a star prosecution witness. And the state is again seeking the death penalty.

But this time, Michael Mordenti is represented by Martin McClain, a seasoned defense attorney who has won new trials for others on death row.

Monday, in the back row of a courtroom packed with potential jurors, Kathleen Mordenti sat with her notepad. She and her father write and call each other often.

Mordenti's daughter from his first marriage, she said the years on death row have taken a toll on her father, and that she knows he is innocent.

"He's walking out of here with me next week," she said.

[Last modified May 10, 2005, 01:01:05]