http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880511014Miami-Dade prosecutors have waived the death penalty against the four suspects accused of murdering former Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.
Eric Rivera, 18, Venjah Hunte, 20 and Charles Wardlow, 18, all of Fort Myers, and Jason Mitchell, 20, of Lehigh Acres, face charges of first-degree murder and armed burglary.
They will still face the possibility of life in prison, but Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin sent notice to the defendants’ attorneys late Friday he won't be seeking to kill them for their alleged crimes, said Hunte’s attorney, Michael Hornung.
"They would have had to show it was premeditated," Hornung said. "I believe that it's appropriate that they waive the death penalty."
Making it difficult for prosecutors to seek death is the theory Rivera, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was the alleged shooter. Because he was a minor at the time of the crime, case law has established the state wouldn’t be able to execute his adult co-defendants, Hornung said.
On Nov. 26, Miami-Dade police said, the four drove to Taylor’s house. When they arrived, they broke into the Redskins safety’s house intending to burglarize it. But Taylor, 24, was at home with his wife and child, recovering from a sprained right knee.
The Pro Bowl safety was shot in the leg and died of blood loss the next day.
According to Rivera’s statement to investigators, five people drove to the house that night in a rented SUV, but only four arrests have been made.
Taylor family spokesman Richard Sharpstein said he expected the age of Rivera, who was implicated as the shooter in a grand jury indictment, would derail the chance for prosecutors to seek death.
“The fact that the prosecution won’t seek the death penalty has been a foregone conclusion,” Sharpstein said. “The family is still supporting the prosecutors and looking for justice to be done.”
In the months since the shooting, prosecutors have been releasing reports and information related to the case. According to the indictment, Mitchell was in Taylor’s house wearing a mask during the armed burglary. Other reports released to the public have indicated the suspects used a 9 mm gun to shoot open a sliding glass door at the house. Dive teams searched off Alligator Alley after the shooting, but haven’t found a weapon.
According to information previously released by police, Mitchell attended a birthday party in September at Taylor’s home. He stayed at the house for several days, doing work around the house to prepare for the party and was paid $300 in cash. Mitchell said he saw Taylor give his sister, Sasha Johnson, $10,000 in a paper bag as a present. Johnson was dating Wardlow’s nephew at the time.
Investigators believe greed was the motive for the defendants making the three-hour drive to Florida’s east coast.
All four defendants have an Aug. 25 trial date.
