St. Tammany News

Cost, other factors play into prosecution

When Virgil Smith's trial begins next year, it will mark the end of a long delay in capital cases. Smith, accused of murdering his estranged wife, has awaited trial since 2001. Since then, his case has been delayed nine times and more hurdles, like a lunacy hearing scheduled for Sept. 20, remain before a jury will see any evidence against him. Smith, 46, is serving a 10-year sentence in the state penitentiary after his conviction for drug possession in 2002. Because he's already in prison, the District Attorney's office isn't rushing to try him, spokesman Rick Wood said. Court officials expect Smith will be prosecuted in 2008.

But Smith's case, one of the oldest untried cases in the 22nd Judicial District, is not unique. Dominic Robinson, accused of murdering Samantha Jaume in 2001 near Mandeville, has awaited trial since 2003. So have Jason Gainey, Zlatico Brujic and Sara Faison, the other three people charged in connection with Jaume's murder. Robinson's next court date is scheduled for Oct. 19.

That means defendants like James Magee, the Pearl River man accused of murdering his wife and son in April, may face a long wait before his trial. Like Smith, Robinson and Gainey, Magee is charged with first-degree murder. A conviction for first-degree murder carries either life in prison or the death penalty.

Meanwhile, a conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, which is what Kendra Talley of Covington and Tommy Roswell of Bogalusa face. The two are accused of murdering Talley's estranged husband in December 2004. Their next court date is Sept. 24.

First-degree murder cases are exceptionally expensive, Judge Raymond Childress said. In the 22nd Judicial District, they have rarely ended in execution. In the past 10 years, only one person in St. Tammany Parish, Jesse Montejo, has been sentenced to death.

But expense is not the only reason the District Attorney's office takes years to prosecute a first-degree murder case. Like many other facets of life in St. Tammany Parish, Hurricane Katrina also has an effect. After the storm struck in August 2005, it was nine months before any grave case could be heard because there was no place to house a jury, Childress said.

The space between arrests and trials also affects witnesses, who are asked about their memories from years earlier. The lapse forces prosecutors to rely on police reports gathered after the crime, Wood said.

"It takes a lot of work and effort to bring a high-profile case to trial," Wood said. Before the trial, it includes extensive analysis of evidence by the prosecution and defense. During the trial, it requires sequestering a jury, 14 people, including alternates, for two weeks in a hotel.

If the defendant is convicted, the jury must choose whether to sentence him or her to life in prison or death.

The sentencing phase is also costly, requiring the use of social workers and psychologists, who explain to the jury why a defendant is a murderer in the hopes they elect to imprison instead of execute, Childress said.

With high costs and long waits, Childress said a first-degree murder charge means, "You have to really want to pursue the death penalty."