Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Property in play as civil case advances

Property Attorneys in a lawsuit will try to work with Kristina Gaime's lawyer as they look at suicide letters and more.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published November 8, 2005

DADE CITY - Six lawyers showed up in Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper's courtroom Monday afternoon ready to fight over the fate of the purported suicide letters Kristina Gaime wrote before killing one son and trying to kill another.

After an amicable hearing, they left with these instructions from the judge: Work it out.

And if they don't? Then the real fight begins.

It's all tied to the lawsuit filed four years ago in Hillsborough County against Gaime and a host of others by her ex-husband in the wrongful death of 6-year-old Mathew Rotell.

"The lawyers will be able to review the paperwork in evidence, and then the civil lawyers will determine what they believe to be probative and relevant in the civil suit," said Gaime's defense attorney, Mark Ware, "and if any of those items conflict with what I want back for Kris, then there will probably be a hearing on that."

Gaime wants back the suicide notes and private property authorities seized when she was arrested in 1999 and accused of killing Mathew and trying to kill his brother Adam, then 8.

In October the 41-year-old Land O'Lakes woman accepted a 20-year plea deal (with 61/2 years credit for time served), avoiding a life term and having her surviving son testify against her.

Besides Gaime, ex-husband Stephen Rotell's lawsuit names the boys' former psychologist, Gaime's former employer, Lifepath Hospice (then known as Hospice of Hillsborough Inc.), and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Ware was working with the State Attorney's Office on the return of his client's property when the attorneys in the lawsuit all filed motions for evidence from the case. All those interested were represented Monday.

"We believe the evidence collected by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office is vital to the civil case," said attorney Susan Sells, who represents the psychologist, Dr. Kathryn Kuehnle.

But Ware was concerned that the motions' demands for evidence were too broad. The problem isn't the suicide letters, he said, but his client's property. They include baby mementos, photos and even the van she used to douse the drugged boys with carbon monoxide.

"These items we've listed are personal to Kris," Ware said, "and obviously it's her property. She has the right to have them returned to her under the court's inherent authority."

The judge did grant one request Monday, giving the Rotells' lawyer Kenan Dandar and the civil attorneys access to confidential depositions of the mental experts who have treated and examined Adam Rotell over the years.

[Last modified November 8, 2005, 02:15:36]