Judge rules confession stands in beating death

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

DADE CITY -- A judge on Thursday refused for the third time to throw out the confession of a Zephyrhills man charged with beating his roommate to death last year with a softball bat.

Anthony Lee Greco's public defender argued that the 6-foot-7, 285-pound ex-biker only confessed to killing 31-year-old Thomas Griebel because he was high on crack cocaine at the time and didn't understand he had a right to remain silent. The defense attorney, Tom Hanlon, said Greco suffers from learning disabilities that prevented him from making an intelligent decision about whether to talk to detectives.

But Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb ruled that Greco's detailed confession was legally obtained, and prosecutors will be allowed to play it for the jury. Greco's first-degree murder trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 18.

Greco, 26, can be heard on a tape of the confession, which was played at a March 23 hearing, agreeing to waive his right to an attorney before he spoke with detectives. He stopped the interview at one point and asked for an attorney, then broke down and gave an account of the beating to detectives.

The detectives testified that Greco did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Investigators say Griebel was struck 49 times by the softball bat, with 39 of the blows coming to his head, during the April 3, 1999, beating. Greco told detectives that he beat Griebel in a fit of anger after an all-night cocaine binge.

Mobile home fires were arson, detectives say

HUDSON -- Fire officials say a blaze that destroyed four abandoned mobile homes and a shed Monday was deliberately set. Larry Whitten, a fire investigator for Pasco County Fire-Rescue, on Thursday said the arson caused $20,000 in damage to the mobile homes near the intersection of Debra Lane and Lilly Avenue. Firefighters evacuated two nearby mobile homes that were occupied, while embers from the fire sparked four other fires in the area, said officials.

Deputies looking for persons who shot pit bull

LACOOCHEE -- Pasco deputies are trying to determine who shot and killed a pit bullterrier in Lacoochee early Thursday morning.

According to reports, witnesses told detectives they heard gunshots around 12:30 a.m. near Michelle Drive and Pine Products Road. Witnesses said they saw a truck and a car speed away from the area.

Deputies arrived and found a dead male pit bullterrier lying near the CSX railroad tracks that parallel Pine Products Road. The dog had been shot twice in the head.

The pit bullterrier also had lacerations on its body and was missing fur, which deputies said were likely the result of a fight with another dog.

Hernando baby's injuries under investigation.

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