May 30


FLORIDA----foreign national taken off death row

When he was sentenced to death for a 1995 killing, Spaniard Joaquin
Martinez became the topic of heated debate across many European
countries that oppose the death penalty.

Even Pope John Paul II weighed in on the issue, saying Martinez's life
should be spared.

The controversy intensified last year when the Florida Supreme Court
overturned Martinez's conviction and ordered a new trial.

Tuesday, the debate evaporated. Just before a 12-member jury was chosen
for Martinez's retrial, prosecutors announced they would not seek his
execution for the murder of Sherry McCoy.

Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober declined to discuss the decision.
But it pleased Martinez's lawyer, David Parry.

"I think this is something [the state attorney's office] may have
decided over the weekend," Parry said. "It was a pleasant surprise for
us this morning in court."

The decision also surprised a throng of Spanish reporters who had
descended on the Hillsborough County Courthouse for the retrial. Several
said the case will no longer hold the same interest in Spain, where the
death penalty is opposed.

McCoy, 26, was shot once and stabbed 23 times in her rural Hillsborough
County home in October 1995. Martinez also was given a life sentence,
which still stands, for the shooting death of McCoy's boyfriend, Douglas
Lawson, 26. Prosecutors have said the couple, killed the same day, owed
Martinez money.

The state Supreme Court ordered Martinez's retrial in the McCoy case last
June because the prosecution allowed a witness to offer an opinion to the
jury on Martinez's guilt.

Last week, the case was dealt another blow when Circuit Judge J. Rogers
Padgett ruled that a taped conversation between Martinez and his ex-wife
concerning the killings was inaudible and therefore could not be
introduced as evidence in the retrial.

The tapes were admitted in 1997, but this time defense attorneys decided
to hire expert Bruce Koenig to listen to them. Koenig said the tapes
were inaudible. Padgett also heard them and agreed.

Koenig, who once ran the FBI's videotape and audiotape lab, also
testified for the defense in the case of Marlene and Steve Aisenberg.

Several Spanish dignitaries who believe Martinez is innocent are expected
to attend the retrial when it begins at 9 a.m. today.

If convicted this time, Martinez faces a 2nd life prison term.

(source:  Tampa Tribune)