“Maslamanis defense to claim someone else shot Landry” |
| Maslamanis defense to claim someone else shot Landry Posted: 30 Jul 2010 04:43 PM PDT Transients, gang members may testify Detroit "street people" and gang members may testify in the upcoming trial of a teenage drifter accused of kidnapping a 21-year-old man from the streets of Eastpointe and killing him. Assistant Macomb prosecutor William Cataldo told a judge Friday that his office will need at least a couple of weeks before the Sept. 8 trial of Ihab Maslamani to locate possible members of the "Seven Mile Bloods" and/or others, including a woman named "Cisco Shelly," who could testify for the defense. Maslamani's defense attorney, Joseph Kosmala, called Cisco Shelly a "significant witness" for the defense in trying to raise doubt about Maslamani allegedly shooting to death Matthew Landry of Chesterfield Township, whose body was found last August in an abandoned home in Detroit. Kosmala said someone else shot Landry. Kosmala would deploy the witnesses to convince a jury that prosecutors "have the wrong guy. They can't prove that he's the shooter." Cisco Shelly may provide key information, he said. "She's well-acquainted with the goings-on of that neighborhood" on Detroit's east side, Kosmala said. However, she recently absconded parole on another charge and may be hard to locate. Prosecutors have the responsibility to find some potential witnesses for the defense. But Cataldo noted it may be difficult. "We had a significant amount of assistance from the DPD (Detroit Police Department) when they originally searched" for suspects in Landry's abduction and murder last August. But, "I don't think we're going to get a lot of that now," Cataldo said. Other witnesses could include gang members or others associated with Maslamani, a transient whose parents abandoned him as a child. He bounced around in and had recently fled the foster care system. "There are some allegations that he was part of a group who were taking care of him, his guardians," he said. "These are street people, gangs, who teach him things. They can teach someone how to get electricity and water in an abandoned house." Kosmala said he still believes Landry's head wound may not be from a bullet but rather blunt-force trauma. He said he may have a medical examiner testify to that at the trial. Kosmala said one person has said that a man who was known to strike a person in the head with a baseball bat was seen in an eastside Detroit drug house with Maslamani and Landry. Maslamani, 18, is also facing charges for allegedly robbing a Harrison Township bank and committing a Roseville carjacking in the days following Landry's abduction. Kosmala said he doesn't expect to present any defense witnesses regarding those offenses. Kosmala asked Judge Diane Druzinski to separate the three cases, but she refused. Combining the three cases will negatively influence the jury, Kosmala said. If the bank robbery and carjacking cases are presented before the murder case, "the jury will tend to shut down and say, 'He's a bad guy. I don't have to listen to this case.'" Kosmala is also concerned about the general mood of jurors because of the economic conditions. "I think jurors try to be fair, but they have resentment and they can act on it," he said. Along with Maslamani, also charged with Landry's murder is Robert "Fat Daddy" Taylor, 17, of Detroit. The pair allegedly abducted Landry from the Quiznos shop at 10 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue on Aug. 9 by forcing him into his Honda. He was spotted in a Detroit drug house, and his body was found four days later. Taylor's trial is scheduled for Oct. 26, which also is Taylor's 18th birthday. A pretrial is scheduled for Oct. 13. Maslamani's cases have received a great deal of media attention, so the court will call twice as many potential jurors as normal in an effort to seat jurors who have indicated they are unbiased. The attorneys have developed a questionnaire to initially help screen jury candidates. Taylor's trial may receive the same treatment. Also Friday, Kosmala requested funds for a haircut in the Macomb County Jail for his trial appearance. Maslamani has no money so cannot afford the $10 cost. Druzinski said the court would pay for a haircut, like it pays for a defendant's clothes for trial. "I don't see where it would be any different than for clothing expenses," Druzinski said.
Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Content Keyword RSS To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment