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Gaime to fight for her letters

Both her former husband and a doctor want to use the suicide notes in a lawsuit.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published October 21, 2005

DADE CITY - The Kristina Gaime criminal case is over. The legal battle isn't.

Before the Land O'Lakes woman agreed to a surprise plea deal Oct. 5 in the failed 1999 murder-suicide that left one son dead and nearly killed the other, her lawyers asked the court to return Gaime's personal property to their client.

That includes the purported suicide notes Gaime wrote, evidence seized at the crime scene but that a judge later barred from the criminal jury trial.

Now others are fighting to keep the letters, and potentially other evidence, from Gaime.

Her ex-husband, Stephen Rotell, wants the original suicide letters written to police and family so they can be used in the long-delayed wrongful death suit against Gaime, her former employer and the state.

"We filed the motion to make sure the evidence is preserved," said Rotell's lawyer, Kennan Dandar.

Another defendant in that lawsuit, a psychologist who once treated brothers Mathew and Adam Rotell, wants a judge to deny Gaime's motion. The evidence, Dr. Kathryn Kuehnle's lawyer argued, is "essential" to her defense against Rotell's lawsuit.

But Gaime also wants back items seized such as baby mementos and personal photographs. At the sentencing, Assistant State Attorney Phil Van Allen and former lead defense attorney Lyann Goudie discussed the return of property.

"They agreed to drop the motion, and Lyann and Phil would work it out," said Kevin Kalwary, chief investigator for the firm of Cohen, Jayson and Foster, which defended Gaime.

Gaime arrived Oct. 7 at Marion County's Lowell Annex. There, the 41-year-old will go through orientation, and a prison will be picked where she'll serve what's left of her 20-year sentence.

With credit for time served and for good behavior, Gaime could serve just a decade after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for the death of son Mathew, 6, and attempted second-degree murder in the case of Adam, who was 8 at the time.

But the criminal and civil cases will go on without Gaime, both in Pasco and Hillsborough circuit court.

She waited 61/2 years for a criminal trial that never happened. Delays have similarly plagued Rotell's lawsuit since it was filed four years ago.

It all goes back to that bitter custody dispute.

In the case filed in Hillsborough County, Stephen, Adam and the estate of Mathew Rotell sued Gaime, her former employer, Lifepath Hospice (then known as Hospice of Hillsborough Inc.,) and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Authorities suspect the hospice is where Gaime, a nurse, got the morphine she gave her sons. The lawsuit alleges DCF, then known as the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, was negligent for ignoring reports that Gaime was a threat to the boys. The lawsuit alleges the same of Kuehnle.

The lawsuit was delayed because Dandar was representing the estate of Lisa McPherson in the 7-year wrongful death suit against the Church of Scientology. Also the hospice's insurer, Legion Insurance Co., filed for bankruptcy in April 2002.

Lifepath's new insurer is the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, and the lawsuit is moving forward again.

Dandar said he would depose Gaime for the lawsuit, in which she won't have any Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination, though she doesn't have to answer questions, either, in the civil case.

Gaime's former lawyer doesn't even know why her client is being sued.

"You can't get blood from a rock," Goudie said. "In this day and age, what assets does she have? She's been incarcerated for 61/2 years. She hasn't been working, doesn't own a home. What are you doing?"

Said Dandar: "She may not have any assets. She may win the Lotto tomorrow."

He wouldn't say how much they hope to collect.

"Millions of dollars does not even come close to compensating the father," he said. "The two boys and the father were extremely close. The two brothers were extremely close.

"It's been years since the murder, but they still suffer."

[Last modified October 21, 2005, 02:15:38]