Edited:
Hurricane Irma: Courts reopen after case, judge selection delays
By Daphne Duret and Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
The federal courthouse in West Palm Beach will reopen on Monday.
The closings have already delayed hundreds of cases in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, including the sentencing of 50-year-old Rodney Clark, convicted last month of the 1987 murder of 27-year-old Dana Fader.
A jury last week had begun hearing testimony in a hearing to decide whether they would recommend a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty for Clark. But after a day of testimony, Circuit Judge Charles Burton told the panel that the courthouse would be closing in anticipation of the storm and asked them to come back Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning however, a voicemail recording from his judicial assistant asked all jurors to return to court on Monday, Sept. 18 for the continuation of the hearing.
The timing, in turn, makes the scheduled start of another death penalty case doubtful. Jury selection was supposed to begin this Friday in the first-degree murder and child abuse trial of Kimberly Lucas, the Jupiter woman charged with the May 2014 drowning death of the 2-year-old daughter she shared with her former partner. Lucas is also charged with trying to kill their 10-year-old son by drugging him with Alprazolam and telling him “it would help make him grow.”
Both Clark and Lucas are represented by Palm Beach County Public Defender Carey Haughwout and one of her top assistant public defenders, Elizabeth Ramsey. And Circuit Judge Charles Burton is presiding over both cases.
Because the judge and attorneys can’t handle two trials at once, it appears the Lucas case will be delayed until Clark’s sentencing hearing is done.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...k7N4m8suSHXPP/
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