This is not the same as, "I didn't kill him." I suppose we probably should not expect good manners
from a murderer.
Iowa man convicted of murder, but not before he pours water on lawyer
His defense is all washed up.
Just moments before jurors were being excused from the courtroom for deliberations in a first-degree murder trial, Jerome Power took a Styrofoam cup filled with water and casually poured it onto his attorney.
Power, 50, who was later found guilty of murder, soaked attorney Steve Addington, KCRG.com reported.
"It should have been a mistrial," Power reportedly said after pouring the water. "You sold me out."
KCRG.com reported that deputies quickly responded.
The jury in Cedar Rapids returned a guilty verdict in the 2010 murder case, convicting Power of first-degree murder in the death of Doris Bevins.
KCRG reports that Power was accused of strangling Bevins in her home in September 2010. Police found Power hiding inside Bevins' apartment behind the entry door as they responded to a 911 call from Bevins' friend, who was talking to her on the phone when she was assaulted.
Prosecutors say Bevins, who was 68, was strangled with pajama pants found in her apartment. They believe it all started as a burglary.
They found Bevins' cellphone and charger in Power's pocket.
Power claims he found Bevins unconscious. His defense attorney told jurors there was no physical evidence, including no DNA, pointing to Power.
8 comments:
Peter,
I'm thinking of your sister and her husband this week and the loss of her precious daughter, Susie.
My heart aches for them.
Ha. Maybe his atty DID sell him out. I've seen it happen before. Many times.
REB
1) Re "It should have been a mistrial" - This is not the same as "I didn't kill him."
"It should have been a mistrial" is also not the same as "It should have been an acquittal" or "It should have been not guilty." This statement reflects guilty knowledge that the best possible outcome would have been a mistrial, not an acquittal.
2) "It should have been a mistrial" reflects a common legal misperception among criminals that a mistrial is like an acquittal. In reality, a mistrial usually means a retrial unless the prosecution has done something so outrageous that it "shocks the conscience" of the court, such as fabricated fingerprint evidence or blatant perjury by police officers. In legalese, since the constitutional protection against double jeopardy attaches when the jury is sworn and the trial begins, the government/prosecution cannot use its own misconduct to deprive the defendant of that constitutional protection. However, if the mistrial is due to "necessity" (some emergency or disaster prevents the trial from going forward, the jury deadlocks, or some other "good cause") or is due to misconduct on the part of the defendant or his representatives, then retrial does not violate double jeopardy protections.
2) Frequently, unhappy defendants stab their attorneys with a pencil or pen, like this violent fellow who has now stabbed four of his defense attorneys despite increasingly restrictive physical restraints: http://heraldnet.com/article/20120426/NEWS01/704269803/0/SEARCH At least two or three defense attorneys get stabbed by clients every year, and many more attorneys are attacked (punched, stabbed, shot, etc.) by their clients' adversaries especially in family law cases. I would be delighted to see a trend of pouring water on attorneys instead.
Looking at the facts of the case, he needed a magician, not an attorney.
It does get kinda hot in court.
Katprint,
I was thinking the same thing! Maybe every trial should end with all the lawyers calmly getting a cup of water poured on their head.
@Anonymous - Attorneys generally don't sleep much while they are in trial. A cool refreshing splash of water in the face might help ensure alertness during the drive home from the courthouse, kind of like the moist hand-towels given out at the end of really long transatlantic or intercontinental flights. I'm perfectly fine with this, so long as this applies equally to the prosecutors as well as the defense attorneys.
Katprint,
Yes, apply to all, and for their safety!
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