Talking about screwing up a case

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http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-05-31/judge-dismisses-indictment-ashleigh-moore-slayingops

Talking about disgrace to our legal system!! This one tops the cake. When this judge is up for reelection i plan on fully supportingcampaigning/ her opponent

A Chatham County judge on Wednesday dismissed the indictment against Bobby Lavon Buckner, the man accused of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Ashleigh Moore nine years ago.
Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann, in a 36-page order, said the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial had been violated by repeated delays and ordered his discharge in the case.
Click here to read Freesemann's order to dismiss the indictment against Buckner
The judge said she had “struggled with the issues in this motion ... because the remedy for a violation of the defendant’s sixth amendment right is so extreme. Nonetheless, ‘it is the only possible remedy’ allowed under the law.”
Defense attorney Newell Hamilton Jr. said the judge got past public sentiment and protected Buckner’s constitutional rights.
“I think Judge Freesemann’s order is justice for Bobby Buckner,” Hamilton said Wednesday evening. “Judge Freesemann did the courageous and right thing and did what judges are supposed to do.”
Chief Assistant District Attorney David Perry said in a prepared statement Wednesday evening that his office has 30 days to file an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court “and will be researching and reviewing the material and seeking the input of the victim’s immediate family before making a decision on filing an appeal.”
Buckner remains in the Chatham County jail under sentence for another crime.
Buckner, the 36-year-old live-in boyfriend of Ashleigh’s mother, Michelle Moore, had been scheduled for trial on June 11 on charges of murder, felony murder and kidnapping with bodily injury.
The victim, an honor student at DeRenne Middle School, disappeared from her home at 6 Weiner Drive early April 18, 2003. Her body was found about three weeks later near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on General McIntosh Boulevard.
Freesemann found that Buckner was not indicted for the crimes until Dec. 12, 2007, and that since the first indictment about 53 months have passed

 

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The court finds a delay of 53 months is indeed presumptively prejudicial,” the judge ruled.Freesemann blamed the delays on both defense attorneys and the prosecution but said the “uncommonly long delay, the reasons for the delay and the defendant’s suffering prejudice as a result of the delay all weigh against the state.”
“The general conduct and behavior of the state since April 4, 2011, is both remarkable and troubling,” she said.
“Now, nine years later, the witnesses are either deceased or cannot remember the pivotal events, and the investigator who conducted the initial interviews cannot remember what the witnesses said about those pivotal events,” Freesemann said. “To make matters worse, the independent tapes of these interviews have been lost by the state.”
“As a result, (Buckner) has demonstrated a particularized inability to sufficiently explore, and present, as part of his defense that there was tampering with the evidence, and specifically, the alleged crime scene in this case.”
After the 2007 indictment, Buckner was subsequently indicted two more times and, on April 4, 2011, the state announced it would seek the death penalty.
In their court filing, District Attorney Larry Chisolm and Perry announced the death penalty was being sought because the murder was committed during a kidnapping with bodily injury, was “outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhumane in that it involved torture, depravity of mind” and was committed “for the purpose of avoiding, interferring with or preventing a lawful arrest.”
That announcement resulted in the case being moved from Judge Perry Brannen Jr. to Freesemann and prompted additional delay.
It also brought in defense attorney Hamilton and his team from the Georgia Capital Defender’s

 

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Freesemann and prompted additional delay.It also brought in defense attorney Hamilton and his team from the Georgia Capital Defender’s Office and a wave of more than 100 pre-trial motions.
When the prosecution abandoned its efforts to seek the death penalty on Aug. 25, 2011, Perry cited the “tremendously burdensome and expensive process” involved in a capital case.
Freesemann found it concerning that the state announced on the eve of trial nearly eight years later that it was seeking the death penalty, then four months later withdrew it “at least partially on the basis that the state discovered problems with the evidence.”
Problems with evidence in the case included the apparent loss of fingerprint evidence, destruction of hairs recovered from the alleged victim’s body and fading memories of the two children who were with the victim at the time she disappeared.
Freesemann also noted that following the announcement for the death penalty, she had to repeatedly intervene in ongoing discovery disputes “as the result of the prosecution’s actions.”
“Disputes lingered because of the questionable manner in which the state continued to handle the disclosure of discovery,” she said.
She said prosecutors appeared at multiple proceedings, announced they were ready at the outset, then repeatedly behaved to the contrary.
“The court is left to conclude, based on the record and the state’s pattern of behavior since April of 2011, that the state lacks any interest in a timely trial of the defendant,” Freesemann said.
She characterized the announcement of the death penalty as “simply an attempt to gain leverage to persuade (Buckner) to enter into a negotiated plea agreement.”
When that failed, prosecutors “simply continued to be unwilling, or unprepared, to deal with this reality and, instead, repeatedly inhibited the case from progressing toward trial to properly handle the disclosure of discovery and otherwise sufficiently prepare for motion hearings in this case.”
But, she said, “the court finds that the defendant’s late assertion of his right to a speedy trial weighs significantly against the defendant.”
Newell did not assert his speedy trial issue until his Dec. 9, 2011, motion to discharge based on Sixth Amendment issues, she noted.
Chatham County jail officials also took a hit for what Freesemann said was the “repeated failure of the Chatham County Detention Center to obey this court to hold (Buckner) at the Chatham County Detention Center until the final disposition of his case, thus preventing him from assisting his counsel in the preparation of his defense.”
At the same time, Freesemann noted that Buckner would be incarcerated regardless of the pending indictment and has previously been convicted and sentenced for a variety of other crimes.
Buckner remains in custody at the Chatham County jail on a 12-year sentence imposed April 15, 2004, in an unrelated probation revocation in a 1995 molestation and statutory rape case.
In his response Thursday, the prosecutor noted Freesemann addressed issues such as misplacement of original physical evidence, defense allegations they were not provided proper discovery and alleged delays in the case relating to the request for the death penalty.
But, it said the district attorney’s office cannot address the whereabouts of original physical evidence in the case “as original physical evidence is maintained by law enforcement agencies investigating the case.”
“Nor can the current office address issues of delay in the period between 2003 and 2007 when the case was first indicted.”
It also noted Perry’s 15 death penalty cases and more than 130 murder trials in his care.

Buckner case:
- April 18, 2003, Ashleigh Moore disappears from her Weiner Drive home.
- May 14, 2003, Moore’s body is found near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront
- April 19, 2003, Bobby Lavon Buckner is charged with a parole violation and jailed.
- Dec. 12 2007, Buckner is indicted by the Chatham County grand jury on charges of murder by strangulation, kidnapping, child molestation and related counts.
- May 13, 2009, prosecutors added a statutory rape charge in a second indictment
- March 23, 2011, Buckner is named in a third indictment on charges of kidnapping with bodily injury, murder, felony murder, child molestation and statutory rape.
- April 4, 2011, DA filed notice to seek the death penalty for Buckner
- Aug. 25, 2011, Prosecutors drop the death penalty and opt to seek life without parole
- Oct. 12, 2011, Chief Assistant District Attorney David Perry agrees to separate the murder, felony murder and kidnapping with bodily injury in a first trial, child molestation and statutory rape in a second trial.
- Dec. 9, 2011, Defense filed motion to discharge Buckner for speedy trial violations.
- April 19, 2012, Trial postponed until June 11 to

 

[mw1]

I know its a long post but this is a sad day for our judicial system

 

[mich29]

wow the hell

 

[mw1]

When this first happened it was an open and shut case. Its unbelievable it came to this

 

[rugger48]

Maybe Im missing something in the read, but Im not sure Im reading this as the judges fault.