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Confusion over death penalty muddies Pinellas man's plea deal

 
Published Feb. 19, 2016

Prosecutors want to seek the death penalty in the case of Carlos Benito Jones, accused of killing three people and committing an armed robbery in 2011.

But after the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 struck down Florida's procedure for sending convicts to death row, Jones' attorneys asked Pinellas Circuit Judge Philip Federico if their client could plead guilty in exchange for life in prison.

"I'm at a loss to understand how anything other than life would be the maximum penalty right now in this case," Federico said in court Jan. 28 over the objections of the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office. "There is no death penalty."

The case has now come to a halt after a stay was issued from the 2nd District Court of Appeal as it reviews a petition from prosecutors to restrain Federico from presiding over the case.

"We just have an opinion and the judge has one," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett. "We have to have an appellate court see who's going in the right direction."

It is the latest example of how judges in Tampa Bay are interpreting the Supreme Court's Hurst vs. Florida decision, which ruled it is unconstitutional for juries to play only an advisory role while judges make the ultimate decision in death penalty cases.

Jones' case began in 2011, when he and his brother, Isidro Santiago Jones, were arrested on charges of killing three people in Clearwater and robbing a man at gunpoint in Dunedin.

He is facing a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of 34-year-old Zorana Lebedic, who was killed as she biked home from a Scientology class in downtown Clearwater in 2011. Isidro's trial is also pending.

According to court records, a public defender asked Federico Jan. 13 if he could set a plea and sentencing hearing for Jones, 29, in light of the Hurst decision.

"I'm inclined to accept what the defense is offering under all of the circumstances," the judge said.

Assistant State Attorney Douglas R. Ellis objected, stating in court that Hurst did not find the death penalty itself unconstitutional, and that the Legislature was expected to revise the statute soon. This week, passage of a new law was a step closer after lawmakers determined that at least 10 of 12 jurors must agree to impose a death sentence.

Ellis filed a motion to recuse Federico, stating that the judge was interjecting himself in plea negotiations, records state. Federico denied the motion.

But it wasn't over for the state. Prosecutors filed an emergency petition with the appeals court, which ordered Feb. 5 that the case could not move forward until their petition was reviewed.

"The state is being forced to stand by while the trial court allows a capital defendant to receive a life sentence," the petition reads.

The Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender's Office has since responded, contending that Federico was only announcing the current state of the law.

"The purpose of a motion for disqualification is not to allow a party to move from judge to judge until finding one to agree with the party's desired position," Assistant Public Defender Sara B. Mollo wrote to the court.

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Federico is the latest judge in Tampa Bay in the spotlight for making comments in court on the Hurst decision.

In January, Pinellas Circuit Judge Michael Andrews rejected prosecutors' notice to seek the death penalty in the case of a Pinellas Park father accused of killing his infant daughter because the death penalty did not exist in Florida.

Last week, he rescinded his order, but concluded the death penalty could be sought only if new sentencing guidelines were in place before the start of the trial, scheduled for Feb. 29.

In Hillsborough, Circuit Judge Samantha Ward ruled this month that there "currently exists no statutory authority in Florida under which the State can seek the death penalty."

Contact Laura C. Morel at lmorel@tampabay.com. Follow @lauracmorel.