Prosecutor considers moving trial of guards

Bradford County's prison-driven economy has made selecting jurors difficult.

By ADAM C. SMITH
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 7, 2001

In a county where prisons dominate the economy, nobody expected it would be easy to find impartial jurors for the trial of prison officers charged with murdering a death row inmate.

But prosecutors are starting to wonder whether it is simply impossible.

Eight weeks after jury selection began in the high-profile Frank Valdes murder trial, Gainesville area State Attorney Bill Cervone might try to move the case out of Bradford County.

"The magnitude of the problem is becoming increasingly obvious," said Cervone, who for months had dismissed the idea of seeking a new trial location as unnecessary and, perhaps, legally impossible.

So far, some 2,400 Bradford residents have been summoned for the case, and only three jurors have been picked. By Thursday afternoon, lawyers had a new pool of 187 prospective jurors from which they need to find seven to nine additional jurors.

Cervone said Thursday he has told his lawyers to draft a motion for moving the trial. He wants to wait and see what happens with the new jury pool before filing the motion.

"If we go through this group ... and still aren't significantly close to seating a jury, that makes a pretty compelling argument (for moving the trial)," Cervone said. "Whether the judge agrees with us or not I don't know."

The trial is for four of eight prison officers implicated in the death of Florida State Prison inmate Frank Valdes in July 1999. Valdes, on death row for killing a corrections officer, was found without a pulse in his confinement cell, most of his ribs broken and boot marks on his torso.

Officers reported he was injuring himself, rolling off his bed and jumping from cell bars.

Prisons are by far the biggest employer in Bradford County, and most everybody knows someone who works around dangerous inmates. Juror after juror has expressed strong sympathies for the officers.

High-profile trials are occasionally moved but almost always at the request of the defendants. Defense lawyers want the trial in Bradford, and prosecutors have a big legal hurdle if they try to move it.

The state and federal constitutions guarantee defendants the right to be tried in the area where the crime occurred. Appeals courts have consistently rejected venue changes made over the objection of defendants.

So far, nearly one in four potential Bradford County jurors has been summoned for the Valdes trial, though hundreds never showed. The vast majority of those who did were excused because of bias, health reasons, or because they could not afford to spend six weeks away from work.

Circuit Judge Larry Turner wants six jurors and six alternates. He could settle for four alternates.

"I'm confident and convinced we will get a jury," defense lawyer Ted Curtis said.

Gloria Fletcher, another defense lawyer, expressed similar confidence. Not until lawyers have gone through three quarters of the eligible Bradford jurors, she said, should anyone suggest an impartial jury can't be found.

Meanwhile, four other officers implicated in Valdes' death are expected to go to trial later next year in Bradford County.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright