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| Defense Calls for Mistrial in Murder Trial |
POSTED 10:25pm 3/23/09 The four days of testimony in a local murder case came to a screeching halt Monday afternoon, when the defense of the accused murder suspect called for a mistrial.
Public defender Jim Harrell asked Judge Steven Bordner for a mistrial because he claimed the prosecution had not presented him with certain lab reports in the discovery period the prosecution may have had access to. Harrell is representing 32-year old Marlon Brown, who stands accused of multiple felonies in the alleged shooting and killing of 29-year old Deriek Lawless last August in the Andrews Lounge parking lot.
During the testimony of the doctor who performed the autopsy on Lawless, a question was asked about the toxicology reports on the victim. Harrell objected to the question and called for a mistrial because he did not see a final autopsy report, which he claimed wasn’t given to him in the discovery phase of the trial. The prosecution claimed they also didn’t have full access to the report and was using the testimony of the autopsy doctor to find out this information.
Judge Bordner ruled that the autopsy doctor was in control of the state and declared that the prosecution committed a violation of discovery, and said reports that the prosecution had, should have been turned over to the defense. The judge denied the motion for a mistrial claiming the offense committed by the prosecution didn’t harm the case enough to grant the mistrial.
The prosecution plans to wrap up their side of the case sometime Tuesday. |
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| 03 23 09 by Newsroom |
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