It now appears that Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis may be ready to release some documents in the Gary Michael Hilton case scheduled to go to trial later this year.
Hilton, of course, is the man accused of the heinous murder of Cheryl Dunlap of Crawfordville. He’s also admitted to murdering a young woman in Georgia and has been possibly linked to the murder of an elderly couple in North Carolina.
Hilton was extradited to Florida in early June following an indictment in Leon County on charges of first-degree murder, grand theft auto and grand theft in connection with the December 2007 death of Dunlap, 46.
For months – and at a cost of lots of thousands of dollars in this tough economy – the Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV have been fighting for the release of evidentiary documents as stipulated by the Legislature. The two news organizations filed legal action in July to keep evidence open to public review.
Assistant Public Defender Ines Suber had asked the court to seal the discovery information -- the witnesses and evidence against Hilton assembled by law enforcement – after it had been turned over to the defense.
Apparently admonishing a reporter, in today’s Tallahassee Democrat State Attorney Willie Meggs says this: “I just wish you all could be a little more patient and wait like everyone else.”
Understandably, Suber and Meggs want to be able to seat a jury that can objectively view evidence presented in court. But that assumes that the only people qualified to fairly and objective view evidence as jurors are ignorant and uninformed.
That being the case, surely the attorneys can find enough people in Leon County.
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