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Third trial for Mordenti begins

Once again, Michael Mordenti is on trial in Thelma Royston's death. But there is a new wrinkle this time.

By CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published August 9, 2005

TAMPA - The last time Michael Mordenti sat in Hillsborough Circuit Judge Barbara Fleischer's courtroom, he was staring death in the face. Now, four months after Fleischer declared a mistrial, the stakes aren't nearly as high.

After 14 1/2 years on death row, the St. Petersburg used car salesman will try again, for the third time, to convince a jury that he did not kill Thelma Royston at her Odessa ranch in 1989.

Sentenced to death in 1991 as triggerman in a murder-for-hire plot, Mordenti won't face the death penalty this time around, prosecutors say.

As both sides prepare to give opening statements in Mordenti's trial today, jurors face the unusual prospect of freeing a death row inmate if the state can't prove its case. A lack of physical evidence and concerns about the credibility of the prosecution's star witness have raised questions about the strength of the case against him.

"I think the system was looking for someone to convict, and they convicted him on evidence that was not there," said Mordenti's daughter, Kathy Mordenti.

Much of the prosecution's case against Mordenti to date has rested on the testimony of his estranged former wife, Gail Milligan. Milligan admitted to helping set up the hit on Royston, 54. In exchange for immunity from prosecution, Milligan has said Royston's husband, Larry Royston, masterminded the murder. She said Larry Royston paid Mordenti $17,000 to shoot his wife in the head with a .22-caliber revolver.

A jury convicted Mordenti of first-degree murder after listening to Milligan's testimony. The Florida Supreme Court, however, ordered a retrial in December after determining that prosecutors in the first trial had withheld important evidence.

In May, Fleischer declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision during Mordenti's second trial. A retrial was ordered and a new jury was selected Monday.

Hillsborough County prosecutor Pam Bondi declined to comment on the state's decision not to pursue the death penalty.

Mordenti's attorney, Martin McClain, said he does not know what led prosecutors to drop the death penalty this time.

"All I know is that I'm glad," McClain said. "I absolutely believe Michael is innocent."

Mordenti is one of 384 people currently on death row in Florida. He is also one of a handful of death row inmates to count McClain as part of his defense team. McClain has worked on more than 155 death penalty cases and has helped exonerate three high-profile death row inmates in Florida. In one of those cases, he helped free Rudolph Holton in 2003 after Holton spent 16 years on death row for a murder two other men later confessed to committing.

Critics of the death penalty say they will be keeping close watch as McClain presses ahead with Mordenti's defense.

"For a lawyer to have one person freed from death row is a milestone in their career," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center. "Marty has had a few of those and is always working on a few others with that potential."

Mordenti's trial is expected to continue through Friday.

--Candace Rondeaux can be reached at 813 226-3337 or rondeaux@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 9, 2005, 05:06:59]