Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Appeals court halts selection of jurors
Prosecutors will be able to make case for death penalty
An appeals court breathed new life into Broward prosecutors’ bid to seek the death penalty for Fidel Lopez, the Sunrise man who told police he disemboweled his girlfriend in a tequila-fueled rage in 2015.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a stay early Monday afternoon, bringing jury selection to a sudden halt in the courtroom of Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes. Holmes had granted a defense motion for a speedy trial and barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in the gruesome case. Coupled with the defendant’s demand for a speedy trial, the timing could have spared Lopez from execution if he were to be convicted.
But prosecutors appealed Holmes’ order, and the higher court agreed to give the state at least enough time to make its argument to preserve the death penalty.
Florida has been without a legally enforceable mechanism to impose the death penalty since late last year, when a law passed by the state legislature was ruled unconstitutional because it did not require a unanimous vote. The legislature is expected to make another death penalty law when its next session begins in March.
The demand for speedy trial gives a court about two months to begin jury selection. Lopez’s demand was filed in late January, and Holmes set the trial to begin Monday.
Last week, prosecutors Tom Coleman and Steven Klinger appealed Holmes’ ruling blocking them from seeking the death penalty, arguing that Florida’s inability to impose a death penalty is a temporary legal situation that is unlikely to last much longer. Klinger told Holmes it was exactly the kind of unusual circumstance that permits the court to delay a case even when a speedy trial is demanded.
Holmes disagreed, but Monday’s appeals court ruling gives prosecutors a chance to take their argument to a higher court.
Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill has said the defense is seeking the speedy trial because it’s ready to face the jury.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a stay early Monday afternoon, bringing jury selection to a sudden halt in the courtroom of Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes.