Murder retrial begins Monday
by Kara Machado, 7/7/2007
Proceedings are scheduled to begin Monday in the new trial of two codefendants accused of a November 1991 Fortuna murder.
Richard Craig Kesser, 47, and Jennifer Gayle Leahy, 37, will appear in court Monday to begin the process of their second chance to prove they are not guilty.
The case is scheduled to be presided over by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale A. Reinholtsen, according to Humboldt County Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat.
Kesser is represented by Humboldt County Chief Conflict Counsel Glenn Brown and Leahy is represented by Eureka-based attorney Neal Sanders.
Humboldt County DA Paul Gallegos is planning on prosecuting the case, confirmed Humboldt County Deputy DA Allan Dollison Friday.
A compilation of past reports indicates Kesser and Leahy plotted to kill Kesser’s former wife, Mary, for her insurance money and that they hired Stephen Duane Chiara — who was convicted of Kesser’s wife’s murder in November 1991.
A document from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals indicates Kesser, Leahy and Chiara were all found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances — the special circumstances were not specified in the appellate court document — and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kesser, Leahy and Chiara all had state court appeals denied, but only Kesser and Leahy went on to appeal in federal court, Dollison confirmed.
In September, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Kesser’s and Leahy’s 1992 murder convictions — when it was ruled that former Humboldt County Deputy DA Worth Dikeman had made racially based remarks during the jury selection process, past reports indicate.
Dikeman has denied being racially biased in the jury selection process.
Dollison said jury selection in the new trial for Kesser and Leahy is expected to last about a month and that the trial is expected to last “anywhere from four to six months.”
“The original trial — with the three defendants and all-day trial proceedings and 88 witnesses — took six months,” Dollison said. “The new trial, with two defendants, will have upwards of probably 65 to 70 witnesses in total — the prosecution will have about 55 to 56 witness — but will only consist of half-day (trial) proceedings.”
Dollison said both defense attorneys will have the opportunity to make opening statements to jurors, can call their own witnesses when presenting their cases on behalf of their clients and will each have the opportunity to make closing arguments about the case to the jury.
Brown could not be reached for comment by the end of business day Friday.
Sanders, who confirmed he was also Leahy’s attorney in the first trial, declined to comment about the case.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment