Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 9, 2006 19:29:02 GMT -5
A man convicted of rape and murder in Dade City almost 20 years ago won't let his case rest.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD, St. Petersburg Times
DADE CITY - It has been 18 years since Marlene Reaves died in her bed, raped and smothered by a man looking to rob her.
Scores of court rulings and appeals have come down since a jury convicted Gregory Keith Capehart of killing the 62-year-old Dade City woman and recommended that he die in the electric chair.
Capehart, who always maintained his innocence, never let the case rest. In 2004, he was granted a new penalty phase on legal grounds, and last year, the two sides seemed headed for agreement on a sentence of life in prison for Capehart.
Still, in this old case, new issues continued to emerge.
The 38-year-old convict, who insists that he is not guilty, is asking for a new trial.
* * *
He did it, but he didn't mean to.
That's what the jury heard in 1989 from a former friend of Capehart's, who said Capehart had confessed to him. Another witness testified to seeing Capehart leave Reaves' Citrus Villas apartment complex the morning after she died.
But Capehart's attorney, Daniel Hernandez of Tampa, said in court last week that the defense has a new alibi witness who will say that she was with Capehart the night Reaves was raped and murdered. The two had used drugs, Hernandez said, and fallen asleep.
Additionally, Hernandez said, the jury never heard that two key state witnesses had criminal records - and those witnesses may be ready to recant their testimony.
"They would now testify that they were lying at trial," Hernandez told Circuit Judge Linda Babb.
Capehart took the stand briefly during last week's hearing. He testified that his attorney in the trial, A.J. Ivie, never cleared his legal strategy with him. The defense said Ivie conceded that Capehart was guilty of a secondary crime for which he was never charged, attempted robbery.
"We didn't really talk," Capehart said. "He came to see me a couple of times. I told him I didn't do it."
Capehart is one of many former Ivie clients appealing their cases since the lawyer suffered a stroke in 2003 and has been unable to recall the details of many of his cases.
It was on those grounds that the State Attorney's Office agreed to a new penalty phase for Capehart.
But prosecutors are not agreeing to a new trial.
Assistant State Attorney Phil Van Allen said the defense is running out of chances to amend its requests for a new trial.
He disputed the claim that Ivie conceded Capehart's guilt of attempted robbery.
"I don't believe it's that clear," Van Allen told the judge.
The next hearing in the case is Aug. 2. Babb has not indicated when she might rule on the request for a new trial.
* * *
During his years behind bars, Capehart has gained some confidantes.
John Dwyer, a high school English teacher from Naples, learned about Capehart from a group at his Catholic church. He has visited Capehart several times in prison and more recently at the jail in Land O'Lakes, where Capehart is being held. Through those visits, Dwyer said, he has come to believe in Capehart's innocence.
"Greg insists that he was never in the room," said Dwyer, 63, who opposes the death penalty. "There is absolutely no evidence he was ever at the scene of the crime."
A few of his former students at Leley High School got involved after Dwyer posted a picture of Capehart in his classroom beneath a poster of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The students, Dwyer said, circulated a petition asking for DNA testing in Capehart's case and collected 350 signatures.
While Dwyer and the three high school graduates sat in the courtroom last week on Capehart's behalf, there was no one in the seats for Reaves.
Reaves, who was illiterate and needed help with basic tasks, left behind no children. Her husband, Richard, had a mental disorder, relatives said. He died of cancer a couple of years before her murder.
A friend and guardian helped Reaves pay bills, and nieces and nephews kept an eye on her.
Accounts from the time depicted a sad existence with little money or opportunity. Still, people said, Reaves was a good-natured person.
"She was just the sweetest lady she could be. She just couldn't talk that good, and it seemed like people always ran over her or something," said Johnnie Mae Reaves, whose husband is Richard Reaves' brother.
Johnnie Mae Reaves, 69, of Bushnell didn't know about Capehart's efforts at a new trial until told by a reporter.
She said she doesn't know of any relatives left in the area. Her husband is in ill health and wouldn't be up for another trial.
"It's been a long time, and it hurt all of us that something happened to her, and right close by," she said. "But I thought they tried him and everything."
Times researchers Carolyn Edds and Lea Iadarola contributed to this report. Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or 352 521-6521.
Source : St. Petersburg Times
www.sptimes.com/2006/07/09/Pasco/Insisting_innocence__.shtml
By MOLLY MOORHEAD, St. Petersburg Times
DADE CITY - It has been 18 years since Marlene Reaves died in her bed, raped and smothered by a man looking to rob her.
Scores of court rulings and appeals have come down since a jury convicted Gregory Keith Capehart of killing the 62-year-old Dade City woman and recommended that he die in the electric chair.
Capehart, who always maintained his innocence, never let the case rest. In 2004, he was granted a new penalty phase on legal grounds, and last year, the two sides seemed headed for agreement on a sentence of life in prison for Capehart.
Still, in this old case, new issues continued to emerge.
The 38-year-old convict, who insists that he is not guilty, is asking for a new trial.
* * *
He did it, but he didn't mean to.
That's what the jury heard in 1989 from a former friend of Capehart's, who said Capehart had confessed to him. Another witness testified to seeing Capehart leave Reaves' Citrus Villas apartment complex the morning after she died.
But Capehart's attorney, Daniel Hernandez of Tampa, said in court last week that the defense has a new alibi witness who will say that she was with Capehart the night Reaves was raped and murdered. The two had used drugs, Hernandez said, and fallen asleep.
Additionally, Hernandez said, the jury never heard that two key state witnesses had criminal records - and those witnesses may be ready to recant their testimony.
"They would now testify that they were lying at trial," Hernandez told Circuit Judge Linda Babb.
Capehart took the stand briefly during last week's hearing. He testified that his attorney in the trial, A.J. Ivie, never cleared his legal strategy with him. The defense said Ivie conceded that Capehart was guilty of a secondary crime for which he was never charged, attempted robbery.
"We didn't really talk," Capehart said. "He came to see me a couple of times. I told him I didn't do it."
Capehart is one of many former Ivie clients appealing their cases since the lawyer suffered a stroke in 2003 and has been unable to recall the details of many of his cases.
It was on those grounds that the State Attorney's Office agreed to a new penalty phase for Capehart.
But prosecutors are not agreeing to a new trial.
Assistant State Attorney Phil Van Allen said the defense is running out of chances to amend its requests for a new trial.
He disputed the claim that Ivie conceded Capehart's guilt of attempted robbery.
"I don't believe it's that clear," Van Allen told the judge.
The next hearing in the case is Aug. 2. Babb has not indicated when she might rule on the request for a new trial.
* * *
During his years behind bars, Capehart has gained some confidantes.
John Dwyer, a high school English teacher from Naples, learned about Capehart from a group at his Catholic church. He has visited Capehart several times in prison and more recently at the jail in Land O'Lakes, where Capehart is being held. Through those visits, Dwyer said, he has come to believe in Capehart's innocence.
"Greg insists that he was never in the room," said Dwyer, 63, who opposes the death penalty. "There is absolutely no evidence he was ever at the scene of the crime."
A few of his former students at Leley High School got involved after Dwyer posted a picture of Capehart in his classroom beneath a poster of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The students, Dwyer said, circulated a petition asking for DNA testing in Capehart's case and collected 350 signatures.
While Dwyer and the three high school graduates sat in the courtroom last week on Capehart's behalf, there was no one in the seats for Reaves.
Reaves, who was illiterate and needed help with basic tasks, left behind no children. Her husband, Richard, had a mental disorder, relatives said. He died of cancer a couple of years before her murder.
A friend and guardian helped Reaves pay bills, and nieces and nephews kept an eye on her.
Accounts from the time depicted a sad existence with little money or opportunity. Still, people said, Reaves was a good-natured person.
"She was just the sweetest lady she could be. She just couldn't talk that good, and it seemed like people always ran over her or something," said Johnnie Mae Reaves, whose husband is Richard Reaves' brother.
Johnnie Mae Reaves, 69, of Bushnell didn't know about Capehart's efforts at a new trial until told by a reporter.
She said she doesn't know of any relatives left in the area. Her husband is in ill health and wouldn't be up for another trial.
"It's been a long time, and it hurt all of us that something happened to her, and right close by," she said. "But I thought they tried him and everything."
Times researchers Carolyn Edds and Lea Iadarola contributed to this report. Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or 352 521-6521.
Source : St. Petersburg Times
www.sptimes.com/2006/07/09/Pasco/Insisting_innocence__.shtml