Sun-Sentinal.com, FL
01-06-07
Prosecutors seek ties between teen suspects, earlier homeless attacks
By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Prosecutors asked Friday for a live lineup of three teens accused of fatally
beating a homeless man to see whether they can be tied to other attacks.
The motion says there is "reasonable cause" to think one or more of the teens
may have participated in prior beatings of other homeless people. It was
introduced Friday after prosecutors announced they wouldn't seek the death
penalty against William "Billy' Ammons and Brian Hooks, both 19.
The third suspect, Thomas Daugherty, was 17 at the time of the Jan. 12 slaying
and is ineligible for the death penalty. Because of that, prosecutors opted not to
seek capital punishment for any of the defendants.
All three have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the fatal beating of
Norris Gaynor, 45, and attempted murder for the beatings of two other homeless
men, Jacques Pierre and Raymond Perez. The three face maximum punishment
of life in prison if convicted.
"I can tell you that we love our son very much and we stand by him," said Brian
Hooks' mother, Brenda Hooks. "It's been hard on all of us."
If witnesses positively identify any of the teens in a live lineup, it could lead to
another case being filed or be used as evidence in the current case, said
prosecutor Brian Cavanagh.
He declined to say how many victims or witnesses would view the lineup or when
the alleged prior attacks may have happened.
After defense attorneys asked for time to review the motion, Broward Circuit
Judge Cynthia Imperato set a hearing for Jan. 12, the one-year anniversary of
the crimes.
"Reading between the lines of the motion, it sounds like they're seeking to try to
find people that would try to identify one or two or three of these [defendants] that
have participated in this type of behavior [previously]," said Ammons' attorney
Sam Halpern. "We need to look into the legal efficacy of whether this is an
entitlement the state has."
Cavanagh said he filed the motion now because he's been "waiting for an
anticipated change in [the Broward Sheriff Office's] lineup procedure to allow
witnesses to explain their degree of certainty or uncertainty."
The current live lineup procedure, he said, is problematic because it's an "all-ornothing" approach where victims and witnesses must identify someone with
certainty. It does not allow for the passage of time or for witnesses to consider
physical changes to maturing defendants such as teens, he said.
Because this case has received extensive media attention and photos of the
teens have been widely circulated, Cavanagh said he would prefer to use a live
lineup rather than a photo lineup.
"It's important to maintain the sanctity of their identification, and what could be
better than viewing a person live?" he said.
Generally, the Broward State Attorney's Office petitions the court to perform live
lineups on cases where identification is at issue.
The State Attorney's Office initiated discussions with the Sheriff's Office about
modifying its lineup procedures in October, said sheriff's spokesman Elliot
Cohen.
No changes have been made, Cohen said.
Among suggested changes for photo lineups: present photos to witnesses one at
a time, rather than in groupings of six, and have an officer unfamiliar with the
correct suspect conduct the lineup.
Altering the live lineup procedure would allow witnesses to say what degree of
certainty they have about a suspect's identity, Cohen said.
"We're in the process of doing it, but we don't want to change the procedure until,
No. 1, we're sure it's going to lead to more reliable identifications by witnesses,
and, No. 2, we want to be sure that we have a proper procedure in place before
we start doing it," Cohen said.
The Palm Beach State Attorney's Office occasionally uses live lineups, said
spokesman Michael Edmondson.
In Miami-Dade County, the State Attorney's Office rarely uses live lineups, and if
it does, it is on a case-specific basis, a spokesman said.
The proposed changes in Broward come from a model presented by Gary L.
Wells, an Iowa State University professor lauded for his expertise on
eyewitness identification, said Jeff Marcus, head of the Broward State
Attorney's felony division.
The idea is to make for more reliable identification and let witnesses "explain how
sure they are," Marcus said.
It would allow witnesses to express that they're 99 percent sure it's the same
person, but at the time he had long hair, Marcus said.
"It's not a matter of yes or no," he said. "We think it's just another refinement to
let the person explain, and the jury can take into account that the person is 95
percent sure or perhaps 50 percent sure."
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tealanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4542.