Woman convicted of killing neighbor seeks retrial

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000

DADE CITY -- An attorney representing convicted killer Sylvia Maraman demanded a new trial Monday, claiming a judge made serious errors and investigators didn't reveal parts of a taped confession before the trial, as required by state law.

Attorney Darlene Calzon Barror filed a three-part motion for a new trial in circuit court even before Maraman, 39, is sentenced.

Maraman was convicted Feb. 11 of second-degree murder for shooting 73-year-old neighbor Arthur Danner in his Land O'Lakes mobile home on May 24, 1998. Sentencing is set for March 17, and Maraman faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

In her appeal, Barror says Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson erred by blocking the defense from discussing the possibility of justifiable homicide with the jury and from discussing Maraman's history of mental illness.

Maraman -- who admitted she shot Danner several times, including a shot to his groin -- said she did it because Danner bragged he had molested her 12-year-old mentally handicapped daughter and threatened to do it again. She said she was protecting her child.

In addition to Maraman's mental state and justification, Barror also argues that her office had no idea there were more taped recordings than were disclosed of Maraman the night she confessed to sheriff's Detective Alan Proctor.

Evidence of the unreleased taped discussion was disclosed accidentally after the jury began deliberating and asked to listen to the confession tape a second time, according to Barror's motion.

"While rewinding the tape, Detective Proctor indicated that the back side of the tape should not be played because it was "garbled,' " Barror wrote. "This was the first instance that the defense was made aware that the defendant made any statements at the jail. It is possible that said tape could have been made audible given the technology that is available today."

The tape could have bolstered Maraman's claim that she was high on alcohol and prescription tranquilizers at the time of the shooting, Barror said Monday.

In the sections of the tape that Proctor did provide to the court and played for the jury, Maraman rambles and slurs her words and sounds intoxicated. As of Monday afternoon, no date had been set for Swanson to hear Barror's motions.

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