Latest Spaziano appeal before high court today
Dublin Core
Title
Latest Spaziano appeal before high court today
Subject
Spaziano, Joe
Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998
Description
The Florida supreme court will hear a request to reconsider an appeal of convicted murderer Joseph Spaziano. The murder victim's father and Spaziano's attorney Michael Mello express differing concerns about Spaziano's case.
Creator
Griffin, Michael
Source
Griffin, Michael. "Latest Spaziano Appeal before High Court Today." Orlando Sentinel, September 7, 1995, D-1 and D-5.
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1995-09-07
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
2 JPGs
300 DPI
Language
English
Coverage
Tallahassee, FL
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
[Start of the first page]
[Heading] Latest Spaziano appeal before high court today
[subheading] The death row inmate is still claiming his innocence in the slaying of an 18-year-old.
By Michael Griffin
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
[first column]
TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s Supreme Court will listen today as a lawyer for Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano makes his latest courtroom bid to save the former biker from execution for a murder he swears he did not commit.
Spaziano, convicted in 1976 of killing Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts, has had four ap-
[end of the first column]
[start of the second column]
peals rejected by the state’s high court, but hopes a key witness’s changed version of events may save his life.
Justices will hear arguments from lawyers for Spaziano and the state to determine whether it should re-hear one of the four earlier appeals it rejected. Spaziano also has had two appeals denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
While Spaziano’s execution is scheduled, several issues remain unresolved, including whether:
[end of the first page]
[start of the second page]
[Heading] Harberts’ father afraid Spaziano will win appeal
SPAZIANO for D-1
[start of the first column]
ziano that he read before signing the latest death warrant.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Spaziano said he is innocent of both the 1973 murder of Harberts and a 1974 Orange County rape for which he is serving a life sentence.
Spaziano, 49, said he is terrified at the prospect of death in Florida’s electric chair.
“I’m not guilty of no murder. I’m not guilty of no rape,” he said in a prison interview Wednesday, just two weeks before his scheduled execution.
“They are trying to murder me,” he said
[end of the first column]
[start of the second column]
from behind a glass partition. “I get afraid.”
Art Harberts, father of Laura Harberts, said Wednesday that he is afraid Spaziano will survive the death warrant—his fifth under three governors—and eventually win release from prison.
“When is there going to be the end of this thing?” Harberts said. “It’s all about him. It’s all about Joe, the victim. They don’t even think about the other victims, the murders and the rapes he did.
Orange County investigators Spaziano a suspect in at least three unsolved rapes and two murders—the death of June Louise Kennedy, 55, and Karen Ann Dupuis, 21. Both bodies were dumped within two miles of a dump near Altamont Springs where the remains of Harberts and another unidentified woman were found on Aug. 27, 1973.
Harberts, 18, was last seen alive on Aug. 5 of that year. Several witnesses, including the hospital worker’s roommate, tied Spaziano to Harberts. Other witnesses, including friends of Spaziano and fellow bikers, tied him to the dump.
But it was Anthony Dilisio, a Maitland teen who idolized Spaziano, who linked the
[end of the second column]
[start of the third column]
[[words--boxed]]: When is there going to be the end to this thing? It’s all about him. It’s all about Joe, the victim. They don’t even think about the other victims, the murders and the rapes he did. – Art Harberts, Laura’s father
biker to the decomposed body of Harberts. He told police that Spaziano bragged about raping and mutilating the woman and finally took him to the dump to display Harberts’ body.
In June, Dilisio told The Miami Herald that he had lied 20 years ago and that Spaziano had never taken him to the dump or showed him any bodies.
Chiles stayed that execution and ordered the FDLE to investigate Dilisio’s claims.
[end of the third column]
[start of the fourth column]
Agents reported that Dilisio told several people about going to the dump long before police appeared and hypnotized him to enhance his recall. They also quoted a biker now under federal protection who said Spaziano confessed to him while in prison.
After reviewing the report and watching an FDLE videotaped interview with Dilisio, Chiles signed the death warrant. He ordered the FDLE report kept secret to protect witnesses who said they feared retaliations.
Mello has asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution on the basis of Dilisio’s new version of events. He also hopes to force Chiles to open the files so he can interview the witnesses.
But Mello has also filed papers indicating he lacks the money, time and support staff to adequately defend a man fighting for his life. On that basis, he asked the court whether he should continue as Spaziano’s attorney.
If the court grants a re-hearing of the case, Spaziano’s execution could be delayed.
If justices refuse to intervene, Spaziano may have run out of appeals.
[end of the article]
[Heading] Latest Spaziano appeal before high court today
[subheading] The death row inmate is still claiming his innocence in the slaying of an 18-year-old.
By Michael Griffin
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
[first column]
TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s Supreme Court will listen today as a lawyer for Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano makes his latest courtroom bid to save the former biker from execution for a murder he swears he did not commit.
Spaziano, convicted in 1976 of killing Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts, has had four ap-
[end of the first column]
[start of the second column]
peals rejected by the state’s high court, but hopes a key witness’s changed version of events may save his life.
Justices will hear arguments from lawyers for Spaziano and the state to determine whether it should re-hear one of the four earlier appeals it rejected. Spaziano also has had two appeals denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
While Spaziano’s execution is scheduled, several issues remain unresolved, including whether:
- Gov. Lawton Chiles can keep secret a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report on Spa-
[end of the second column]
[Image] Associated Press
[end of the first page]
[start of the second page]
[Heading] Harberts’ father afraid Spaziano will win appeal
SPAZIANO for D-1
[start of the first column]
ziano that he read before signing the latest death warrant.
- Spaziano’s out-of-state attorney can adequately represent him.
- Arguments of innocence can be raised almost 20 years after a jury convicted Spaziano and a judge sentence him to death.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Spaziano said he is innocent of both the 1973 murder of Harberts and a 1974 Orange County rape for which he is serving a life sentence.
Spaziano, 49, said he is terrified at the prospect of death in Florida’s electric chair.
“I’m not guilty of no murder. I’m not guilty of no rape,” he said in a prison interview Wednesday, just two weeks before his scheduled execution.
“They are trying to murder me,” he said
[end of the first column]
[start of the second column]
from behind a glass partition. “I get afraid.”
Art Harberts, father of Laura Harberts, said Wednesday that he is afraid Spaziano will survive the death warrant—his fifth under three governors—and eventually win release from prison.
“When is there going to be the end of this thing?” Harberts said. “It’s all about him. It’s all about Joe, the victim. They don’t even think about the other victims, the murders and the rapes he did.
Orange County investigators Spaziano a suspect in at least three unsolved rapes and two murders—the death of June Louise Kennedy, 55, and Karen Ann Dupuis, 21. Both bodies were dumped within two miles of a dump near Altamont Springs where the remains of Harberts and another unidentified woman were found on Aug. 27, 1973.
Harberts, 18, was last seen alive on Aug. 5 of that year. Several witnesses, including the hospital worker’s roommate, tied Spaziano to Harberts. Other witnesses, including friends of Spaziano and fellow bikers, tied him to the dump.
But it was Anthony Dilisio, a Maitland teen who idolized Spaziano, who linked the
[end of the second column]
[start of the third column]
[[words--boxed]]: When is there going to be the end to this thing? It’s all about him. It’s all about Joe, the victim. They don’t even think about the other victims, the murders and the rapes he did. – Art Harberts, Laura’s father
biker to the decomposed body of Harberts. He told police that Spaziano bragged about raping and mutilating the woman and finally took him to the dump to display Harberts’ body.
In June, Dilisio told The Miami Herald that he had lied 20 years ago and that Spaziano had never taken him to the dump or showed him any bodies.
Chiles stayed that execution and ordered the FDLE to investigate Dilisio’s claims.
[end of the third column]
[start of the fourth column]
Agents reported that Dilisio told several people about going to the dump long before police appeared and hypnotized him to enhance his recall. They also quoted a biker now under federal protection who said Spaziano confessed to him while in prison.
After reviewing the report and watching an FDLE videotaped interview with Dilisio, Chiles signed the death warrant. He ordered the FDLE report kept secret to protect witnesses who said they feared retaliations.
Mello has asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution on the basis of Dilisio’s new version of events. He also hopes to force Chiles to open the files so he can interview the witnesses.
But Mello has also filed papers indicating he lacks the money, time and support staff to adequately defend a man fighting for his life. On that basis, he asked the court whether he should continue as Spaziano’s attorney.
If the court grants a re-hearing of the case, Spaziano’s execution could be delayed.
If justices refuse to intervene, Spaziano may have run out of appeals.
[end of the article]
Original Format
Newspaper
Contributor of the Digital Item
Ferrell, Claudine
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Williams, Megan
Files
Citation
Griffin, Michael, “Latest Spaziano appeal before high court today,” HIST299, accessed July 7, 2024, http://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/205.