10 20 256 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9041380fbbcb59f8f41dfa01c802c039.jpg 711c4bb953411f88a1add412d139cad1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Text Any textual data included in the document It has come to my attention that certain students and others were offended by the timing of November 11, 1977 Prometheus article “Dean Rusk: Guilty of War Crimes?” The article appeared the day Mr. Rush arrived on campus for his four day visit here, and some members of our academic community felt that my piece should not have appeared until after DVIR had departed Fredericksburg. Some clarification is in order: First, the intent of my article was not to insult anyone, either Mr. Rusk himself or the people who brought him here; were this the case, we would have omitted the question mark in the headline. The sole purpose of the article was to present one student’s view of the way America, through its high governmental officials such as Mr. Rusk, chose to wage war in Southeast Asia. This view, incidentally, is shared by a number of individuals whose credentials in the academic and legal community are somewhat better than mine-for example Noam Chomsky, Richard Hammer, and Telford Taylor, the U.S. Chief Council at Nuremberg in 1945-1946. Second, I chose for the article to appear when it did out of fairness to Mr. Rusk: so that interested students could go to Mr. Rusk and discuss the questions I raised in my article with him. This gave Mr. Rusk an opportunity to present his side of the story, to disprove my argument and to enlighten us about his version of American war crimes in Vietnam and who is responsible for them. I felt that to suggest that Mr. Rusk might be guilty of war crimes after he had already departed for Georgia would be a disservice for both our DVIR and the students of MWC. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Gallagher, Caleb S. Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Response To Rusk Critics Subject The topic of the resource Student newspapers and periodicals Rusk, Dean Description An account of the resource A reaction from Micheal Mello about an article he published regarding a visitor to the Mary Washington. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Micheal A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael A. "Response to Rusk Critics", Prometheus. Michael A. Mello Papers, 1957-2008, Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c5ba5ad7f0182243b86a10af5b11feac.jpg 030a3c0961a5b85fa105030d5e3658f4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [heading] Reveal report on Spaziano [start of the first column] Gov. Lawton Chiles should reveal the substance of a special state investigation of the evidence used to convict Death Row resident Joseph Spaziano. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement compiled that report at the request of Mr. Chiles as he was considering a clemency request. Mr. Spaziano's attorney, Michael Mello, says his client should not have been convicted of murder in the death 22 years ago of Laura Lynn Harberts. Mr. Chiles has no authority to overturn Mr. Spaziano's conviction. That is the province of the court system – which, in several appeals at both the state and federal levels, has found no reason to do so. If Mr. Chiles were to be convinced that Mr. Spaziano was wrongly convicted, though, he could reduce – or even throw out – the sentence. Instead, after reviewing the FDLE report, Mr. Chiles was convinced that Mr. Spaziano's conviction was just. In fact, what new evidence was found supported the jury's verdict in that heinous crime. Understandably, Mr. Mello would like to [end of the first column] [start of the second column] see that FDLE report. It's true that it was Mr. Mello's choice to seek redress through the governor, and it's true – as Mr. Mello surely must have known – that the clemency procedure affords the governor the right to keep that information private. Mr. Chiles' concern is for the safety of those who spoke with the FDLE, several of whom did so on the condition that they not be identified. Mr Spaziano, after all, was a member of a motorcycle gang notorious for violent retribution. Still, a man's life is at stake. If his life is to be taken in the name of the public, the public has a right to know on the strength of what information that is being done. The best solution would be for Mr. Chiles to release a summary of the FDLE's findings that would not identify – nor potentially put into jeopardy – the source of the information but would make clear why he believes that there is no reason to grant clemency to Mr. Spaziano. This, after all, isn't a trial. Mr. Spaziano had his trial – 20 years ago. [end of the second column] [end of article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Snead, Andrew Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reveal report on Spaziano Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, FL Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Orlando Sentinel Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Orlando (FL) Sentinel. "Reveal Report on Spaziano." September 5, 1995. Description An account of the resource Governor Lawton Chiles should release a summary of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement report that he used to determine that Spaziano's murder conviction was just. Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/88990e54afcb4412df5584abf29d5c42.jpg 240b6b8a1ca88bd7e7fc80a19dc6ddc2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Article Text Any textual data included in the document Friday’s decision by a Vermont federal judge to allow DNA testing as evidence is the first of many federal court rulings on a controversial issue that may ultimately wind up in the nation’s highest court. The opinion from U.S. District Judge Franklin S. Billings Jr. is the first written ruling addressing the admissibility and reliability of DNA testing to identify suspects in rape and murder cases. But the issue is far from settled. Professor Michael Mello of Vermont Law School said while the ruling would not set a precedent for state courts to follow, it would have an effect. “Especially since Judge Billings is a respected judge, it would have a persuasive effect,” Mello said. “The court to watch is the court of appeals.” Professor Ken Kreiling, a Vermont Law School professor who has written on the uses of scientific evidence in trials, said Friday’s decision was significant because the defense was able to effectively contest the prosecution’s experts. “There are very few cases in which it has been hotly contested and the defense had the resources to hotly contest it,” he said. Both Mello and Kreiling said there was still not enough scientific evidence and established procedure to use the tests in criminal trials. “One of the things I think is important is there are a number of different procedures. The labs sometime don't follow their own procedure. They kind of ad hoc as they go and what does that say for reliability,” Kreiling said. “Most scientists say you don’t deem something to be scientific and reliable until there’s a clear protocol, until the designers are willing to put it into publications, willing to put it into the journals and defend it.” But a California assistant district attorney who has successfully prosecuted two cases using NA testing said the proof of its reliability was in the overwhelming acceptance in state courts. “There have been one or two or three defense successes and a couple hundred prosecution successes,” said Rock Harmon of the Oakland District Attorney’s office. “There’s a clue there. There’s a subtle hint that the debate should focus on something more worthwhile.” California prosecutors have successfully overridden 12 challenges by defense attorneys in getting DNA testing admitted into evidence, he said. “We’ve been successful in every case.” Mello said that the trend in courts was to admit DNA testing and let a jury decide its credibility. “Until there’s more evidence in the scientific community, more consensus, it shouldn’t be admitted at all,” he argued. “The judges have got a role in determining the reliability of evidence, especially this kind of potentially misleading evidence. That’s a very emotionally powerful tool to out in the hands of a prosecutor, especially when the defense side doesn’t get the resources to combat that.” While DNA testing had proven reliable, Kreiling said how the test was conducted must be weighted. “For lawyers to be able to look at all of these levels and bring in experts possesses incredible problems. That suggests to me that we ought to bend over backwards before we admit this stuff.” Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Matragrano, Katey Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ruling Over DNA Testing To Have Impact Subject The topic of the resource Billings, Franklin S., 1922- Mello, Michael Description An account of the resource An article about the approval for use of DNA testing in federal court rulings. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maynard, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rutland Daily Herald Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-09-20 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 jpgs Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vermont and California California DNA testing Franklin S. Billings Jr. Kenneth Kreiling Michael A. Mello Vermont https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/794fc2742e7652bd644a81dc0fcb6412.jpg 01c6071e292438cd12e3e49c73231b84 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document A U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday inspired a former death-case lawyer to blast Florida’s court system for decisions he thinks probably cost several lives. Mike Mello was an assistant public defender in West Palm Beach when he tried, in federal appeals court, to overturn James Ernest Hitchcock’s death sentence. Mello now lives in Washington, D.C. The appeal argued that Hitchcock’s 1977 sentence was imposed unfairly because the judge interpreted Florida statutes – as many judges apparently did – as meaning that judges and juries deciding on the death penalty could consider only the specific list of mitigating circumstances spelled out in Florida law. Such limiting of possible leniency-inspiring factors is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, as it did in a similar U.S. Supreme Court decision in a 1978 Ohio case. The 1978 ruling changed the sentencing rules in Florida, too. Mello said those sentenced to death in Florida before then have had no luck getting their sentences reviewed – until now. Hitchcock, sentenced to death in 1977, had his appeal rejected by Florida’s supreme court despite the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision. But on Wednesday, Hitchcock won a new sentencing hearing in a 9-0 vote of the nation’s highest court. The decision was a spark of good news for death-penalty opponents in Florida on the day when a more sweeping U.S. Supreme Court decision was made in favor of death-penalty backers. But Mello said the Hitchcock decision not only gives Hitchcock a chance at a life sentence with a 25-year mandatory, it also gives hope to a number of other long-time Florida Death Row veterans. Florida’s Attorneys General’s office has a more conservative opinion, but Mello said, “The case will affect two dozen or so cases in Florida. Basically, every Florida death sentence approved prior to summer of ’78 has this issue in it.” Several other possible cases may have become moot in the most final way possible – by the executions of the potential appellants, he said. Mello lapsed from his restrained, professional tone when he said, “Almost every one of these people who’ve been executed has had the same damn issue. You’ve got a dozen dead people who were tried during the same period, and some had the same errors. “That’s what’s wrong with the death penalty,” Mello said. “If you happen to be still alive when the big decision comes out, then you get a new trial. If your case was a little too early, tough.” Carolyn Snurnowski, director of criminal appeals for Florida’s Attorney General’s office, said she could not agree that many of those executed in Florida in recent years would have been entitled to new sentencings. But Snurnowski did agree the Hitchcock decision will mean her office will have to handle a flurry of appeals, “just as all U.S. Supreme Court decisions do,” she said. “We’ll live with it.” She would not speculate about how many of those appeals might succeed. Mello said the ruling would not lead to new trials or dropped charges – just to new sentence hearings in which more mitigating circumstances would be presented and considered. “This isn’t going to put anyone back on the street,” Mello said. “The only question is life or death.” Hitchcock was convicted of strangling his 13-year-old stepdaughter in Orange County in 1976 when he was 20. Almost four years ago he received a stay of execution the day before his scheduled death by electrocution. At his trial, his defense lawyer asked the judge and jury to consider Hitchcock’s age, lack of significant criminal history, poor upbringing, potential for rehabilitation and his voluntary surrender to police. “Look at the overall picture,” the defense argued at the sentencing, according to Mello. But the trial judge who imposed the death sentence referred in jury instructions, and in his own execution order, only to Florida’s list of mitigating factors. The list included age and prior record – but none of the other considerations that the defense argued were relevant. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Walker, Woodie Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Second ruling, had it come earlier, may have saved some inmates, ex-public defender says Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Supreme Court--United States Description An account of the resource An article about a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed Florida courts to consider additional mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lyons, Tom Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Gainesville Sun Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-04-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida death penalty Florida death penalty Florida death penalty sentencing rules Florida Death Row Florida Supreme Court Mike Mello U.S. Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/01516508d56f7f512f2a562ed212368b.jpg c7e34611bdf5a5ffcd466d4fb57bff9a https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6c8735f0622ca13d06ce6c6e367315ed.jpg 1d2de1516ffa0f449eb7ee99832ce9f6 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/efdfe75829771fbf1f8623fd9cc4c898.jpg 70a4e638dc7f409033de84ae34fe1ebd https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ae96fe52bda6dd9fd7c073d81f6c094d.jpg d0d07e40c16568d8915e7d99d9a0e495 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Text Any textual data included in the document <div style="text-align:center;">"Senate Vice President Says Constitution is a Farce"</div> <div style="text-align:left;">Reprinted from PROMETHEUS (Nov. 11 issue) By Mike Mellow The following, a taped interview, took place on October 3, 1977 in room 215 of Bushnell Dorm. Prometheus: Jim, two weeks ago you were Vice President of the Student Senate, a day student senator, and a day student judicial representative; besides that, you had plans for running for President of S. A. next year. Today, you have resigned from all your positions in S. A. and have in effect withdrawn from campus politics. What happened? Boyd: The whole thing started when Mike McCoy, who is President of the Day Student Association and a member of a committee formed by Executive Cabinet to re-write the Constitution of the Student Association, asked me to help him re-write the sections of the Constitution relating to day students. While doing so, I discovered Section 4, Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with eligibility of students to hold office on the Executive Cabinet. That Section reads: "Eligibility for an office within the Executive Cabinet shall be dependent upon... full-time student status and the maintenance thereof throughout the tenure of office." At the beginning of the year, during registration, I was talking to Kathy Mayer who is now President of the S. A. (and who is not only a member of Executive Cabinet but presides over it) and she told me she was only taking 10 hours. Well, when I read this Article 6, Section 4, of the Constitution last week, I remembered that Kathy Mayer was only taking ten class hours. Everything that the administration has ever told the day student, in any way, shape or form, has defined a "full-time student" as one who is taking 12 semester credit hours. This is how a "full-time student" has been defined. Thus, it seemed to me that Kathy Mayer was holding office-illegally. Prometheus: What action did you take then? Boyd: I brought up the issue with two people, besides Mark, who were curious about the same situation. One of these people thought that my whole interest in the matter was a move on my part to get publicity and possible even more power: if Kathy resigned as President, Barb Stammerjohn would have become President and I would have succeeded Barb as Vice President of S. A. and President of the Senate: This person also knew that I was planning to run for President of the S. A. next year. I talked the entire situation over with my wife, who is a graduate of M. W. C., and we concluded that I had three alternatives. One was to stay on as Vice-President of S. A. and press charges in the Senate against Kathy Mayer for holding office illegally under the Constitution. I thought that I would probably lose in such an effort, mainly because G. W. would get into the middle of the argument. The second alternative I had was to stay in office, be a hypocrite and not fulfill my obligations under Article 6 Section 7 of the Constitution, under which I solemnly promised to "maintain the Constitution of the Student Association of Mary Washington College" as an officer of the S. A. The third alternative I had was to resign and to leave it in their hands to do what they saw fit. I submitted my resignation to Kathy Mayer and the rest of the Executive Cabinet as well as Mark McCoy and Cindy Heflin, Vice President of the Day Students Association, on October 27. The Executive Cabinet had a meeting that afternoon, which Mark and I attended. We all discussed the situation, and I said that the main reason for my resignation was the fact that I did not want to press the issue and if I remained on as either a Senator or as Vice President of the Senate, I would have to press it because of my oath to uphold the Constitution. A major fight in Senate over this issue would have opened up a huge sore in the S.A.'s ability to function; it would have laid a big question mark upon the validity of Kathy Mayer's holding office, no matter who won the case. Prometheus: What else happened at that October 27 meeting of Executive Cabinet? Boyd: They wanted to involve President Woodard, Dean Clement and Dean Croushore in the discussion, because Kathy was under the assumption that she was a full-time student because she had gotten permission from her faculty adviser (who happens to be on the of the assistant deans), from Dean Clement and from Dean Croushore to take the equivalent of part-time load (less than twelve hours), to remain on campus in a dorm, and to remain in the position of S.A. President. My whole point was the Constitution does not allow for any exemption in any way, shape, or form from any part of it. This was what I based my resignation on. Prometheus:Did you ever meet with members of the administration on this question? Boyd: Yes, on Friday the 28th, at about 4:30, the Executive Cabinet met with President Woodard; Dean Clement and Dean Croushore did not attend, though they were scheduled to be there. President Woodard informed us that his office, the office of the Dean, or the office of Financial Aid and Admissions, are the sole authorities of what is and what is not student status and have the right anytime, in any way, shape or form to change the status of any student as they see fit. Prometheus: But, given that, given the fact that the administration seems to be able to superceed or modify the Constitution at whim, doesn't it seem that Kathy is, in fact, holding office legally? I mean, since they modified the rules, she can't be accused of violating the OLD rules. Boyd: As far as the administration is concerned, as far as President Woodard is concerned, as far as Executive cabinet is concerned, she is holding office legally: because G.W. has declared her a full-time student. I upon learning of that fact, was asked by Executive Cabinet to take my resignation and to stay in office. I refused to do this, because I felt that if the Constitution was worth the paper it was written on, what is said was what it meant: the catalogue states twelve hours. There are no exceptions in the Constitution; therefore, I would not withdraw my resignation. Prometheus: Does the STUDENT HANDBOOK provide for any such exemptions? Boyd: The Handbook does not, neither does the Constitution. But from what President Woodard told us on the 28th of October, there are four or five exemptions, depending on how you define it, where G.W. will allow a student to take less than twelve hours and still be classified as a full-time student. One of those is if the students agrees to pay the full-time students status fee for tuition, room, board and activities fees. He also said that this goes for day students as well as residential students: if the student wanted to pay the full amount that is charged as a full-time student, he could take three hours if he wanted to and still be classified as a full-time student. An exemption might also be given if a student is handicapped, and physically cannot get around and can take but so many hours. Another is when a faculty advisor puts in writing in fact that a student is having trouble and cannot cannot handle a full load of twelve hours. Kathy was exempted for this reason: with her holding office as S.A. President, they felt that her work load would be more than she could handle if she had to carry a full class load as well. So she went to summer school and took courses so she will, in May, have enough credits to graduate. Prometheus: But, when given the fact that she could not take the full course load and hold office, why did they lower the course load rather than take away her office? Do these exemptions not undermine the whole rationale behind that Section 4 in the Constitution? Boyd: That was my thought on it. The Constitution says you must be a full-time student. To me a full-time student is one who takes twelve hours or more. Period. Kathy was given permission back last spring, when she was advised by her faculty advisor to come to summer school, because the administration likes to have at least one member of the Executive Cabinet on campus all year round. So Kathy came and took classes. She was also advised, at that same time, that she could take less than twelve hours this semester. She received this permission from her faculty advisor, from Dean Clement and from Dean Croushore. It was brought up in the meeting of October 28th that this has been common practice in times past, but it has never before been raised in quite this manner. You know how this place is: you have to dig deep to find where all the exemptions are on anything. Prometheus: So Kathy knew last spring when she was advised that she would be taking less than twelve hours? Boyd: That's correct. She didn't know that when she ran for office, though. When she ran, she expected to take a full class load. But when she was advised by her advisor on what courses to take in the following fall semester, it was brought to her attention that this practice had been used in the past, and it would be advisable for her (with the work load of the S.A. President) to take a smaller load and to come to summer school. All of this boils down to one thing: our student Constitution, which is supposedly what we're governed under, is not worth the paper it is written on. And the Student Association is, in effect, no more than a puppet of the administration because the administration has the right to veto any decision of the Senate, the judicial, or the Executive Cabinet. When the Executive Cabinet originally formed this committee to rewrite the Constitution, I thought it was a good idea: because there are a lot of contradictions and ambiguities in it. But President Woodard stated that, before it is submitted to the student body next February, he has the right to read Constitution as proposed and to make any changes he sees fit in it. So, basically he is ruling this campus as if we didn't have the Constitution: Prometheus: How does the present case involving Kathy Mayer compare with Steve Jackson's case last year? (Steve was a part-time day student who was denied the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee because he was not taking twelve hours.) Boyd: This case compares with Steve's in some respects, and in other respects it does not. Steve had graduated and was only taking three hours as a part-time student: he was paying only part-time fees. If he was paying the fees of full-time day student, they would not (according to what President Woodard told him) have declared him ineligible to hold office. So really, Steve's case isn't really comparable. A comparable case might look like this: take a day student who is taking ten hours and who is paying the full day-student fee. Let's say this student decides to run for office: it would require the permission of either the Dean's Office, or the President before that student could run. even though that student is paying full amount. President Woodard said that it is not an arbitrary decision on the part of the student status; it is up to the administration to grant such permission. The administration may declare this student "full-time" or "part-time", regardless of how many hours he is taking. It's just like a dorm student who at the beginning of the semester, is taking 16 hours and decides to drop six of them right at the end of the drop period. That student is allowed to remain in the dorms and is classified as full-time student even though he is now, at least technically, a part-time student. Whenever you come up with a rule that is supposedly in black-and-white in the Handbook, there is always an exemption or qualification to it that allows that rule to be either broken or bent or totally ignored. Prometheus: So the criteria of full-time student status seems to be the payment of the full-time fees rather than the taking a full-time class load? Boyd: That was the question I put to President Woodard, and he said that it depended on the other things I mentioned earlier. For instance, illness might be grounds for exemption. Prometheus: Do you plan to run for S.A. President next year? Boyd: I am not planning, willing, nor will I seek or accept any student elected office at Mary Washington College for the duration of my membership in its academic community due to the fact that our Constitution is a farce. Prometheus: Are you trying to "get " Kathy Mayer? Boyd: No, I am not. I think she acted in good faith. She was following what she was told by her advisor and by the dean. I disagree with the right of the dean and the President to state what is and what is not a full-time student. Prometheus: One final thought: when your resignation was read to the Senate, I understand from my Senator that the second paragraph, which read "I find that I cannot fulfill my oath (of office) because of a violation of Article VI, Section 4, by a member of the Executive Cabinet, with the full knowledge of the Executive Cabinet" was omitted. Is this true? Boyd: I did not attend the Senate meeting, so I don't know for sure. But I received the same information. Prometheus: May we have permission to print your letter of resignation in full? Boyd: Yes, you may.</div> Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Toussant, Kayla Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Senate Vice-President Says Constitution is a Farce Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael A. "Senate Vice-President Says Constitution is a Farce." The Bullet (VA), November 15, 1977. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977-11-15 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 4 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Interview of former Vice President of the Student Senate at Mary Washington College, conducted by Mike Mello. The interview involved the Vice President of the Student Senate's reason for resigning after a disagreement about not following the Constitution of Student Associations at Mary Washington College. Subject The topic of the resource College student government Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA College Government College Student Constitution Student Government https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/52494e485716d967b479f0c8406024c7.jpg f12f0ae9883b922756a309cb101638d6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Lockett, Darron Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. No newspaper publisher available. No exact date is explicitly listed, but context in the article (twelve years after Ferbuary 1979) places the article around 1991, with the month and day remaining open to speculation. Present information in the metadata claims the publisher is The Miami Herald, but that data is not present in the article. Text Any textual data included in the document RICHMOND, Va. – Let me ask a favor. Take a couple of minutes, if you will, to read a letter from Joe Giarratano. He is on death row in Virginia’s prison at Boydton. On Oct. 1, the Supreme Court turned down his last appeal. His legal roads have run out. If Gov. Doug Wilder refuses to interview, Joe will be executed before the end of the year. By way of background: On the unchallenged record, Joe Giarratano was the product of a sordid childhood. He had a limited high school education. Those facts do not excuse, but they help explain. In February 1979, Giarratano was 21 years old, a drug addict, a drunkard, a drifter working on a fish boat out of Newport News. No man is worthless in the eyes of God, but in 1979, Joe was right at the bottom of the heap. The ugly details of the crime are now irrelevant. Joe was charged and convicted of the rape-murder of a 15-year-old girl and the murder of her mother. The only evidence against him came from five separate confessions he signed in the hours immediately after the arrest. The confessions were internally inconsistent; they smacked of police coaching. Following a brief non-jury trial, a judge sentenced him to death. That was almost 12 years ago. He has been in prison ever since. He has spent his time studying law and remaking his life. I learned of the case three years ago. I spent hours reading the record and came away deeply troubled. I am not sure whether Joe is guilty; I am not sure he is innocent; but I have spent 50 years covering courts and I am certain of this: He was not convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Now to the letter. It is dated Oct. 7, 1990: “I truly appreciate the efforts you have made on my behalf, and for bring my plight to the attention of the public through your columns. Knowing that folks really care has been a real boon for my morale. “Overall I am holding up well, and I remain hopeful. The news from the U.S. Supreme Court came as no surprise, though it is a terribly frustrating to see that procedural default mechanisms can outweigh the truth-finding process in such an obdurate fashion. Even though I understand the judiciary’s frustrations with capital cases, I really find it impossible to reconcile that imbalance with the constitution (state or federal). The ball is now in the governor’s court, and I can only hope that he will exercise his executive authority. “In the meanwhile my chin is up, and I keep fairly busy. I’ve recently completed and article for the Yale Law journal (‘A Cautionary Tale; Fallibility vs. Finality’). It is in the final editing stages. And I am in the process of co-authoring another law review with Professor Mike Mellow (Vermont Law School). The subject is the ‘forgotten’ Ninth Amendment of our Constitution. “Early in November, 50 law students from Georgetown and Maryland will be coming to the prison, and I plan to talk with them about the ninth Amendment and Lockean political theory and its role in the formation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I’ve given two talks like this in the past, and I was amazed to discover how little is known about the historical underpinnings of the Constitution. Amazed isn’t the proper word because my ignorance was on par with theirs until just a couple of years ago. “Anyway, I have rambled on enough. I simply wanted to send you a note of thanks. If things work out for me I hope we can one day meet. Please do not feel obliged to respond to this letter. I know that you are a busy man. Be well, and keep telling it like it is.” A personal note: I am not opposed to the death sentence. Given a killer in the weird mold of Ted Bundy, I see no reason for society to keep such a monster alive. The prospect of capital punishment may not be a deterrent to rape or murder – I doubt that it is, but that issue defies resolution. In truly heinous cases, a death sentence out to be available to a jury as an option. But let me ask: what would be the point in killing Joe Giarratano now? In all of my instincts, I am a man of the law. The judgments of a court ought not to be flouted. But Joe was convicted 12 years ago by a single trial judge on evidence of doubtful reliability. The confused, suicidal drug addict of 1979 is gone. In his place one finds a young man with a good mind and healthy outlook on life. How would killing him avenge the victims or sustain respect for judicial process? Some useful purpose ought to be served by putting Joe to death. I see no useful purpose and all. Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Senseless Punishment Demands Justice Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource Columnist James Kilpatrick writing on death row inmate Joe Giarratano's court case; questioning conviction. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kilpatrick, James Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 300 DPI 1 JPG Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Law, Human Rights, Capital Punishment, Supreme Court Cases 1979 1991 capital punishment Human Rights Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ec860cc8d367d2d39601af5117f97989.jpg 2ec3987385b27c49403992f236348ebc https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ec3685ae537c9d95e39a2773d0ce91c6.jpg a387af6dcf48eca164815bb2a4f1a24c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document To the lawyers defending him, Raleigh Porter sometimes seems like a ghost already, Porter, who's scheduled to be executed Wednesday, would not face the electric chair if his appeals were being considered today, they say. But Porter doesn't live in the present - not the legal present, anyway. Instead, he inhabits another legal world, one that has been dead and buried for a decade. Soon enough, unless the courts intervene, Porter will finally be put to rest, just like the old rules and standards that determined his fate. Even then, though, Raleigh Porter's case - and the problems it symbolizes - are likely to keep haunting the courts. Convicted in 1978 of strangling two Port Charlotte retirees, Porter seemed to be a good candidate to be spared the electric chair: At his sentencing [[end page]] [[start page]] hearing, he won a recommendation of life in prison from the jury. BY most accounts, it was one of Porter's lawyers who pulled it off. In his closing argument, attorney Robert Jacobs read a description of an electric-chair execution: "The executioner threw the switch. My father smashed into his straps as if hit by a train. He snapped back and forth, cracking like a whip. The leather straps groaned and creaked. Smoke rose from my father's head. . . . When the current was turned off my father's rigid body suddenly slumped in the chair, and it perhaps occurred to the witnesses that what they had taken for the shuddering spasmic movements of his life for God know how many seconds was instead a portrait of electric current, normally invisible, moving through a field of resistance." [[end page]] [[start page]] As it turned out, this was fiction - and not entirely accurate fiction - from a novel, E.L. Doctorow's The book of Daniel. But it may have worked. Something did. The jury voted unanimously for life. The judge in the case, Richard M. Stanley of Naples, wasn't so sympathetic. And unbeknown to Porter's lawyers, he'd already decided that Porter should die. "The court is aware that a death by electrocution is not a pretty sight, but then neither were the pictures of the bodies of the old married couple," Stanley intoned a few days later. "The totality of the circumstances dictate the death penalty be imposed." In looking back on the sentence, Stanley says: "I thought about that old man and old woman, married over 50 years...and then one had to watch the other being strangled." Evolving policies Even before the judge pronounced Porter's fate, the state Supreme Court had decided that jury recommendations would be followed when there was any plausible reason for doing so. But when it comes to the modern death penalty, it's often hard to know just what the law is, or what it means. For two to three years in the mid-1980s, for example, the state Supreme Court seemed to change its mind concerning cases where the judge overrides the jury. It let stand a number of death sentences where the jury had recommended life. No one knows why. So when Porter appealed his case in 1985, the Supreme Court upheld Judge Stanley's death sentence, even though attorneys could offer several reasons for the jury's life recommendation, including his age and demeanor on the stand. "Porter [was] just singularly unlucky in the time frame when [[end page]] [[start page]] [[Death penalty backer: Judge Richard M. Stanley - image]] his appeal came up," says Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor and an expert on Florida's death sentence. "It really was during the only window during its history when the justices seemed to have lost their interest in closely monitoring jury overrides. . . . And hence Raleigh Porter's death warrant." 1972 high court ruling For the death penalty - especially the death penalty - it wasn't supposed to be so confused, so convoluted. But sometimes it seems the harder judges and lawyers try to get the death penalty right, the more they get it wrong. The problems date from the early 1970s. Concerned that the death penalty had been applied disproportionately against minorities, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 struck down death penalty laws across America, demanding that states find a system that would be more rational, more standardized, more uniform. To lawyers and legislators, that could only mean one thing - reining in the traditional discretion of juries. Juries had been responsible for doling out death for years, with only their consciences as their guide. Now, the process would be guided by judges armed with complex new legal formulas. In the vanguard, Florida would be the first state to try to meet the new standards. Like a lot of first tries, it was far from perfect. In particular, Florida officials couldn't quite decide whether the U.S. Supreme Court just wanted more rules for jurors to follow, or whether the high court wanted jurors cut out altogether [[end page]] [[start page]] So lawmakers reached an awkward, yet well-intended compromise: Jurors would stay in, but they would get less authority. They would make a recommendation. But the final decision would be made by the trial judge. The legal architects thought this had a big advantage: Florida believed that death sentences would become more rational [[end page]] [[start page]] because judges - unlike juries - could apply specific standards to each case in written orders, and appeals courts could follow their thinking and review sentences in detail. It didn't work out that way. Intricacies upon intricacies The new system with its formulas turned out to be incredibly complex, requiring juries and judges to consider many factors - violent criminal record and motive, for example. Because of the complexities, appeals judges found themselves tinkering at one point. Finally they decreed that Florid'as whole system was too complex. They declared that henceforth jury sentencing recommendations in death cases would be upheld unless "virtually not reasonable person" could agree with it. What's more, every time the appeals courts made a change in the law, they created a new appeal issue for every Death Row inmate who had already gone through. In a legal setting that demanded NASA-quality tolerances, executions become more difficult to accomplish that a space shuttle launch - and almost as expensive. Even so, there are still bugs in the system. Perhaps because judges have become so painfully aware of the delays they've fostered, they sometimes haven't been as careful about retrofitting the changes they keep making - as Raleigh Porter is finding out. Some state Supreme Court justices have even said that they would not decided cases like Porter's the same way today as they did in the mid-1980s. The Florida courts "have been pretty reluctant to revisit a lot of cases," says Mello, the Vermont Law School professor. In many cases, "they've bent over backward to come up with whatever artifice they could" to avoid overturning old death sentences, he says. [[end page]] [[start page]] 'Law of the case' Among the reasons courts have used have been a doctrine called "the law of the case," which means that issues decided in the first appeal - such as the jury override in the Porter case - usually can't be revisited in later appeals. Why the difference in treatment of some cases versus others? "I've really tried to ponder what explains the difference, and I haven't come up with any explanation other than randomness," Mello says. "It's just a crap shoot." Meanwhile, judges have tinkered with Raleigh Porter's case for 17 years. Today, the Florida Supreme Court will hear the last appeals scheduled in the case. But Judge Stanley, the man who sent Porter to Death Row 17 years ago, has no doubts about the death penalty. He remembers [[end page]] [[start page]] a debate with foes of capital punishment: "They said to me, 'Judge, suppose that they passed a law that said the man who passes the death sentence has to flip they switch on the electric chair?' I said to them. 'Well, I will go along with that as long as they allow me, right after I pronounce the sentence, to reach down by my left leg and come up with my pistol and shoot 'em right between the eyes." John D. Mckinnon, who holds a law degree from the University of North Carolina, covers legal affairs in The Herald's Tallahassee bureau. Tomorrow: Redemption on Death Row. [[On Trial: Raleigh Porter was convicted in Moore Haven, Fla. - image]] [['81 police mugshot: Porter - image]] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) The Herald from Tuesday, March 28, 1995. 7A Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Blake, Amy Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shifts in law come too late to aid killer of Florida couple Subject The topic of the resource Death Penalty Description An account of the resource The issue of Raleigh Porter's death sentence by electric chair could have been avoided due to newer laws in Florida courts. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McKinnon, John D. Pancake, John Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Herald Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-03-28 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida electric chair Florida death penalty juries Life sentence Michael Mello Raleigh Porter U.S. Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/397570fd9c4cd654bedcd3c1ef60b040.jpg dbc25e6c6991b1426211b17ab1257bb4 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/520ba00675e38908b16c1c54f33781c1.jpg 5cd220059532b25b07ac75d5ca3a8758 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. May, Grace Text Any textual data included in the document The reverberations of Campus Security's "continuing investigateion" into the illicit drug situation at Mary Washington College spread throughout the MWC community last week as it became apparent that the Madison arrests could be only the beginning. The legality and general wisom of the arrest of five students, the suspension of four of them and the questioning of others were debated at impromptu meetings, in classrooms, in the SA Executive Cabinet and Senate. A petition drive was initiated and a rally was held. Tutt Stapp, President of the MWC Chapter of the National Organization for the Reforma of Marijuana Laws, has offered her organization's aid to the students who have been arrested and suspended from school. Stapp hopes that the state NORML will provide supportive legal and financial help. One legal advisor for NORML told Stapp that the five students should attempt to secure a legal injunction against their suspension. This advisor expressed the opinion that such a quest stood fair chanced of success. President Woodard met with the SA Executive Cabinet not long after the raid. At that meeting, Woodard informed the student leaders that a raid had occured and that students had been arrested. The President answered a few questions posed by tne Cabinet members. The Executive Cabinet then held a meeting of its own. SA Whip Eric Wootten made a motion that Cabinet issue a statement protesting the arrests and suspensions. SA Vice President Steve Schlimgen agreed tha some sort of protest was in order, but argued that none could be effective until all of the case's facts were known to the Executive Cabinet. The other members agreed, and Wootten's motion was tabled. Wootten, unsatisfied with the Cabinet's decision, drew up a petition. Aided by a number of other students,Wootten circulated his petition around campus. The document read" "On March 24, 1979, State, City and College Police entered Madison Hall with a warrant for the seizure of marijuana and related paraphanalia and the arrest of alleged distributors and possessors of marijuana. Since the trial has been set for Mary, the guilt of the accused students has not yet been established. "We, the undersigned students of Mary Washington College, do hereby protest and demand the immediate reversal of the unjustified suspension of said individuals." President Woodard told a gathering of Madison residents on March 26 that the petition would have "absolutely no effect" on his decisions in the case. Woodard said that "the suspension will not be reversed, even if you get every student on this campus to sign your petition." Two resolutions relating to the Madison raid and its aftermath were suggested at the March 27 meeting of the SA Student S ate. One, introduced by Tracy Hudson (Hamlet House), called for the creation of a Senate body to investigate the legality of suspending a student before any sort of hearing is held. Hudon's motion was referred to the Senate Special Projects Committee. Special Projects will begin its investigation by contacting the American Civil Liberites Union. The second Senate motion was made by John Shumacher (Westmoreland). He suggested that the Senate officially endorse the Wootten petition protesting the suspensions; further, Shumacher wanted the Senate to make some sort of protest of its own. The motion was tabled (two to one) by a roll call vote; several senators expressed the opinion that it would be inappropriate for the Senate to issue an official protest until the Special Projects Committee completed its investigation. One response to the Madison arrests and suspensions seemed to some observers uncharacteristic of the Somnolent Seventies in general and of MWC in particular: a protest rally was planned. An organizational meeting on March 28 drew approximately 50 students. The group, led by Eric Wootten, agreed that a "gathering" would be held on Westmoreland Circle on Friday, March 30, at 3:45. The Westmoreland meeting opened with a suggestion that the rally not be held because of the possible detrimental effects it could have on the cases of the students presently suspended from school. One observer argued that "the guys are just scared; they don't want to make noise, and they don't want you to make noise." Another student responded that "what we are dealing with here is a principle-the principle of suspension without a trial. There comes a time when a statement of principle must be made. We are not protesting these individual cases; we are protesting the concept behind them." After a general concensus was reached that some sort of demonstration would be appropriate, the question became: exactly what is the arim of the protest? One student appeared to express the sentiments of the group when he said "we are not protesting the present drug laws; we are not even really protesting these busts. Rather, we are protesting the fact that these guys have been suspended without first receiving a trial of hearing. In effect, Woodard is saying that these students are guilty until proven innocent; at this point, it has not even been established that any illicit drugs were confiscated in the raid. The Police Crime Lab won't issue a report on the evidence seized for four to six weeks." The remainder of the meeting was taken up with the logistical problems of planning a successful demonstration: publicity, the procurement of speakers, the legality of the rally itself. The gathering ended on an optimistic note, with all present pledging to help prepare for Friday's event. Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shock Waves Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPEGs Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA Description An account of the resource This document is a newspaper article by Michael Mello describing a brief background of a investigation of a drug arrest and the implications it had on five students it involved. The four of the five students were suspended and the rest were questioned. Some of the Mary Washington College students were in protest of the right to suspension without having first a trial to prove whether or not they are innocent until proven guilty. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael. "Shock Waves." Subject The topic of the resource College students--Drug use--United States Mary Washington College National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws student activism Student Rights Woodard https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/d892ad0fe68edf833ac581aeda069963.jpg 37f152c7b2fb30510fed7ff93a458023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Sketch Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 1639x2191 pixels Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sketch of Anne Kight and Michael Mello Description An account of the resource A sketch by Ellen Jagiello of Anne Kight and Michael Mello at the trial of Anne Kight. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jagiello, Ellen Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Bullet Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-04-25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA Subject The topic of the resource Student newspapers and periodicals Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Anne Kight due process Judicial proceedings Mello Sketch student discipline The Bullet trial https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/bfdb33f31ed83161eb3ebfbf5828de0e.jpg a8f0043d951e2474b95a8a6ebaafdbc9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document It’s not often that a U.S. congressman chooses a lawyer who has made a career of keeping mobsters out of jail. But that’s what Rep. Mario Biaggi of New York did when he recently hired Barry Ivan Slotnick to defend him on charges that he peddled influence for favors. No one could blame Biaggi. In March Slotnick and his former law partner Bruce Cutler stunned prosecutors by persuading a jury that alleged Mafia kingpin John gotti and six codefendants were innocent of federal racketeering charges. In 26 years of defending mob biggies, drug dealers, youth gangs and assorted unsavories, Slotnick has won jury acquittals for an astounding 95 percent of his clients. This week he faces yet another challenge when he tries to convince a jury that “subway vigilante” Bernhard Goetz is just a decent, law-abiding citizen. In New York’s most celebrated criminal case since David (Son of Sam) Berkowitz was put away for mass murder, Slotnick will argue that Goetz acted in self-defense when he shot four black men he thought were about to mug him on a subway two years ago. Slotnick’s first major break came in 1968 when he successfully blocked federal efforts to prosecute Mafia don Joseph Colombo. Since then, federal prosecutors have gained a grudging respect for the bearded Bronx native. They concede he has kept enough distance from his clients to remain credible to a jury, even while gaining the reputation as one of organized crime’s favorite outside counsels. Slotnick cringes at the tag. He prefers to describe his practice in constitutional terms. “Keeping government in check,” he says, “is the most important thing I do.” Outstretched arms: Nevertheless, over the years he has a had a very close personal relationships with the Colombo family. Slotnick was on the Brooklyn don’s upstate New York farm when his son took his first steps toward Colombo’s outstretched arms. In 1971 he was only inches away when Colombo was gunned down at an Italian-American rally. Recently he represented the patriarch’s son—Anthony Colombo—who eventually pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Slotnick’s remarkable acquittal rate isn’t due to excessive plea bargaining; he takes the majority of his cases to trial. And he does do more than defend alleged mobsters. His clients have included Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the the militant Jewish Defense League; the head of a Chinese youth gang charged with murder; a corporate president accused of smuggling cocaine, and a Queens Sunday-scchool teacher who gained brief fame as the first woman to win one of the many paternity suits filed against Las Vegas crooner Engelbert Humperdinck. Slotnick once even saved a German shepherd from being destroyed when a woman who claimed she had been bitten was unable to pick the dog out in a lineup. Slotnick’s supporters say his success stems from an innovative courtroom style—The American Lawyer magazine said he pursued “ingenious strategies in impossible situations” when it selected him criminal-defense lawyer of the year in 1981. That year he defended to Hasidic Jews charged with the attempted murder of a black teenager by filling the courtroom with Hasidim in traditional black garb and placing the two defendants among them. When no witness could pick out the defendants, a jury that included seven blacks but no Jews acquitted his clients. In another case, Slotnick defended a man charged with bribery by arguing that he was guilty of grand larceny instead. When prosecutors sought to retry his client, Slotnick successfully cited the constitutional protection against double jeopardy that prevents defendants from being tried twice for a similar offense. Hung jury? In preparing for the Goetz trial, Slotnick has once again stepped out on a legal limb. Recently he drew a judge’s ire when he obliquely reminded 18 prospective jurors that it was in their power to ignore jury instructions. “If you find that the prosecution has proved the case beyond a doubt, and if the judge instructs you that you must convict on that basis, would you feel obligated to do so?” he asked. With that, Slotnick raised the so-called “nullification issue” in which a jury, acting as the “conscience of the community,” can vote for acquittal despite the evidence. The judge warned the jurors that such a strategy would cause “utter chaos” by “overthrowing the rule of la” and increasing the chances of a hung jury. With few facts in dispute in the case, Slotnick may have no other choice. He will defend Goetz, in part, by appealing to the jury’s innate sense that a climate of fear exists in New York City—an atmosphere that could justify Goetz’s action in the minds of ordinary citizens. He hopes to convince the jury that Goetz was just a “decent citizen fighting back, desperately seeking self-protection and retribution against a violent crime.” Despite his growing notoriety, Slotnick has yet to achieve what he wants most—acceptance in New York’s clubby legal fraternity that looks askance at attorneys who defend mobsters. “Barry wants nothing more than to be seen as an Edward Bennett Williams type,” says a top federal law-enforcement official. “Yet as hard as he tries with a Bernie Goetz or a Marrio Biaggi, the bottom line is that the bulk of his practice is Mafia.” A few legal experts are beginning to show respect for the complexities of defending members of organized crime. Still, Slotnick will have a tough time winning over what may be his toughest jury yet—his peers in the legal community. [image - Person dressed in suit sitting in chair.] [image caption - A don, a dog and a Sunday-school teacher: Hoping for respect] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Chase, Suzanne Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slotnick for the Defense Subject The topic of the resource Slotnick, Barry, 1939- Goetz, Bernhard Hugo, 1947- Criminal defense attorneys Description An account of the resource An article about Bary Slotnick, defender of the subway vigilante. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McKillop, Peter Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Newsweek Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-05-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New York, NY Barry Slotnick Bernie Goetz New York City https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/afdd6ae7dde34478d4e55907efef8cfa.jpg ba7d2e9f4bd39064bab52bab732a838c https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/482feeecb838205c3104cb539b1ea4b0.jpg be10d9d54df35adf06a2665d6a7ef9ca Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document TALLAHASSEE - Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, convicted of the torture-murder of an Orlando woman and the rape of another, asked Florida's Cabinet Wednesday to set him free. Spaziano's lawyer faxed a request for a clemency hearing to Gov. Lawton Chiles, arguing that a key witness in the 2-decade-old cases now doubts his own hypnosis-enhanced testimony. The request comes the same week that Spaziano had been scheduled to die for the murder of 18-year old hospital clerk Laura Harberts. Chiles stayed the execution two weeks ago, after newspaper reported that Anthony Dilisio now doubts whether his testimony at the 1976 trial was true. Chiles ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Dilisio's claims. What began as an interview with the Pensacola man has expanded into a full-scale investigation involving dozens of witnesses. A report is scheduled to be released next week, but sources said Chiles could be briefed as soon as Friday. The Challenge facing Chiles is which Dilisio to believe - the would-be biker who testified at age 18 that Spaziano showed him Harberts' mutilated body, or the 37-year-old lay minister with a history of substance abuse who says he can't remember the body and doubts Spaziano is a killer. Dilisio also was an important witness tying Spaziano to the 1974 rape, for which the Outlaws motorcycle club member is serving a life sentence. Dilisio testified in a 1975 trials that Spaziano bragged about raping the 16-year-old Orange County girl, slashing neck and eyes, choking her and leaving her for dead in woods. "I don't want to remember any of this," he told The Orlando Sentinel. "It was through the grace of God that this memory has been crased from my mind." Michael Mello, who represents Spaziano, said Wednesday that Chiles and the Cabinet should free Spaziano because Dilisio was the strongest element in the two cases. A spokeswoman in the governor's general counsel office said there would be no comment until the hearing request is reviewed. FDLE investigators and Chiles' advisers have said previously, however, that Dilisio stopped short of recanting when questioned by investigators recently. Spaziano last requested clemency in March, but officials refused to grant a hearing. In preparing that request, Spaziano's state-appointed attorneys interviewed Dilisio, but he told them he could shed no new light on the case. Four months later, Dilisio said the hypnosis police used to coax memories from him was "witchcraft that poisoned a young, impression able teen-ager's mind." But one officer who helped build the cases against Spaziano disputes the claim. Court files show Dilisio told rape investigators on Oct. 10. 1974 - seven months before he was hypnotized - that Spaziano took him to where he had left mutilated bodies. Retired Altamonte Springs police investigator James Martindale said Spaziano already was a suspect in the Orange County rape case when Seminole County detectives began looking at links to Harberts' killing and the dumping of her body at an Altamonte Springs dump. He remembers Dilisio as a scared teen who seemed to know more about the crimes than he let on. Martindale said he thinks Dilisio pretended that detectives had to draw the information out of him. "It was a game to him," Martindale said, "The hypnosis, in my opinion, did not solve the case. He [Dilisio] was just covering his tail." A transcript of a May 13, 1975, interview - Dilisio's last interview before hypnosis - shows he told investigators Spaziano had bragged about the Outlaws gang-raping hitchhikers he had picked up. He said Spaziano told him he killed the women, cut off their breasts and dumped them in an orange grove. When investigators pressed Dilisio, he said he could not remember and agreed to be hypnotized. "I never did," Dilisio said after being asked if he was involved in the killings, "That's why I'm saying, 'I go under hypnosis and you find out what I used to know that I don't know now.'" Dilisio said that's week that he did not remember the interview and would not read the transcript, which his lawyer has reviewed. "I believe the Lord didn't want me to read the transcript," Dilisio said. "That's not who I am now." Dilisio said he was a troubled teen with a terrible home life, including a bad relationship with his father and stepmother. The detectives were nice to him and he wanted to please them. "They treated me like I was special," Dilisio said. Mello also hopes to raise problems with the rape case. Prosecutors had little physical evidence, such as the knife or sperm. Their case relied heavily on Dilisio and the victim, whose testimony was troublesome. She had lied, first claiming Spaziano and another man kidnapped her at knifepoint. Later she said she willingly went into their vehicle to smoke marijuana. She also failed at first to identify Spaziano in a police lineup. First she told investigators she wasn't sure then said she really did recognize her attacker but was afraid to identify him. She told detectives she could never forget his "evil" eyes but never mentioned that her attacker had tattoos. Despite the troubles, the victim told jurors at the trial that she was absolutely sure Spaziano was the attacker. To this day, the woman, who lost vision in one eye, is positive Spaziano raped her. Chiles or a member of the Cabinet - the attorney general, secretary of state and commissioners of education, insurance and agriculture - could schedule a clemency hearing. The Cabinet could uphold the death sentence, commute it to life or pardon Spaziano all together. Spaziano has had six appeals of his murder case rejected by the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Appeals in the rape case have also been rejected. Debbie Salamone, Sharon McBreen, Beth Taylor and Christopher Quinn of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Murray, Daryl Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano asks Chiles, Cabinet for clemency hearing Subject The topic of the resource Torture murder and rape case Spaziano, Joe Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998 Description An account of the resource Joe Spaziano was convicted of torture murder of an Orlando woman and raping another. But he was freed by a Florida Cabinet. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Griffin, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived “Spaziano asks Chiles, Cabinet for clemency hearing,” HIST298, accessed February 8, 2017, https://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/180. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, FL Chiles Dilisio Florida hypnosis murder Orlando Woman Outlaws rape Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6715c06b869de61f662a27f94577ecb1.jpg 794da5de01528a47fb544bd970173b99 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document TALLAHASSEE - Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, convicted of the torture-murder of an Orlando woman and the rape of another, asked Florida's cabinet on Wednesday to set him free. Spaziano's lawyer faxed a request for a clemency hearing to Gov. Lawton Chiles, arguing that a key witness in the 2-decades-old cases now doubts his own hypnosis-enhanced testimony. The request comes the same week that Spaziano had been scheduled to die in the murder of 18-year-old hospital clerk Laura Harberts. Chiles stayed the execution two weeks ago after newspapers reported that Anthony Dilisio now doubts whether his testimony at the 1976 trial was true. Chiles ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Dilisio's claims. What began as an interview with the Pensacola man has expanded into a full-scale investigation involving dozens of witnesses. A report is scheduled to be released next week, but sources said Chiles could be be briefed as soon as Friday. The challenge facing Chiles is which Dilisio to believe - the would-be biker who testified at age 18 that Spaziano showed him Harberts' mutilated body; or the 37-year-old lay minister with a history of substance abuse who says he can't remember the body and doubts Spaziano is a killer. Dilisio also was an important witness tying Spaziano to the 1974 rape, for which the Outlaws motorcycle club member is serving a life sentence. Dilisio testified in a 1975 trial that Spaziano bragged about raping the 16-year-old Orange County girl, slashing her neck and eyes, choking her and leaving her for dead in the woods. Michael Mello, who represents Spaziano, said Wednesday that the Cabinet should free Spaziano because Dilisio was the strongest element in the two cases. A spokeswoman in the governor's general counsel office said that there would be no comment until the hearing request is reviewed. FDLE investigators and Chiles advisors have said previously, however, that Dilisio stopped short of recanting when questioned by investigators recently. Spaziano last requested clemency in March, but officials refused to grant a hearing. In preparing that request, Spaziano's state-appointed attorneys interviewed Dilisio, but he told them he could shed no new light on the case. Four months later, Dilisio said the hypnosis police used to coax memories from him was "witchcraft that poisoned a young, impressionable teenager's mind." Mello also hopes to raise problems with the rape case. Prosecutors had little physical evidence, such as the knife or sperm. Their case relied heavily on Dilisio and the victim. [Photograph; photo caption]: Joseph Spaziono's execution was stayed after a witness changed his testimony. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Jon Metrey Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano asks to be set free Description An account of the resource An article in the St. Petersburg Times describing how the main witness in the murder investigation may have been under "Hypnosis" from the police. Diliso, the chief witness in the 1975 trial says that the technique the police used to coax memories out of him was witchcraft. Michael Mello, Spaziano's attorney says that Spaziano should be set free. Florida investigators are reopening the case. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived St. Petersburg Times Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Florida Depositions--United States Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Southeastern United States "Crazy Joe" Spaziano Clemency Gov. Lawton Chiles Laura Lyn Harberts Mike Mello newspaper stay of execution Tony Dilisio https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/19ade6d44a0f045ec0f79519d27bc3d1.jpg 8bbd12820a2d3e413963d953ce6932c7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [header] Spaziano awaits decision [start of the first column} TALLAHASSEE -- An attorney for Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano asked the state Supreme Court for a chance to prove his client is innocent in the murder sending him to the electric chair in two weeks. A lawyer for the state, however, urged the justices not to stay Spaziano's execution on "mere speculation." After bearing oral arguments Thursday, Florida's high court will make a decision at its own discretion; Spaziano, 49, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 21 for the murder of a n Orlando woman 22 years ago. During the hourlong hearing, justices and lawyers had exchanges about testimony at a trial held nearly 20 years ago, about judicial procedure, about the role of the state's high court in reviewing capital cases. "The proceeding before us has taken a rather free form," Justice Harry Lee Anstead told Spaziano attorney Michael Mello. "This is the way you have approached this case before the court, and it's obviously causing us considerable difficulty." Mello, a Vermont law professor, has filed hundreds of pages of pleadings before Florida's high court, but he began his presentation [end of the first column] [start of the second column] [quote] "If I had an opportunity to prove Mr. Spaziano's innocence before a jury, he would be acquitted." -Attorney Michael Mello [text resumes] by telling justices that all the issues were secondary because his client did not kill Laura Lynn Harberts. The 18-year-old hospital clerk's body was found in an Altamonte Springs dump in August 1973. "I believe that if I had an opportunity to prove Mr. Spaziano's innocence before a jury, he would be acquitted," Mello said. "All I'm asking for . . . is a stay of execution and the provision of resources." Anthony Dilisio, a key prosecution witness in Spaziano's trial, recanted his testimony earlier this year, prompting Gov. Lawton Chiles [end of the second column] [start of the third column] to suspend Spaziano's fourth death warrant. However, after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into the recent comments by Dilisio, Chiles said he had no doubts about the case and signed a fifth death warrant last month. Mello questioned the reliability of the FDLE investigation, which he governor has refused to release, as "supersecret information that supposedly reliable witnesses supposedly told FDLE that supposedly correctly-reported to the governor." But Anstead questioned the strength of Mello's appeal before Florida's high court. "I can't imagine new evidence more substantial than a disavowal of the critical testimony by the witness," Mello answered. If Mello had filed the proper motion in trial court, he would have been required to meet two tests, Anstead said. The first test is whether the recanted testimony was substantial enough to undercut Spaziano's conviction; the second is whether the issue should have been raised earlier. Anstead asked Mello if he could have jumped through "those two ordinary hoops." Justice Ben Overton then interrupted the attorney, asking why he had not presented an affidavit from Dilisio recanting his testimony. [[shot of Spaziano speaking through glass in prison visiting area by Dede Smith from The Gainesville Sun]] Joseph Spaziano talks Wednesday at Florida State Prison about his execution scheduled for Sept. 21. [end of the article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) vol. 68, issue 5 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. McGowan, Khayla Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano awaits decision Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joseph Description An account of the resource This newspaper article discusses Joe Spaziano's last minute appeal to the courts to stay his execution, scheduled for September 21, 1995, thirteen days after the article's publishing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Associated Press. "Spaziano Awaits Decision." The Gainesville Sun, September 8, 1995. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, FL https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/f8a2b0cd7fa77fd4569a3b134f422752.jpg d6386fb8cac87487defb43e39c4c9f9b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Spaziano awaits decision [Author] The Associated Press [Begin article] Tallahassee--An attorney for Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano asked the state supreme court for a chance to prove his client is innocent of the murder sending him to the electric chair in two weeks. A lawyer for the state, however, urged the justices not to stay Spaziano's execution on "mere speculation." After hearing oral arguments Thursday, Florida's high court will make a decision at its own discretion; Spaziano, 49, is scheduled to be executed Sept, 21 for the murder-mutilation of an Orlando woman 22 years ago. During the hour-long hearing, justices and lawyers had exchanges about testimony at a trial held nearly 20 years ago, about judicial procedure, about the role of the state's high court in reviewing capital cases. "The proceeding before us has taken a rather free form," Justice Harry Lee Anstead told Spaziano attorney Michael Mello. "This is the way you have approached this case before the court, and it's obviously causing us considerable difficulty." Mello, a Vermont law professor, has filed hundreds of pages of pleadings before Florida's high court, but he began his presentation by telling justices that all the issues were secondary because his client did not kill Laura Lynn Harberts. The 18-year-old hospital clerk's body was found in an Altamonte Springs dump in August 1973. "I believe that if I had an opportunity to prove Mr. Spaziano's innocence before a jury, he would be acquitted," Mello said. "All I'm asking for...is a stay of execution and the provision of resources." Anthony Dilisio, a key prosecution witness in Spaziano's trial, recanted his testimony earlier this year, prompting Gov. Lawton Chiles to suspend Spaziano's fourth death warrant. However, after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into the recent comments by Dilisio, Chiles said he had no doubts about the case and signed a fifth death warrant last month. Mello questioned the reliability of the FDLE investigation, which the governor has refused to release, as "supersecret [sic] information that supposedly reliable witnesses supposedly told FDLE that supposedly correctly reported to the governor." But Anstead questioned the strength of Mello's appeal before Florida's high court. "I can't imagine new evidence more substantial than a disavowal of the critical testimony by the witness," Mello answered. If Mello had filed the proper motion in trial court, he would have been required to meet two tests, Anstead said. The first test is whether the recanted testimony was substantial enough to undercut Spaziano's conviction; the second is whether the issue should have been raised earlier. Anstead asked Mello if he could have jumped through "those two ordinary hoops." Justice Ben Overton then interrupted the attorney, asking why he had not presented an affidavit from Dilisio recanting his testimony. [end article] [image by photographer Smith, Dede; Spaziano talks about his scheduled execution at Florida State Prison] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. O'Neill, Christopher Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano awaits decision Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe Description An account of the resource Convicted murderer, Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano awaits decision from Florida Supreme Court regarding his request for a stay of execution. Spaziano is due to be sent to the electric chair in two weeks. His attorney, Michael Mello, argues that Spaziano is innocent, citing faulty testimony from Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Associated Press. "Spaziano Awaits Decision," The Gainesville Sun, September 8, 1995 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, Florida capital punishment Florida Supreme Court Joe Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/fad88b708bceddb7aa8a93368c8a14dd.jpg 09f25c16eda74646e998420f29320382 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [header]  State News [Title]  Spaziano case has court in quandary By Larry Kaplow Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau [start of the first column] Tallahassee-Tensions over the controversial death sentence of Outlaws gang member Joe Spaziano surfaced in heated arguments Thursday as the Florida Supreme Court wrestled with the apparent reversal of the key witness in the 20-year-old case. The case has defied legal procedures, with its late-breaking recantation by witness Anthony Dilisio, and the subsequent investigation that Gov. Lawton Chiles is keeping secret but said prompted him to sign Spaziano's death warrant last month. Execution is scheduled for Sept. 21. Spaziano was convicted of the 1973 Seminole County murder of 18-year-old Laura Lynn Harberts, whose badly decomposed body was found alongside another corpse near a trash dump. His volunteer attorney asked the court to cancel the execution and give him enough money to hire an investigator to look into the new information. The court could rule anytime. As an assistant attorney general agreed against a stay, Supreme Court justices testily asked about a videotape, somehow leaked to Spaziano's attorney and of Dilisio telling Chiles' investigators that police led him to give the hypnotically induced testimony about going with Soaziano to see the victim's corpse. "Apparently there us an allegation out there, and a very strong one, that the prime witness against the defendant in this particular case has now related his testimony," Justice Gerald Kogan [end of the first column] [Start of the second column] said. "What do we do as a court? Do we sot back and say, 'OK... that's tough Mr. Spaziano, we're going to electrocute you because of all these (procedural) thing you should have done before?'" But they also had tough questions for Spaziano attorney Michael Mell about the "free form" of his defenses through the courts and why he hasn't obtained a sworn statement from Dilisio recanting his trial testimony. Mello, a law professor in Vermont, said Dilisio refused to cooperate years ago and he wants to try to hire an investigator to give it another try. By the original prosecutor's own admission, the case relied almost completely on the testimony of DiLisio, then a troubled teenage Outlaws groupie. But, when he couldn't remember an alleged trip to view the victim with a boastful Spaziano, police had him hypnotized and led him on at least some of the details. Recent report in The Miami Herald quoted Dilisio as saying that he was coerced into the testimony. That prompted Chiles to delay an order for his execution in June. But Chiles sent investigators to talk to Dilisio and others. Chiles aides said they found others in the Outlaws' circles who claimed to hear Dilisio talk about seeing the bodies before he had been hypnotized for the trail. Chiles won't release interviews, however, maintaining the Outlaws might retaliate against the witnesses. Mello obtained a copy of the videotaped interview Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators held with Dilisio and turned it over the supreme court. In its, DiLiso and turned it over to the Supreme Court. In it, Dilisio, said the first time he can recall doing to the site of the bodies was when police took him there. [end of the second column] [end of the article] Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano case has court in quandary Subject The topic of the resource Spaziano, Joseph Capital punishment Description An account of the resource There are major tensions over Joseph Spaziano's case because the key-witness in the 20 year old case reversed his testimony. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kaplow, Larry Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Palm Beach Post Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 300 dpi 1 JPG Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/7449439ff589fb11b700375b7bebfb7d.jpg 0107fe4aa6ab309c965d319317c5fd74 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/694a865edd391f2a2790ae2fc2b8ebc7.jpg b5bd0f118cea6cc6c245953db4fc787e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [first page] [Heading] Spaziano Case sent to Sanford for appeal [Subheading] The state Supreme Court said a lower court must decide whether he should get a stay. by Michael Griffin and Jim Leusner Of the Sentinel Staff [start of the first column] TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Supreme Court refused Friday to halt the execution of Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, but ordered a Sanford court to hear new evidence that a key witness in the 1976 murder trial lied. In a split decision, the justices determined the state’s high court had no reason to consider the appeal and that Spaziano’s attorney was arguing his case in the wrong court. But they also agreed the issues raised could be compelling enough for a lower court to grant a stay. All the justices agreed the matter should be heard this Friday in Sanford. Three of the seven judges dissented in part, arguing that Spaziano, 49, should get an immediate stay. The ruling sets up a scramble by lawyers to prepare for a hearing just six days before Spaziano’s scheduled execution for the 1973 murder of Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts. Anthony Frank DiLisio, the witness who put Spaziano on death row with his testimony, likely will have to tell a judge and a prosecutor that he lied then and continued to lie for Please see Spaziano, A-11 [end of the first column] [end of page one] [start of page two] [heading] DiLisio now says he lied on purpose Spaziano from A-1 [start of the first column] 20 years. Art Harberts, Laura Harberts’s [sic] father, said he will attend the hearing and expressed dismay Friday that DiLisio “can’t or won’t get his story straight.” The last time he saw DiLisio was at the trial, when DiLisio, then 17, was the star witness. “Tony impressed ne as a good kid,” Harberts said. “He apologized to us, you know, Laura’s family, for not coming forward sooner and saving us all the anguish.” A key factor in Friday’s ruling appears to be an affidavit filed by attorney Michael ello in which DiLisio swears for the first he that he lied at the trial. “I never, under any circumstances, went to the dump sight [sic] with Joseph Spaziano,” the affidavit reads. “I went there in the company of law enforcement investigators.” It is the first statement DiLisio has made under oath since the trial, in which he told jurors that Spaziano bragged about raping and killing women, then showed him the bodies of Harberts and an unidentified woman at a dump near Altamonte Springs. It is the latest version of the story DiLisio has given since he first told The Miami Herald in June that his testimony was false. Shortly after that, DiLisio told Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents that he thought police drugged him during hypnosis and planted the memories. The interview was videotaped, but FDLE spokesman Liz Hirst said Friday that DiLisio was no under oath when he made the statements. [end of the first column] [start of the second column] Still later he told The Orlando Sentinel he remembered . . . the dump with Spaziano . . . thought those memories were planted in his mind through hypnosis. DiLisio also said Seminole County sheriff’s detective George Abbgy threatened to charge him with complicity in the cries if he did not implicate Spaziano. Then in a column in Friday’s Miami Herald, DiLisio was quoted as saying: “It came from me. No-body could program me to do anything I didn’t want to do. I wanted to do it. But it was false.” All those versions vary greatly from sworn statements DiLisio gave 20 years ago. On May 13, 1975, detectives taped DiLisio recalling how Spaziano bragged about mutilating women and offering to be hypnotized in the hopes it would help him remember. DiLisio was hypnotized May 15 and 16. During the second session he described going to the dump with Spaziano and seeing and smelling the bodies. Questioned by Spaziano’s lawyer and a prosecutor on Nov. 12, 1975, DiLisio said again that the biker he once idolized had taken him to the dump and displayed the bodies. During the January 1976 trial, DiLisio, again under oath, told jurors the same story, even after his life had been threatened by Spaziano’s friends in the Outlaws motorcycle gang. Former Seminole County Assistant State Attorney Claude Van Hook, who prosecuted Spaziano, said he thinks DiLisio told the truth during the trial but is now recanting out of fear. Van Hook said DiLisio withstood grueling cross-examination by Spaziano’s attorney, Ed Kirkland, and did not waver when faced with Outlaws members sitting in court. Kirkland called DiLisio a “great witness.” [end of the second column] [start of the third column] “This young man had the ring truth,” Van Hook said. “He was afraid of Spaziano’s associates and still had the intestinal fortitude to get on the stand and tell the truth. Who would believe he lied?” Mello, Spaziano’s attorney, could not be reached for comment Friday. He has refused to speak to The Orlando Sentinel. Gov. Lawton Chiles, who signed a fifth warrant for Spaziano after an FDLE investigation turned up witnesses to corroborate DiLisio’s original story, did not waver in that decision Friday. Dexter Douglass, Chiles general counsel, said he thought Friday’s ruling was a good one. He added that DiLisio’s sworn affidavit “means no more than any of his other sworn statements. Let’s see what happens when he’s challenged by a prosecutor and other witnesses get a chance to testify” [end of the third column] [end of article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Stell, Nicole Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano case sent to Sanford for appeal The state Supreme Court said a lower court must decide whether he should get a stay Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe. Description An account of the resource Describes how Anthony DiLisio, a prime witness in the Spaziano case, recanted his original statement and how the Florida Supreme Court plans to handle it. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Griffin, Michael Leusner, Jim Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Griffin, Michael and Jim Leusner "Spaziano Case sent to Sanford for Appeal", The Orlando Sentinel , September 9, 1995. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-10-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, FL Language A language of the resource English appeals capital punishment Joseph Spaziano Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6985a724f97238a911fa57ad9e7c4b76.jpg 3bcd46f723fa9fc467834180ccd20b34 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/1b435125664c55a69b98bf4654552c15.jpg 67dae28006277af76f2b0a4f464a48a4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Scott, Christina Text Any textual data included in the document [first page] [photo caption: Joseph Spaziano] [heading] Spaziano case sent to Sanford for appeal [subheading] The state Supreme Court said a lower court should decide whether to stay his execution. By Michael Griffin and Jim Leusner Of the sentinel staff [start of the first column] TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Supreme Court refused Fri-day to halt the execution of Joseph ”Crazy Joe” Spaziano, but ordered a Sanford court to hear new evidence that a key witness in the 1976 murder trial lied. [end of first column] [beginning of 2 column] In a split decision, the justices determined the state’s high court had no reason to consider the appeal, since Spaziano’s at-torney was arguing his case in the wrong court. But they also agreed the issues raised could be compelling enough for a low-er court to grant a stay. All the justices agreed the matter should be heard this fri-day in Sanford. Three of the sev-en judges dissented in part, ar-going that Spaziano, 49, should get an immediate stay. The ruling sets up a scramble by lawyers to prepare for a hear-in just six days before Spa-ziano’s scheduled Sept. 21 ex-ecution for the 1973 mutilation and murder of Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts. Anthony Frank DiLisio, the witness who put Spaziano on death row with his testimony, likely will have to tell a judge and a prosecutor he lied and continued to lie for 20 years. Art Harberts, Laura Har- Please see SPAZIANO, A-11 [end of column 2] [beginning of column 3] [header] DiLisio now says he lied on purpose SPAZIANO from A-1 Berts’ father, said he will attend the hearing and expressed dismay that DiLisio “can’t or won’t get his story straight.” The last time he saw DiLisio was at the trial, when DiLisio, then 17, was the star witness. “Tony impressed me as a good kid,” Harberts said. “He apologized to us, you know, Laura’s family, for not coming forward sooner and sav-night us all the anguish.” A key factor in Friday’s ruling appears to be an affidavit filed by Spa-ziano attorney Michael Mello in which DiLisio swears for the first time that he lied at the trial. [end of column 3] [beginning of second page] [start of the first column] “I never, under any circum-stances, went to the dump sight [sic] with Joseph Spaziano,” the affidavit reads. “I went there in the company of law enforcement investigators.” It is the first statement DiLisio has made under oath since the trial, in which said Spaziano bragged about raping and killing women, then showed him the bodies of Har-Bert’s and an unidentified woman at a dump near Altamonte Springs. It is the latest version of the story DiLisio has given since he first told The Miami Herald in a June that his testimony was false. Shortly after that, DiLisio told Florida Department of Law Enforce-ment agents that he thought police drugged during hypnosis and planted the memories. The inter-view was videotaped, but FDLE spokesman Liz Hirst said Friday that DiLisio was not under oath when he made the statements. Later he told The Orlando Sentinel he remembered going to the dump with Spaziano but thought those memories were planted in his mind through hypnosis. DiLisio also said Seminole County sheriff’s de-tective George Abbgy, who has since died, had threatened to charge him with complicity in the crimes if he did not implicate Spaziano. And on Friday, in a column in The Miami Herald, DiLisio was quoted as saying: “It came from me. Nobody could program me to do anything I didn’t want to do. I wanted to do it. But it was false.” Those versions vary from sworn statements DiLisio gave two dec-ages ago. On May 13, 1975, detectives taped DiLisio recalling how Spaziano bragged about mutilating and kill-night women. The teen offered to be hypnotized to help him recall more. At the time, Floridians law allowed hypnosis-enhanced testimony. DiLisio was hypnotized May 15 and 16, 1975. During the second ses-Simon he described going to the dump with Spaziano and seeing and smelling the bodies. He said he had tried to forget it. [end of column 4] [beginning of column 5] Questioned by Spaziano’s lawyer and a prosecutor on Nov. 12, 1975, DiLisio said again that the biker he once idolized had taken him to the dump and displayed the bodies. During the January 1976 trial, DiLisio, again under oath, told ju-rots the same story, even after his life had been threatened by Spa-ziano’s associates from the Outlaws motorcycle gang. Former Assistant State Attorney Claude Van Hook, who prosecuted Spaziano, said he thinks DiLisio told the truth during the trial but is now recanting out of fear. Van Hook said DiLisio withstood tough questioning by Spaziano’s attorney, Ed Kirkland, and never wa-veered when facing Outlaws men-bears who attended the trial. Kirk-land called DiLisio a “great witness” for prosecutors. “This young man had the ring of truth,” Van Hook said. “He was afraid of Spaziano’s associates and still had the intestinal fortitude to get on the stand and tell the truth. Who would believe he lied?” Mello could not be reached for comment Friday. He refused to speak to The Orlando Sentinel. Gov. Lawton Chiles, who signed a fifth warrant for Spaziano after an FDLE investigation turned up wit-nesses to corroborate DiLisio’s origi-nal story, did not waver in the deci-sion Friday. Dexter Douglass, Chiles’ general counsel, said he thought Friday’s ruling was a good one. DiLisio’s sworn affidavit, he said, “means no more than any of his other sworn statements. Let’s see what happens when he’s challenged by a prosecutor and other witnesses get a change to testify.” [end of column 5] Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano case sent to Sanford for appeal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Griffin, Michael Leusner, Jim Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, FL Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe Description An account of the resource Joseph Spaziano gets denied a stay of execution. The Florida Supreme Court decides that the new evidence regard the fact that a key witness in the 1976 murder trial lied must be heard by a Sanford court. The lower court was believed to be the place in which Spaziano may receive his stay. The testimony of Anthony Frank DiLisio was what put Spaziano on death row. DiLisio was to appear in the Sanford court and admit to lying. Key in the trial will be an affidavit filed by Michael Mello in which DiLisio swears he lied. The issue of DiLisio’s lying has led to various stories from DiLisio. DiLisio admitted to believing that the testimony, he made in 1976, was implanted in his head through hypnosis. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Orlando Sentinel capital punishment death penalty Joe Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/01a7055b4d1680c77b8ce5188f9043ec.jpg e056f64a315d8ae19075c109f87bda36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [heading] Spaziano gets new lawyers, judge [subheading] By Beth Taylor Of the Sentinel Staff [start of the first column] Sanford- Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, who won a stay of execution after a key witness changed his story, will have a new law firm and a new judge at a November hearing. Holland & Knight, the state’s largest law firm, has taken over defense of the biker convicted of the 1973 killing of Orlando hospital clerk Laura Harberts. Meanwhile, Robert McGregor, the retired judge who presided at Spanziano’s 1976 trial, has removed himself from the case after defense lawyers raised questions about his impartiality. The hearing, called to evaluate whether Spaziano deserves a new trial, has been assigned to Seminole Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton, a 52-year-old former prosecutor in his second term. [end of the first column] [start of the second column] Spaziano, 50, was scheduled to die Sept. 21 under his fifth death warrant, but the state Supreme Court postponed the execution because witness Anthony DiLisio now says he lied at the trial in Sanford nearly 20 years ago. DiLisio now denies that Spaziano took him to an Altamonte Springs dump where he saw the mutilated bodies of Harberts and another woman. The Supreme Court ordered the trial court to hold a Sept. 15 hearing. But Spaziano’s lawyer, Vermont law professor Michael Mello, refused to attend or to turn records over to the state’s Office of Capital Collateral Representative, which represents indigents on death row. Mello said he had too little time to prepare and did not trust the CCR. The high court threw Mello off the case, rescheduled the hearing, and asked McGregor to preside. But the CCR asked for a new judge, citing [end of the second column] [start of the third column] McGregor’s public comments about the case in recent newspaper articles. John Dean Moxley, chief judge of the Seminole-Brevard circuit, reassigned the case after talking with McGregor. “We talked it over, and he thought it was a good motion,” Moxley said Wednesday. Holland & Knight was Mello’s second choice to replace him as Spaziano’s lawyer. Miami criminal lawyer Jeff Weiner signed on last week, but withdrew from the case one day later after a disagreement with Mello. “We think everyone, even people who are despised by many people, are entitled to due process,” said Sandy Bohrer of Holland & Knight, which will represent Spaziano at no charge. Bohrer said Mello agreed to turn over his files. Mike Griffin of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Mike Griffin of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. [end of the third column] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Robertson, Brooke Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano gets new lawyers, judge Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Taylor, Beth Description An account of the resource A key witness in the trial of Joseph Spaziano, for the murder of Laura Harberts, changed his statement. Spaziano now has a new legal team and the presiding judge has removed himself in fear of impartiality. Spaziano's execution has been postponed and a new trial will take place in the near future. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Taylor, Beth , “Spaziano gets new lawyers, judge.” Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Sanford, FL capital punishment Joe Spaziano Michael A. Mello Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ffad1f69ff5a07c3500087cff788d6d9.jpg 87430e4d256362f22a8954e46cb44b03 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title]: Spaziano gets stay of execution [Text]: TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court granted convicted murderer Joseph Spaziano an indefinite stay of execution Tuesday after a dispute among the condemned man's attorys left him without legal representation. Spaziano, an Outlaws motorcycle gang member convicted in 1976 of mutilating and murdering an 18-year old Orlando hospital clerk, was set to die at & a.m. Sept. 21. It was his fifth death warrant in 20 years and second stay in three months. The Supreme Court postponed a lower court hearing in Seminole County set for Friday and ordered another one held by Nov. 15 to allow Spaziano's attorneys a chance to prepare. "My overriding feeling is relief and joy that my innocent client isn't going to be killed on schedule," said Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who represented Spaziano. Spaziano, who turned 50 Tuesday, was relieved at the news, Mello said. The delay came after Mello refused to represent Spaziano at the Friday hearing, arguing he didn't have the time or money to prepare. He also refused the court's order to cooperate with state-paid attorneys assigned to represent the biker. "The court had very little choice except to do what they did," said Dexter Douglass, Gov. Lawton's chief legal counsel. "Mr. Mello created a situation where it couldn't be handled fairly, did it purposely." Mello has behaved unprofessionally and displayed contempt for the court, Douglass said. "What he's done doesn't enhance the views of lawyers, or the courts or the media," Douglass said. Last week, the court ruled in a 4-3 opinion not to grant a stay but ordered the hearing Friday on evidence that the key witness against Spaziano had lied. The witness, Anthony DiLisio of Pensacola, recently told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that he was coaxed into lying at Spaziano's by police officers who hypnotized him and offered him favors. Several justices argued that if DiLisio was telling the truth, Spaziano deserved a new trail, but they refused to call off the execution before the hearing Friday. The court envisioned Mello and the office of the Capital Collateral Representative, the state appointed attorneys for Death Row, working together this week to prepare for the new hearing, but that was not to be. Over the weekend, a feud between Mello and the CCR over who should represent Spaziano escalated into a full-scale war, fought with legal briefs and and accusations of misconduct. The court lose patience with Mello on Tuesday and ruled unanimously that he had "effectively withdrawn" as Spaziano's attorney. Spaziano now must accept representation by CC, some other volunteer lawyer or no attorney at all, the court said. [end text] [photograph]: Spaziano behind bars [photograph text]: Motorcycle gang member Joseph Spaziano was convicted in 1976 of mutilating and and murdering an 18-year old hospital clerk. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Gill, Dennis Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano gets stay of execution Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource On September 13, 1995, Joe Spaziano gets an indefinite stay of execution from the Florida Supreme Court. In addition, Spaziano's lawyers get a chance to prepare their case while Mello runs into legal trouble Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Metz, Kevin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Tampa Tribune Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-09-13 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida capital punishment Mello Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c9c38a51819e67516b000fb9bd73977a.jpg 88de3cd9b52922184b7b65a5b263168d https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ee4c15c9121cc7220cdcb367b480768a.jpg 28d9af3b439b4576d18169df2df9bf65 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Heading] Spaziano gets stay of execution [subheading] The court grants the indefinite stay after his attorney refuses to cooperate with the state. [BEGINNING OF PAGE ONE] The Gainesville Sun-Wednesday, September 13, 1995, Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano cannot be executed next week because his attorney has refused to cooperate with state lawyers assigned to the case, the Florida Supreme Court said Tuesday. In giving Spaziano an indefinite stay of execution, the court canceled his fifth scheduled trip to Florida's electric chair. The unsigned opinion issued on Spaziano 50th birthday. Spaziano is condemned for the August 1973 mutilation-murder of Laura Lynn Harberts, 18, an Orlando hospital records clerk. The execution had been set for 7 a.m. Sept 21. Harbert's father said his family has had to cope with the case for many years. "I just feel in the end it's going to be a long time, but I hope justice is served," Art Harberts, 67, said. "There is a lot of suffering and anguish for other people." Harberts, who lives in the Jacksonville area, said he attended Spaziano trial and had no doubt for his guilt. Michael Mello, the Vermont law professor who has been representing Spaziano for free and maintained his clients is innocents, said he was relieved by the stay. The Supreme Court said a stay was required because Mello has refused to cooperate with the state regency that represents indigent Death Row inmates, despite an order from the court on Friday to do so. "The fair administration of justice in Florida cannot proceed with such flagrant disregard of this court's procedures and directions," the Tuesday opinion reads. The high court on Friday ordered a central Florida trial court to hold a hearing into the merits of Spaziano appeal by the end of this week. Mello said he would not attend because the justices didn't give him enough time to prepare. In Tuesday's ruling, the court said that decision by Mello indicated he had effectively withdrawn as Spaziano's attorney. The court said it was aware Spaziano is opposed to have the office of Capital Collateral Representative, the state agency that represents Death Row inmates, involved in his case. See EXECUTE on page 2B [END OF PAGE ONE] [BEGINNING OF PAGE TWO] Execute Continued from page 1B "Spaziano is faced with a choice" the court wrote, saying it was him to be represented by CCR, a competent volunteer attorney or no one. Chief Justice Stephen Grimes and Justice Ben Overton, Major Harding and Charles Wells supported the majority opinion, which ordered a hearing into Spaziano's appeal by Nov. 15. Justice Lender Shaw, Gerald Kogan and Harry Lee Anstead said they agreed a stay was necessary and that Melo was off the case. But the three justice said they didn't think a deadline should be set for the hearing. In Tuesday's ruling, the court ordered Mello to turn the case files ordered Mello to turn the case files over to CCR and directed CCR to act as Spaziano's counsel "without Mello's assistance or inteference." Mello said he hoped to be able to stay on the case by putting together a defense team that includes him as well as a major Florida law firm willing to donate donate its time. [END OF PAGE 2] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Hogue, Paul Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spaziano gets stay of execution Description An account of the resource The judge for Joe Spaziano case gave Joe a delay his execution because of his lawyer did want to cooperate with the state attorney. Joe Spaziano was supposed to be executed for the murder of Laura Lynn Harberts who was 18 on August 1973 who was found dead and mutilated. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Spaziano gets stay of execution." The Gainesville Sun (Tallahassee, Florida), September 13, 1995, p. 1B-2B. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-13 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, FL Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 dpi death penalty stay of execution