Trial opening nears in 2006 murder

The trial of the three men accused of gunning down Broward Sheriff ’s Deputy Brian Tephford during a traffic stop in 2006 will begin with opening statements before this month is out. Probably. Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman has set schedules in the complex murder case before, only to watch circumstances change and dates get pushed back.

The case has already been stalled by the kinds of delays that can be expected when the death penalty is on the table and multiple defendants are each represented by multiple lawyers who have to coordinate their schedules and conduct witness interviews and hearings on dozens of complex legal issues.

The fluctuating status of Florida’s death penalty over the past 14 months didn’t help.

Last September, when the first phase of jury selection began, Backman told jurors to expect opening statements in January, with the presentation of evidence lasting until the beginning of summer.

Then the Florida Supreme Court stepped in and declared Florida’s new death penalty law unconstitutional, complicating the jury selection process. Defendants Andre Delancy, 30, Bernard Forbes, 32, and Eloyn Ingraham, 39, face the death penalty if convicted, but without a legally enforceable death penalty process, it’s been impossible for attorneys and Backman to vet jurors to make sure they can fairly decide a capital case.

The Florida Legislature is scheduled to vote on a new death penalty law as one of its first acts when it convenes this week, and Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign it. Unlike the overturned law, the new law will require a jury’s death penalty recommendation to be unanimous.

Broward State Attorney Mike Satz is handling the prosecution in the Tephford murder, accompanied by his chief assistant, Jeff Marcus.

Tephford, a six-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was gunned down on Nov. 11, 2006, outside the Versailles Gardens apartment complex in Tamarac. Tephford had put in a call at 11 p.m. for backup during a traffic stop — he had pulled over

the car on the 8000 block of North Colony Circle after finding it had the wrong tag.

The shooter emerged from the passenger seat of the stopped vehicle, authorities said at the time. Tephford was dead at the scene. Also injured in the shooting was Deputy Christopher Carbocci.

Detectives tracked down the suspects the following afternoon at a motel on the 2400 block of State Road 84 in Dania Beach.

The accused men have been held without bond since their arrests.

Ingraham and Forbes went on trial in 2015 for robbery and armed kidnapping in a case that prosecutors became aware of during the investigation into the Tephford murder. The men were acquitted.

Trouble with Florida’s death penalty scuttled Backman’s hopes to start the murder trial in early 2016. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s death penalty unconstitutional because it allowed a simple majority of jurors to recommend death and allowed jurors only an advisory role in the process.

The legislature responded in March 2016 with a law that gave jurors more power and required a minimum of 10 jurors to recommend death. That was the law overturned by the Florida Supreme Court in October, with the state justices concluding anything less than a unanimous recommendation surely be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Backman brought a total of about 2,000 potential jurors into court for a first round of vetting last fall. Jurors unable to sit for a lengthy trial were sent home.

Backman, Satz and defense lawyers are now in the second round of about 150 juror interviews, weeding out those who cannot serve because of various conflicts of interest or biases. One potential juror was dismissed in January when she casually admitted that she had read about the case.

The last phase of jury selection will address the death penalty, assuming the legislature acts as quickly as expected in passing a new law.

Opening statements are scheduled — tentatively — for March 28.