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Thread: Kimberley Lucas Sentenced to Life in 2014 FL Murder of Two-Year-Old Elliana Lucas-Jamason

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Woman who drowned 2-year-old has death penalty case postponed

    By Daphne Duret
    The Palm Beach Post

    Kimberly Lucas, the woman who says an alternate personality led her to kill the 2-year-old girl she shared with her partner, won’t return to a Palm Beach County courtroom until sometimes next year.

    A judge Monday morning granted a delay of Lucas’ case until February as Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ramsey continues to work on the case she recently inherited from private attorneys Marc Shiner and Heidi Perlet. They stepped down from the case after they said Lucas’ family was overwhelmed by the cost to retain experts to argue her insanity defense and could no longer afford to pay them.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Lucas on first-degree murder charges in the May 2014 death of Elliana Lucas-Jamason. She also faces charges connected to the attempted murder of her son, Ethan, then 10.

    Lucas, 41, of Jupiter, at the time of the killing was estranged from Jacquelyn Jamason, the children’s biological mother and her former partner.

    http://postoncourts.blog.palmbeachpo...ase-postponed/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
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    Trial a year away for woman charged in child's death

    By Chuck Weber
    CBS12 News

    WEST PALM BEACH — A woman charged with killing her ex-partner's two-year old daughter, will likely go on trial early next year.

    During a hearing on Monday, Judge Charles Burton set the tentative trial time frame for Kimberly Lucas.

    Police say Lucas drowned Elliana Jamason, after trying to drug her with anti-anxiety meds, in Jupiter, in May 2014. Investigators say the girl's 10-year old brother survived Lucas' attempt to drug him.

    Lucas' previous lawyer planned an insanity defense.

    On Monday Lucas' new attorney, Elizabeth Ramsey, and prosecutor Teri Skiles told the judge pre-trial witness interviews had yet to be conducted.

    The additional trial delay is tough for the victims' mother, Jacquelyn Jamason, who had previously expressed frustration with the slow pace of justice.

    "I think she'd like to have it done-- this is always difficult on victims of crime," said Jamason's attorney, Jim Eisenberg.

    "At least it's starting now," said Eisenberg. "You know this case has been going on a long time, but because of the switch in lawyers, nothing's been done."

    Also on Monday, Lucas' attorney Ramsey announced she's asking to the judge to strike prosecutors' death penalty notice.

    The state's death penalty law was recently ruled unconstitutional. State legislators are now re-writing the law.

    The judge set a March hearing date to hear the defense motion related to the death penalty.

    "They could file for a death penalty, under the new law, until a case goes to trial, no matter how old it is," Eisenberg explained.

    http://cbs12.com/news/local/trial-a-...n-childs-death
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death penalty remains threat for Jupiter woman accused of drowning 2-year-old

    By Jane Musgrave
    palmbeachpost.com

    A Palm Beach County judge on Friday refused to take the death penalty off the table for Kimberly Lucas, who is accused of killing a 2-year-old girl she shared with an estranged partner, even though capital punishment is no longer legal in Florida.

    With Gov. Rick Scott poised to sign a new death penalty bill to replace one that was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, Circuit Judge Charles Burton said Public Defender Carey Haughwout’s request was ill-timed.

    “Given what I think we all know is going to take place, it’s premature,” Burton said.

    Assistant State Attorney Terri Skiles agreed. “This case is not set for trial until 2017,” she said. “What’s the rush? Where’s the fire?”

    The uncertainty that has swirled around the law since Florida’s system of imposing the death penalty was declared unconstitutional is about to be resolved, she said.

    Before the hearing, Jacquelyn Jamason voiced frustration by the repeated delays that have kept her former partner from being tried for the May 2014 murder of her daughter, Elliana Lucas-Jamason and the attempted murder of her son, Ethan. The boy was 10 when he discovered his sister’s lifeless body in the bathtub of the couple’s Jupiter home. Police said Lucas drugged Ethan.

    “It’s like a chess game,” Jamason said outside the courtroom surrounded by friends. “It’s frustrating. It’s been almost two years and we haven’t even had depositions.”

    She declined to say whether she wanted Lucas to be sentenced to death. “I’m neither for or against the death penalty,” she said.

    Once the state declares it will seek the death penalty, costs increase for the defense, said attorney Gregg Lerman, who is not involved in the case. Defense attorneys have to prepare for the sentencing phase of the trial. Further, they have to share additional information, such as any mental health problems they uncover, with prosecutors whether they intend to use as as part of their defense or not.

    While Haughwout recently inherited the case, Lucas’ previous attorneys said they planned to raise issues about the 42-year-old’s sanity. She claimed an alternate personality led her to kill the girl.

    When police discovered the toddler’s body in the tub, they also found a message, signed by Lucas, on a computer at the Jupiter home. “Lea’s sermon really, really touched me yesterday, but God never told me to stop!” it read.

    The pastor later told police her sermon the previous day dealt with a Bible story in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, but at the last minute stops him from doing so.

    http://postoncourts.blog.palmbeachpo...ng-2-year-old/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Kimberly Lucas lawyers fight death penalty in daughter’s death

    The case of a Jupiter woman charged with drowning the 2-year-old daughter she shared with her estranged partner continued on Thursday to twist through the legal tangles surrounding Florida’s death penalty.

    In a hearing for Kimberly Lucas, Circuit Judge Charles Burton granted a request from Lucas’ lawyers to throw out paperwork prosecutors filed earlier this year announcing their intent to seek the death penalty against her.

    Burton will allow prosecutors to refile a notice of their intent to seek sertain aggravating factors as a basis for their death penalty quest and give Lucas’ defense a chance to respond before deciding whether to keep a possible death sentence in play. This all comes ahead of Lucas’ expected January trial in the murder of Elliana Lucas-Jamason and the attempted murder of the former couple’s 10-year-old son, Ethan.

    The legal wrangling is all tied to a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year declaring Florida’s death penalty system unconstitutional because it limited a jury’s power in requiring a simple majority to make a recommendation to a judge for a life or death sentence.

    Florida lawmakers in March rewrote the law to require juries to agree unanimously on aggravating factors prosecutors must prove to get a death sentence and also required at least a 10-2 jury vote for death in order for a defendant to receive the penalty.

    That too has been contested and is before Florida’s Supreme Court, which recessed for the summer without issuing an opinion on the matter.

    Jacquelyn Jamason, the children’s mother and the woman who was Lucas’ longtime partner, has in the past said that she is neither for or against the death penalty.

    Jamason has, however, consistently expressed disappointment with the slow path that the May 2014 case hs taken through the system.

    “It’s frustrating. She would like to see the case get to trial,” Jamason said Thursday through her attorney, Jim Eisenberg.

    http://postoncourts.blog.palmbeachpo...ughters-death/

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Insanity defense likely in Kimberly Lucas trial

    WFLX News

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- There was a court hearing Monday for the woman accused of drowning her former partner's 2-year-old child in Jupiter two years ago.

    The attorney for Kimberly Lucas filed a notice of intent to rely on the insanity defense.

    The defense also asked for more time to file additional motions related to the death penalty in the case.

    Prosecutors say, in addition to killing Jacquelyn Jamason's 2-year-old daughter in 2014, Lucas also attempted to kill the woman's 10-year-old son.

    Jamason expressed her frustration over the legal process and the uncertainty surrounding the state's death penalty.

    “There's a lot of talk about the law's being unconstitutional in the state of Florida, and how many jurors have to vote for it to pass. But I just wish, especially during an election season, we're not hearing anything about this,” Jamason said.

    The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that a jury must reach a unanimous decision in order to impose the death penalty.


    Attorney General Pam Bondi
    wants the court to clarify the ruling that she warns could shut down murder cases across the state.

    The trial for Lucas is on schedule to begin on Jan. 26.

    http://www.wflx.com/story/33460400/i...ly-lucas-trial
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #16
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Death penalty temporarily off the table for Jupiter woman charged with drowning toddler

    A judge denied a defense motion to prohibit the state from ever asking a jury to decide on the death penalty for Kimberly Lucas. But the jury in her January trial will not be given that choice. Lucas’ attorneys argued since the Florida Supreme Court struck down Florida’s death penalty, calling the way it was decided unconstitutional, it should not be presented to jurors in her murder case. Judge Charles Burton denied the motion, saying it was the State Attorney’s sole decision to offer a death penalty as a possible sanction. However, since Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing the ruling, Burton said if Lucas is convicted, the State might by then have re-instituted the death penalty, and another jury could decide on that sentence.Lucas is charged with drowning her former partner’s 2–year-old daughter and trying to poison her 10-year-old son with prescription drugs.She and the children’s biological mother, Jacquelyn Jamason, had split after 20 years together, and Lucas was visiting the children when she allegedly tried to kill them both.Jamason said the entire process is very difficult. “Sitting through something like this is just a taste of what’s going to happen at trial and for anyone who's lost a child, especially at the hands of somebody that they trust, it’s very emotional,” said Jamason. Lucas’ trial is scheduled for January.

    http://www.wpbf.com/article/death-pe...oddler/8525528
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  7. #17
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Judge to decide if evidence will be excluded in Lucas trial

    Kimberly Lucas trial expected to begin later this month

    By Jimmy Johnson
    WPBF West Palm Beach News

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge will soon decide whether or not to exclude evidence in the case of Kimberly Lucas.

    The Jupiter woman is accused of killing a 2-year-old girl and attempting to kill her brother in May of 2014.

    Jacquelyn Jamason, Lucas' former partner is the children's biological mother.

    In Monday's hearing, a judge heard testimony from three attorneys that Lucas' mother hired to represent her daughter.

    The firm no longer represents Lucas, but claims they contacted the police department revoking her right to be silent.

    As a result, defense attorney's are asking that a judge dismiss the statement Lucas gave to police after being released from the hospital and taken to jail.

    In addition to this ruling, both sides involved await an appellate court's decision on whether or not the state can pursue the death penalty.

    The trial is expected to begin later this month.

    http://www.wpbf.com/article/judge-to...-trial/8578310
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Court stays trial of Kimberly Lucas in Jupiter tot’s drowning

    By Jane Musgrave
    My Palm Beach Post

    WEST PALM BEACH — With myriad questions swirling around Florida’s capital punishment law, the 4th District Court of Appeal has stayed the upcoming trial of Kimberly Lucas, who could be sentenced to death if convicted of drowning her former Jupiter partner’s 2-year-old daughter and trying to kill her 10-year-old son.

    The Florida Attorney General’s Office asked the appeals court to delay the Jan. 26 trial after Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles Burton said he would not ask the jury to impose the death penalty against Lucas as state prosecutors wanted.

    But, Burton declined to take the death penalty off the table. If Lucas is convicted and the legal issues are resolved, he said he would summon another jury to decide if the 43-year-old Jupiter woman should die for the May 2014 drowning of toddler

    Elliana Lucas-Jamason and alleged drugging of Ethan Lucas-Jamason.

    In an appeal to the West Palm Beach-based appeals court, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Campbell said Burton overstepped his powers.

    “Such a ruling was an improper interference with the State Attorney’s discretion to try (Lucas’s) case as a death penalty case,” she wrote. “Additionally, the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law by refusing to develop new jury instructions.”

    Noting that the Florida Supreme Court in October struck down a new state death penalty law as constitutional, Burton said he couldn’t simply write a new one. Until a new law is passed, there is no way to sentence someone to death, he said.

    However, state judges elsewhere have taken different views.

    The state’s high court is considering two cases in which judges have decided to fashion new ways to implement the death penalty. Florida’s death penalty was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2016 because juries were only asked to make recommendations. It was up to judges to decide if a person was sentenced to death.

    The Legislature then passed a new law, requiring that 10 out of 12 jurors agree to impose death. The state Supreme Court rejected it, saying such decisions must be unanimous.

    In staying Lucas’ trial, the appeals court gave attorneys until next week to explain whether her trial should be delayed until the Florida Supreme Court decides the pending cases. It could rule that Lucas’ trial should be held as planned.

    Assistant State Attorney Terri Skiles said she is preparing for trial. On Friday, she got the go-ahead to hire Dr. Wade Myers, a psychiatrist who is a professor at Brown University, to evaluate Lucas. Her attorneys are planning an insanity defense.

    http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/...lYTs0uLz9H0QN/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #19
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Kimberly Lucas to stand trial in September in toddler’s drowning death

    By Daphne Duret
    Palm Beach Post

    A September trial date has been set in the death penalty case of Kimberly Lucas, the Jupiter woman charged with drowning the 2-year-old daughter she shared with her former partner and trying to kill their 10-year-old son.

    Circuit Judge Charles Burton set Sept. 14 as the date for prospective jurors to come in and begin filling out jury questionaires in the case surrounding the 2-year-old Elliana Lucas-Jamason’s May 2014 drowning death and the drugging of then 10-year-old

    Ethan Lucas-Jamason. Burton’s move comes weeks after Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal lifted a stay of the proceedings because of issues surrounding Florida’s death penalty.

    Jacquelyn Jamason, the children’s mother and Lucas’ former partner, said after the hearing she was glad that the case was finally going to trial.

    According to court records, Lucas had tried to drug both Ethan and Elliana with the anti-anxiety drug Alprazolam, telling her son the pill “would help make him grow.” Ethan took the pill, but when Elliana was unable to swallow it, Lucas drowned her in a bathtub.

    Lucas’ attorneys plan to pursue an insanity defense, arguing that Lucas suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, and that one of her alters committed the crimes.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...QCK9xp3wuTdPK/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #20
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutors cleared to seek death penalty in disemboweling and other cases

    By Rafael Olmeda
    Sun Sentential

    The death penalty is back on the table for a Sunrise man who admitted to police that he disemboweled his girlfriend, and for a Miami man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and dumping her body in a ditch in Delray Beach, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

    The Fourth District Court of Appeal struck down a February ruling by Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes that blocked the state from seeking the death penalty against Fidel Lopez, 26, who is charged with first degree murder in the gruesome slaying of Maria Lizette Nemeth, whose remains were found in her apartment at the Colonnade Residences in Sunrise on Sept. 20, 2015.

    The same ruling applies to the case against John Eugene Chapman, who is facing a murder charge in Palm Beach County for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Williams Bristol.

    Both defendants were set to go to trial earlier this year, when the status of the state’s death penalty was in flux. The judges in their cases ruled that the death penalty could not be sought because the indictments did not include the “aggravating factors” a jury would have to find in order to recommend execution.

    Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx issued her ruling in the Chapman case in January. Holmes’ ruling came a few weeks later. Prosecutors appealed both cases, arguing that aggravating factors are not always clear by the time a grand jury decides to indict.

    In a motion in the Lopez case, prosecutor Tom Coleman argued that recent Florida Supreme Court decisions make it clear that a jury needs to find that aggravating factors have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but grand juries, which meet closer to the beginning of murder cases, do not need to make those allegations.

    “The Florida Supreme Court has consistently and unequivocally rejected the argument that aggravators must be alleged in the indictment,” Coleman wrote.

    The appeals court agreed with the prosecutor, putting the Lopez and Chapman trials back on track for jury selection, barring any other delays that are sought by defense lawyers.

    Attorneys for Lopez had demanded a speedy trial in early February, and jury selection was scheduled to begin in the middle of that month. The speedy trial demand came at a time when Florida had no legal death penalty procedure in place, giving Holmes a second reason to keep it from being considered.

    The governor signed a new death penalty law in March that requires a unanimous jury recommendation. Wednesday’s appeals court ruling said the new law addresses concerns about the constitutionality of the state’s procedure.
    Information on Chapman’s next court date was not posted on the Palm Beach County Clerk’s website Wednesday.

    Lopez is due back in court for a status conference on Friday. Defense lawyers have not said whether they will proceed with their demand for a speedy trial. Attorney Melisa McNeill said in February that the defense was ready for trial, brushing off questions about whether the timing of the demand was intended to capitalize on the uncertainty over the death penalty.

    Attorneys have said the decision also clears the path for several other cases to proceed. They include Rodney Clark, a former Mississippi man and convicted sex offender, accused in the slaying of a Lake Worth-area woman nearly 30 years ago, and Kimberly Lucas, a Jupiter woman accused of killing her former domestic partner’s 2-year-old daughter and trying to kill the girl’s 10-year-old brother on May 26, 2014.

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...531-story.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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