Hot exchange between attorney, client delays convicted murderer’s second trial
A heated dispute Wednesday between convicted murderer Robert L. Doney Jr. and his court-appointed lawyer disrupted what was to have been the last day of an unusual second trial to determine whether Doney should get extra punishment.
Doney, 30, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the middle of his first trial in March, admitting he deliberately murdered his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, Victoria Ramon, on Dec. 26, 2003. That conviction stands, but Doney’s new trial could open the door to above-standard punishment.
When he pleaded guilty, Doney said he killed the toddler because he was angry with her mother.
Doney had been expected to testify Wednesday, but his attempt to fire defense attorney Tim Trageser caused jurors to be sent home without entering the courtroom.
Trageser said the problem erupted after he refused to speak to Doney’s mother, Debra Doney, earlier in the morning because she accused him of being in collusion with Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz.
According to Trageser, Doney wanted him to explain to Debra Doney that testimony she was offering wasn’t wanted because Trageser felt it would be harmful.
Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque warned Doney against blurting out something incriminating and then asked a few yes-or-no questions that indicated Doney didn’t want to represent himself. A few more questions established that Doney’s desire for a new attorney sprang from Trageser’s refusal to talk to his mother that morning.
Doney complained that Trageser was “always moving the dates and resetting the times to meet with my family and never really meeting to touch bases with them.”
At that point, Leveque ruled that Trageser should continue to represent Doney because the reasons given for his dismissal made “absolutely no logical or legal sense to me.”
Doney followed with a motion to dismiss Trageser for alleged conflict of interest, adding that Trageser “made threats as I was leaving the courtroom” for the morning recess.
Clearly irritated, Trageser stood and called for Doney to spell out the alleged threats.
“I’m curious as to what threats I made,” Trageser said.
“And I’m sure you are,” Leveque interjected in a tone calculated to cut off debate.
“We don’t have to shower, but we do have to calm down a little bit so that we can take a look at this with a little bit more rational thought,” Leveque said, ordering an extra-long lunch recess.
The recess was followed by a brief closed session in which some of the participants said it appeared Leveque’s cooling-off strategy had worked. The judge sent everyone home to cool off some more, saying the trial would get back on track today.