One of 3 is acquitted in road rage beating

The judge says no witnesses testified the 24-year-old actively joined in the shovel attack.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 5, 2000

LARGO -- The three nervous young men, all possibly facing a dozen years in prison, gathered at a Tarpon Springs church two days before their trial. Together they prayed a judge or jury would not believe heinous accusations that they mercilessly beat two men with shovels and kicks over a minor traffic dispute.

Later, Michael Saroukos accepted from his two friends a small religious pendant of St. Michael and held it as a symbol of faith throughout his trial on attempted murder charges.

On Saturday, Saroukos said his prayers were unexpectedly answered.

Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III stunned prosecutors and defense lawyers alike by acquitting Saroukos, saying prosecutors had failed to prove he actively participated in the savage road rage beating of Jody Daniel, 31, and Luis Collado, 33, on March 31.

Downey's decision took the matter out of the hands of a jury that might otherwise have decided Saroukos' case.

Now, prosecutors can never re-charge Saroukos.

Downey said prosecutors had produced no witness who saw Saroukos attack anyone with a shovel, as prosecutors charged him. And the judge said evidence was inconsistent on whether Saroukos kicked anyone.

Even so, Downey said, prosecutors charged him with attempted second-degree murder with a shovel, not by kicking a victim.

"Should Mr. Saroukos get off scot-free for what happened?" the judge said. "Maybe not. Did he do something wrong? Sure he did."

But prosecutors hadn't proved him guilty of attempted murder, Downey concluded.

As Downey announced the acquittal, Saroukos turned to his lawyer, Jeff Brown, a man he called his guardian angel, and hugged him as tears streamed down his face.

"I was praying to God this would happen," Saroukos, 24, said later, choking back tears as his wife, Stella, held him. "But I had no idea, just no idea."

After the judge's decision, Saroukos gave bear hugs to his two friends, Theofilos Mamouzelos, 20, and Christopher Stamas, 19, who also face two counts each of attempted second-degree murder.

But they were not as fortunate as their friend.

Downey denied motions by their attorneys to acquit them, and both will have their fate decided by a jury, perhaps Monday.

State prosecutors rested their case against the three late Friday. As is routine in criminal trials, defense lawyers asked the judge to acquit the defendants before presenting the defense case Saturday, arguing prosecutors hadn't proved their guilt.

Motions for "judgments of acquittal" are rarely granted because judges prefer to leave the decision of guilt or innocence in jurors' hands.

Before Downey acquitted Saroukos, he told lawyers, "I can count on one hand, literally, the number of judgments of acquittal I have granted."

Afterward, out of Downey's earshot, lawyers for Mamouzelos and Stamas shook their heads in disbelief and jokingly repeated, "When pigs fly."

The family of one of the two men whose skulls were fractured and brains damaged in the Anclote Road attack said they were disappointed, yet hopeful.

"If they convict two out of three, that will be 67 percent, and we'll still be extremely happy," said Peter Capilli, stepfather of Daniel, one of the victims.

The acquittal changes the whole complexion of the trial. The remaining defendants, as well as prosecutors, are now free to call Saroukos as a witness.

It's likely that Saroukos will back up his friends' assertion that they lashed out with shovels only in self-defense, not in the unprovoked attack portrayed by prosecutors.

Although prosecutors are disappointed at the acquittal, Assistant State Attorney Bob Lewis, without discussing the case in detail, said Downey's decision does not weaken his case against the remaining defendants.

"In fact, I think his testimony might be really helpful to us," Lewis said.

Collado, who was driving a Chevrolet Blazer, Daniel and two of Daniel's brothers, Mike and James Daniel, were driving along Anclote Road looking for an unfamiliar turn last March when a pickup driven by Saroukos pulled behind them.

Saroukos, driving with Mamouzelos and Stamas, honked his horn, angry at their slow speed, prosecutors say. Both groups exchanged obscene gestures.

Collado then made a wrong turn, prosecutors say. As he backed out, the pickup stopped behind him.

Both groups of men confronted each other in a pushing and shouting match. Without provocation, prosecutors say, Mamouzelos and Stamas grabbed shovels from the pickup, hitting Jody Daniel and Collado repeatedly.

Both men, their families say, still suffer lingering health problems from the attack.

Defense lawyers say they used the shovels to defend their friend, Saroukos, who was being attacked, they say, by three of the men.

In an interview, Saroukos said, "I was in a position, if it hadn't been for Theo and Chris, I might have been a victim."

Prosecutors acknowledge that Saroukos probably did not swing a shovel to hit anyone. But they say he enabled and encouraged the attack, making him just as responsible under Florida law.

And some witnesses, though not all, say he kicked the victims in the head.

Prosecutor Jim Hellickson said Saroukos decided to stop the pickup and was one of the first to jump out to join the attack.

"Saroukos is a major player . . . and perhaps a ringleader of the group," Hellickson said. "It's clear he was the instigator."

But Brown, Saroukos' attorney, scoffed at the argument, noting that prosecutors specifically allege in documents charging his client that he committed an attempted murder by hitting someone with a shovel.

Judge Downey said he heard no clear testimony Saroukos attacked anyone with a shovel.

"And even if he did kick anyone, he isn't charged with that crime," the judge said. "He could have been. But he wasn't."

Both Saroukos and Mamouzelos achieved renown in the close-knit Tarpon Springs Greek community when Saroukos in 1993 and his friend in 1998 retrieved the Epiphany cross during the annual Greek Orthodox Church celebration in January.

Both men believed the achievement would bring them good luck and blessings. Mamouzelos later had the image of a cross tattooed on his arm.

Saroukos' mother, Margaret Saroukos, said she is happy the cross, in a sense, was in the courtroom with her son.

"I'm extremely grateful to God," she said. "I think that tattoo is a blessing in all our hearts."

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