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Monday, October 12, 2009

Ind. Courts - Hamilton Avenue slayings case will have intense coverage

Jon Murray and Robert King of the Indianapolis Star report today in a lengthy background story on the first day of the trial. Some quotes:

In the days after gunmen slaughtered four adults and three children inside a tidy house, shivers of grief emanating from Hamilton Avenue were met with promises of justice.

Forty months later, on the eve of the first trial, life is still on hold. The empty house, since damaged by fire, sits boarded and fenced off by court order.* * *

Desmond Turner, 31, is accused of firing most of the shots that hit each victim multiple times in the head and torso, but Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi has acknowledged that winning a conviction won't be easy. Turner maintains his innocence.

Brizzi's recent decision to drop his request for the death penalty -- in exchange, Turner agreed to have his trial before a judge, not a jury -- has put some on edge. Brizzi is pursuing life imprisonment without parole. At a second trial in December, he will seek to convict alleged accomplice James Stewart, 33, of murder.* * *
Brizzi vowed to handle the case himself and said the crime screamed for the death penalty -- not to file such a request, he said, would be a miscarriage of justice.

That was then. Brizzi has declined to detail his decision to drop the death penalty until after both trials, but he said it was based in part on his assessment of whether the evidence allowed at Turner's trial would sway a jury. * * *

Authorities did not recover a weapon used in the crime. And early hopes that DNA testing and other physical evidence would provide links to Turner may not have panned out.

"If you can't show the defendant was there by DNA or even fingerprints . . . jurors don't believe in guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," said Henry Karlson, an emeritus professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. They bring expectations learned from crime-scene investigation TV shows. Karlson called it " 'CSI' syndrome."

Turner will face a bench trial -- leaving his guilt on about two dozen charges up to Judge Robert Altice, who also will weigh the life sentence request.

"He is the finder of the facts now," said Craig M. Bradley, a law professor at IU's Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. "So he's got to listen to the evidence really carefully and reach the conclusion about guilt or innocence. It is a much more active role for the judge."

Defense attorneys Brent Westerfeld and Lorinda Youngcourt haven't discussed their strategy in detail. Recent filings indicate plans to challenge the accounts of many state witnesses based on possible gang ties, witness intimidation and a long-running feud between Valdez's sons -- Magno Albarran, who was among the victims, and Mario Albarran, who is still alive -- and a family in the negigborhood. * * *

"It's going to be a tough case for prosecutors," [Karlson] said.

And whatever the outcome, he said, it will reflect on Brizzi, a Republican who is publicly undecided about whether to seek a third term next year. "The prosecutor has got his neck out a little on this one."

The Star has set up a "Hamilton Ave. Slayings" web page as a central point for its coverage. Here is Jon Murray's blog, with his coverage of the trial so far.

Charles Wilson's AP coverage, "Trial starts in slaying of 7 at Indianapolis home," is here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 12, 2009 01:05 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts