by Douglas Dowty

November 2, 2016

 

Syracuse, NY — A Syracuse man once convicted of killing a transgender woman as a hate crime tried to convince a judge this morning to overrule the state’s highest court and set him free.

Dwight DeLee, 28, was released after the 2009 trial because the jury convicted and acquitted him of the same slaying — the shooting of Lateisha Green in 2008.

A mid-level appeals court overturned the verdict, but the state’s highest court — the Court of Appeals — allowed prosecutors to retry him. That eventually sent DeLee back to jail until trial.

Today, local Judge John Brunetti heard arguments about whether to overturn the high court’s decision and set DeLee free again. Brunetti is the second local judge to wrestle with this case — Judge Anthony Aloi had already ruled the case should go forward.

“How am I going to overrule the Court of Appeals?” Brunetti wondered today after about 15 minutes of debate.

DeLee played cheerleader. “You teach law,” the defendant said, referring to Brunetti’s role as adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s College of Law. “You are trained to decide things to the fullest extent of the law.”

But prosecutor Matthew Doran suggested Brunetti’s decision was simple: take what the high court said at face value.

Everyone agrees DeLee’s case is a mess. His 2009 jury rendered an inconsistent — or repugnant — verdict by convicting DeLee of manslaughter as a hate crime while acquitting him of regular manslaughter.

 

 

Full article: http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/11/once-convicted_killer_in_hate_crime_urges_local_judge_to_overturn_nys_top_court.html