Spaziano's lawyer says state lied
Dublin Core
Title
Spaziano's lawyer says state lied
Subject
Joe Spaziano
Capital Punishment
Description
Michael Mello, Spaziano's lawyer accuses Governor Chiles' office of lying and possibly tampering with evidence. Star witness in the case recants statement.
Creator
Rado, Diane
Source
Rado, Diane. “Spaziano's lawyer says state lied.” St. Petersburg Times, September 1, 1995.
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1995-09-01
Rights
The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.
Format
1 JPG
300 DPI
Language
English
Coverage
Tallahassee, FL
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Spaziano's lawyer says state lied
Michael Mello claims Gov. Chiles' office misrepresented a key witness' videotaped statement. The governor's office denies the charge.
By Diane Rado
TALLAHASSEE – A war of words has erupted and last-ditch paperwork mounts at the court-house as convicted killer Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano heads toward death in Florida's electric chair.
Spaziano's attorney has asked the Florida Supreme Court to halt the Sept. 21 execution and make public a secret police investigation that led to a new death warrant for Spaziano.
In a series of motions filed this week, attorney Michael Mello also accuses Gov. Lawton Chiles' office of lying, possibly tampering with evidence and selectively leaking information about the case, among other things.
The governor's office denies the charges and is appalled by a recent memo written by Mello. The memo, addressed to colleagues in Florida who deal with death cases, is a blunt, sometimes vulgar assessment about strategy on the Spaziano case.
Among other things, Mello describes the U.S. Supreme Court as "those robed a--h----," and former Gov. Bob Graham, now a U.S. senator, as "the original wimp who transformed himself into a national political force and who did so on the charred bodies of our clients."
"As a lawyer, I was appalled. As a human being, I found it impossible to believe somebody could be this way," said Dexter Douglass, the governor's general counsel who got a copy of the Aug. 27 memo from Mello.
Mello isn't apologizing for the memo. "It's a candid and blunt assessment of an extraordinarily difficult tactical and moral decision that I had to make and that Joe Spaziano had to make," Mello said in an interview Thursday.
The memo describes a decision not to take Spaziano's case to the federal courts because Spaziano is not likely to get a stay of execution there. Mello generally says about the federal courts, "F--- ' em."
In the end, Mello says, Chiles should bear responsibility for executing Spaziano, not the courts.
"I want him to know that, no matter how much good he did in the Senate and in the governor's mansion, it will all be eclipsed by this; it will all be outweighed by his killing this man."
Controversy has been growing since this summer over Spaziano, the Outlaws motorcycle gang member condemned to die for the 1973 rape and murder or Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts.
The star witness in the case, Anthony Dilisio, recanted his testimony, telling reporters he lied when he said Spaziano had shown him the bodies of Harberts and another woman at a dump.
Chiles canceled Spaziano's execution June 27 and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. The FDLE investigation persuaded Chiles to sign a fifth death warrant for Spaziano last week, but the governor's office has refused to release the investigation.
Mello asked the Florida Supreme Court this week to force the release of the investigation.
He said he has already discovered that the governor's general counsel, Douglass, lied to reporters about the contents of a videotaped interview of Dilisio on June 14.
In the interview, according to a transcript Mello filed with the court, Dilisio doesn't remember a lot of details about the trial. But he does recant his previous testimony about Spaziano bringing him to the dump where the women's bodies were. He said police manipulated him and brought him there.
"I had never been there in my life until they brought me there. And they made it look like that a guy that they arrested, Crazy Joe, brought me there," Dilisio said.
Mello says in his court motions that Douglass told reporters that Dilisio did not recant his testimony in the videotape – a statement he characterizes as a lie.
"The obvious question becomes: If Chiles' office lied about the videotape, why should we believe any of their other new "evidence" – especially when they insist on cloaking it in secrecy," Mello wrote.
Douglass said he has not lied about the Spaziano case.
"I could be mistaken, but I didn't lie. I'm sure it's all a matter of interpretation," Douglass said.
"I'm not getting into any arguments with this man (Mello)," Douglass added.
Mello obtained a copy of the videotape through an independent source and sent it to the Supreme Court sealed. Now, he has informed the court he no longer wants the tape sealed because the governor's office or the FDLE leaked into the Orlando Sentinel, which has written editorials in favor of Spaziano's execution.
As a result, the court will release the tape for viewing today.
[[1976 headshot of spaziano-image]]
Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano is scheduled to be executed Sept. 21.
Michael Mello claims Gov. Chiles' office misrepresented a key witness' videotaped statement. The governor's office denies the charge.
By Diane Rado
TALLAHASSEE – A war of words has erupted and last-ditch paperwork mounts at the court-house as convicted killer Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano heads toward death in Florida's electric chair.
Spaziano's attorney has asked the Florida Supreme Court to halt the Sept. 21 execution and make public a secret police investigation that led to a new death warrant for Spaziano.
In a series of motions filed this week, attorney Michael Mello also accuses Gov. Lawton Chiles' office of lying, possibly tampering with evidence and selectively leaking information about the case, among other things.
The governor's office denies the charges and is appalled by a recent memo written by Mello. The memo, addressed to colleagues in Florida who deal with death cases, is a blunt, sometimes vulgar assessment about strategy on the Spaziano case.
Among other things, Mello describes the U.S. Supreme Court as "those robed a--h----," and former Gov. Bob Graham, now a U.S. senator, as "the original wimp who transformed himself into a national political force and who did so on the charred bodies of our clients."
"As a lawyer, I was appalled. As a human being, I found it impossible to believe somebody could be this way," said Dexter Douglass, the governor's general counsel who got a copy of the Aug. 27 memo from Mello.
Mello isn't apologizing for the memo. "It's a candid and blunt assessment of an extraordinarily difficult tactical and moral decision that I had to make and that Joe Spaziano had to make," Mello said in an interview Thursday.
The memo describes a decision not to take Spaziano's case to the federal courts because Spaziano is not likely to get a stay of execution there. Mello generally says about the federal courts, "F--- ' em."
In the end, Mello says, Chiles should bear responsibility for executing Spaziano, not the courts.
"I want him to know that, no matter how much good he did in the Senate and in the governor's mansion, it will all be eclipsed by this; it will all be outweighed by his killing this man."
Controversy has been growing since this summer over Spaziano, the Outlaws motorcycle gang member condemned to die for the 1973 rape and murder or Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts.
The star witness in the case, Anthony Dilisio, recanted his testimony, telling reporters he lied when he said Spaziano had shown him the bodies of Harberts and another woman at a dump.
Chiles canceled Spaziano's execution June 27 and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. The FDLE investigation persuaded Chiles to sign a fifth death warrant for Spaziano last week, but the governor's office has refused to release the investigation.
Mello asked the Florida Supreme Court this week to force the release of the investigation.
He said he has already discovered that the governor's general counsel, Douglass, lied to reporters about the contents of a videotaped interview of Dilisio on June 14.
In the interview, according to a transcript Mello filed with the court, Dilisio doesn't remember a lot of details about the trial. But he does recant his previous testimony about Spaziano bringing him to the dump where the women's bodies were. He said police manipulated him and brought him there.
"I had never been there in my life until they brought me there. And they made it look like that a guy that they arrested, Crazy Joe, brought me there," Dilisio said.
Mello says in his court motions that Douglass told reporters that Dilisio did not recant his testimony in the videotape – a statement he characterizes as a lie.
"The obvious question becomes: If Chiles' office lied about the videotape, why should we believe any of their other new "evidence" – especially when they insist on cloaking it in secrecy," Mello wrote.
Douglass said he has not lied about the Spaziano case.
"I could be mistaken, but I didn't lie. I'm sure it's all a matter of interpretation," Douglass said.
"I'm not getting into any arguments with this man (Mello)," Douglass added.
Mello obtained a copy of the videotape through an independent source and sent it to the Supreme Court sealed. Now, he has informed the court he no longer wants the tape sealed because the governor's office or the FDLE leaked into the Orlando Sentinel, which has written editorials in favor of Spaziano's execution.
As a result, the court will release the tape for viewing today.
[[1976 headshot of spaziano-image]]
Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano is scheduled to be executed Sept. 21.
Original Format
Newspaper
Contributor of the Digital Item
Cavolt, Jessica
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Williams, Megan
Files
Citation
Rado, Diane, “Spaziano's lawyer says state lied,” HIST299, accessed July 7, 2024, http://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/196.