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The jury decides the beatings of two men with shovels in Tarpon Springs was self-defense.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2000
LARGO -- The defendants told jurors they lashed out with shovels in self-defense, trying to save a friend during a minor traffic dispute that turned into an ugly confrontation. Their blows cracked the skulls of two unarmed men, severely injuring them.
Late Tuesday, after deliberating nearly five hours, the jury found Theofilos Mamouzelos, 20, and Christopher Stamas, 19, not guilty of attempted second-degree murder charges in the Tarpon Springs road-rage case.
The two men squeezed their eyes shut, then hugged their attorneys. Relatives of the injured men gasped, some clasping their hands in silent prayer.
"It was all in God's hands," Mamouzelos said as his lawyer, George Tragos, stood beside him. "God had his truth come out. I had faith . . . all along."
Said Stamas:"We're finally free after a year."
Moments after the verdict, Circuit Judge Brandt Downey III told both defendants they were far from guiltless in the March 31 altercation that injured Jody Daniel and Luis Collado.
The judge said he listened carefully to evidence and came to his own conclusion.
"You two obviously did not make some real good decisions that afternoon," Downey told them. "Do not in your mind equate "not guilty' with innocence. They are not the same. "Not guilty' means "not proven to be guilty.'
"I hope you realize your actions that day were totally unacceptable in a civilized society. You're fortunate this time. God forbid if next time you might not be so lucky."
Mamouzelos and Stamas walked out of the courtroom arm in arm, surrounded by a dozen friends.
At one point, Mamouzelos let out a deep breath and said to Stamas, "Wow!"
Martee Capilli, the mother of Jody Daniel, whose skull was cracked with a blow of a shovel, said, "Will they have to kill someone before they are stopped and punished? This is wrong."
Outside the courthouse, Jody Daniel screamed at Stamas and Mamouzelos as the pair made their way to the parking lot with friends.
"Go to hell!" Daniel, 31, yelled as he stood about 30 feet away from the men. "You almost killed me!"
Mamouzelos moved toward Daniel before his friends stopped him and police moved in to prevent any confrontation.
Afterward, Daniel clutched a stuffed animal and denounced the verdict.
"A man is supposed to fight face to face, fist to fist," he said. "It's not suppose to be shovel to fist . . . I didn't even get an apology from them."
On Saturday, Downey acquitted a third defendant in the case, Michael Saroukos, of attempted murder. Downey ruled that prosecutors had not proved he actively participated in the attack.
The case began last March when Saroukos, 24, drove his pickup along Anclote Road. He came upon a Chevrolet Blazer driven by Collado. Collado's passengers were Daniel and Daniel's two brothers, Michael and James "Dan" Daniel.
Collado had slowed as his group admired a boat by the side of the road. Saroukos, driving with Mamouzelos and Stamas, began blaring his horn at the slower vehicle.
The two groups exchanged obscene gesture. Collado pulled into a driveway, Saroukos stopped behind him. Soon, both vehicles emptied and the men began a pushing match during a loud argument.
Mamouzelos testified that he saw three men surround Saroukos and heard someone cry out "Gun!" He said he and Stamas grabbed shovels to free their friend and struck Collado and Jody Daniel as the men attacked them.
James Daniel testified he grabbed a cordless drill as he saw the defendants come at his group with shovels. He testified he tried to pretend it was a gun to scare them off.
But he said Mamouzelos and Stamas ignored him.
The Daniel brothers said the attack was unprovoked. In fact, in the hours afterward, Saroukos told police his friends were unjustified in lashing out with the shovels.
In his statement to police, Saroukos said he told his friends, "I can't believe you did this . . . "
Saroukos, however, testified Monday that he told police what he thought they wanted to hear. He said Mamouzelos and Saroukos may have saved his life, using the shovels only in self-defense.
Defense lawyers said jurors apparently believed the self-defense argument. Before their verdict, they asked Downey a question about jury instruction involving self-defense, indicating they were debating the issue.
Jurors either declined comment or could not be reached.
"It's too easy to say they should have run," Stamas' attorney, Denis de Vlaming, said in closing arguments. "It's too easy to say they should have used their fists," not shovels.
Stamas, he said, had a split second to decide how to defend and free Saroukos.
Jurors also had the option of replacing the attempted murder charge with the lesser offenses of attempted manslaughter, misdemeanor assault or simple battery.
Before trial, prosecutors tried to work a plea deal with the defendants that would have sent Mamouzelos to prison for 23 months and Stamas for 20 months. But negotiations ended after the family of the injured men objected.
Prosecutor Bob Lewis said after the verdict, "The family of the victims wanted a jury to hear this case. And a jury did. Although the verdict is not one I would have voted for if I had been a juror, we certainly respect it."
Luis Collado, 33, who was left unconscious by blows from the defendants' shovels, said he wasn't surprised by the verdict.
"I told everybody off the bat they were going to walk," he said. "Justice is just a joke."