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Zile Retrial Resumes
With New Jury Pool (10/15/96) ZILE RETRIAL RESUMES
WITH NEW JURY POOL The death-penalty case came to
an abrupt halt in August after a courtroom clerk told potential jurors
that ``tons'' of evidence had been hauled to the courthouse from West
Palm Beach for use in the trial. Colton dismissed the 120-member jury pool, three days into the selection process, and postponed further selection until today, due to scheduling conflicts with two other murder trials. Another 150 potential jurors are set to report for jury duty at the Polk County courthouse today. Zile, 34, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the October 1994 death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter Christina Holt. Prosecutors contend that Zile and his wife, Pauline, killed the second-grader and then pretended she'd been kidnapped from a Broward County flea market, even making a televised plea for her safe return. Pauline Zile is serving a life sentence in prison for her part in the beating death. Though the murder took place in Palm Beach County, the case was moved to the small Central Florida town of Bartow in Polk County due to extensive publicity after the first trial -- held in West Palm Beach -- ended in May with a deadlocked jury. Eleven jurors voted for a first-degree murder conviction, but one held out for second-degree murder. For the retrial, prosecutors subpoenaed Herald reporter David Kidwell to testify about a jailhouse interview he conducted with Zile in November 1994. Kidwell refused, saying such testimony would compromise the independence of journalists. On Oct. 7 the judge ruled that Kidwell, 35, was in contempt of court. Kidwell is serving a 70-day jail sentence in the Palm Beach County Detention Center. The case is expected to last about a month, with jury selection the first week. If convicted, Zile could be sent to the electric chair.
Zile's first trial in May for the Sept. 16, 1994, death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7, ended in a mistrial when a Palm Beach County jury split 11-1 on a first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse conviction. Then, an August attempt to put Zile on trial in Bartow where the case was moved to find an impartial jury misfired because of remarks made by Polk County's Clerk of Courts E.D. "Bud" Dixon. During jury orientation, Dixon told 120 people summoned for jury duty that it took several days to unload case evidence from a U-Haul truck, which wasn't true. Evidence transported from West Palm Beach by a rented van was inventoried within hours. Because of statewide publicity of the August mistrial, attorneys were concerned it might be harder to get an impartial jury the second time around in Bartow. But none of the people questioned on Tuesday recalled the Dixon incident. "Just amazing," said Craig Wilson, one of Zile's attorneys. On Tuesday, Zile's attorneys took the precaution of having a court reporter record jury orientation to document everything said to prospective jurors. And, chief prosecutor Scott Cupp pointedly asked prospective jurors whether they had learned anything new about the Zile case since they came to the courthouse that morning.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton reserved ruling on whether David Kidwell, 35, of The Miami Herald, should be granted bail. Kidwell was convicted of criminal contempt of court for refusing to testify for the prosecution about his November 1994 jailhouse interview with Zile on the death of stepdaughter Christina Holt. On Oct. 7, Kidwell was sentenced
to 70 days in the Palm Beach County Jail and fined $500. U.S. District Court Judge Wilke Ferguson on Thursday set an emergency hearing on the case for Monday in Miami. "If he isn't released pending his appeal, he will have finished his sentence before his appeal is heard," Bohrer said. Bohrer said Kidwell is a man of principle who is willing to be jailed for his convictions and is not a flight risk. But Jill Estey, assistant state attorney, said Kidwell is not taking the proceedings seriously. "In the booking slip at the jail, he signed his occupation as tourist," Estey said. Before Kidwell can be released on bail, he must establish that his appeal has a strong chance of succeeding, Estey said. State courts have ruled in similiar cases that a reporter is not protected from being called as a witness when confidential sources are not involved, Estey said, and federal courts have done the same. "It's done. It's over. That's the law," Estey said. But Bohrer said appellate courts have not been faced with a reporter jailed because of a belief that an independent medium should not be forced to take sides. Kidwell is thought to be the first reporter actually jailed for refusing to testify, although a reporter for the Naples Daily News faces the same situation. She was subpoenaed by the defense in a triple-murder case. Bohrer said the judge could send Kidwell back to jail to finish his term if the appeals fail. "We're not trying to string this out, your honor," Bohrer said. "We're just trying to see that if Mr. Kidwell prevails, it will mean something." The third day of jury selection in Zile's retrial on Thursday ended with 47 potential jurors held over for the jury pool. They were interviewed about their knowledge of the case and any hardship that would prevent them from serving on the jury. The judge wants about 70 in the jury pool for attorneys to select a 12-person jury and two to four alternates. Opening statements are expected to begin on Wednesday in the retrial. Zile's first trial, in May, ended with a jury split 11-1 for conviction. The trial was moved to Polk County because of concerns an impartial jury could not be chosen where the crime occurred.
During a hearing Thursday, Sandford
Bohrer, Kidwell's attorney, asked Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger
Colton to release the reporter while his case is appealed to the Fourth
District Court of Appeal. Kidwell also has an appeal pending with a
federal court judge in Miami. Zile is charged with killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, two years ago. He confessed to police after they questioned him. In a jail-house interview with Kidwell, he also confessed. It is because of that interview that Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp wanted Kidwell to testify. Kidwell refused, saying that as a reporter he is obligated to remain impartial. Colton cited Kidwell with indirect contempt of court last week, and sentenced him to 70 days in jail and a $500 fine. Bohrer said Kidwell should be released because if the outcome of the appeal favors him and the jail sentence is overturned, it would be moot, because he would have already served out the sentence. Appeal court decisions rarely are rendered in less than 60 days. Prosecutors argued that Kidwell should remain behind bars.
The Miami Herald reporter jailed on Oct. 7 for refusing to answer questions about his 1994 jailhouse interview with murder defendant John Zile was denied bond Friday. Reporter David Kidwell must remain in jail while he appeals Circuit Judge Roger Colton's ruling requiring him to talk about the interview, Colton ruled. Kidwell's attorney, Sandy Bohrer, said he will argue to a federal judge in Miami on Monday that Kidwell was jailed in violation of the First Amendment and should be released. Zile, charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994, is on trial in Bartow. HERALD REPORTER TO STAY IN JAIL
DURING APPEALS Colton sentenced Kidwell to 70
days in the Palm Beach County Detention Center Oct. 7 after Kidwell
refused to testify in the John Zile murder case. A jury is being selected for the murder trial in Bartow, where the case was moved after a first trial for Zile ended in a hung jury in April. Prosecutors said they wanted Kidwell to testify in the new trial, but Kidwell said that would violate his professional responsibility to remain impartial. Kidwell's attorneys had asked Colton to release the reporter while the appeals are being heard because it may take months before a decision is made on them, and by that time, the sentence would be over. A federal appeal by Kidwell is pending.
"Hey, more money, less hassle
- what's to decide?" Home Safe is a wonderful concept. It will deal more sensitively with abused children by coordinating all law enforcement and social services in one place. The nonprofit group's homelike $1.6 million facility is nearing completion in Lake Worth. It's the first agency of its kind in Florida, and Ms. Turner, county administrator of Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, is exceptionally well-qualified to run it. But was the lure mainly money? She will earn $100,000, compared with nearly $83,000. But she hesitated, she told me, because state benefit packages tend to be richer than nonprofits'. At 53, one looks more closely at pensions. Was it less hassle? That depends on how one defines "hassle." To those of us familiar with HRS' responsibilities, running the agency seems a hellish job, even with a $144 million budget and 2,000 employees. Every client represents a complicated, sometimes intractable problem. When Ms. Turner came to Palm Beach County in August 1993, client records were on 3-by-5 cards rather than computer disks. She faced a $4 million to $5 million budget deficit, and that was just the first of the budget cuts. This year, the Legislature split HRS into a Department of Health and a separate Department of Children and Families. Ms. Turner would have run a smaller agency with the added responsibility of implementing welfare reform. A good time to bail out? A pause. "The term `bail out' implies you're in trouble and need to get out," Ms. Turner says evenly. "Actually, welfare reform has been pretty exciting. But Home Safe will give me a chance to concentrate on an area I've probably had the most concern about - the abuse and neglect of kids." She was thinking, I'm sure, of 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz and 7-year-old Christina Holt and 2-year-old Pauline Cone - the failures, the times when abuse was not prevented. After the deaths of these Palm Beach County children in 1994, Ms. Turner appointed and vigorously led a Special Task Force on Child Protective Services. With State Attorney Barry Krischer, she created a rapid-response team of professionals to investigate child homicides more quickly. She wouldn't claim it's possible to prevent all child-abuse deaths, especially when, as in these cases, children are killed by their parents or stepparents. But she is quick to defend those in her agency who try. "It's a crime the way the press has portrayed HRS," she says. "There are many wonderful people striving every day to do what's best for clients." Raising morale at HRS has been one of her contributions. Another has been getting social service agencies to work more with each other. She's worked with scores of community groups, from business leaders involved in work force development to the Weed & Seed program in one of Riviera Beach's most needy neighborhoods. She'll miss that variety. It's marked her whole career. She was also a director in the Indiana Division of Family and Children, the Missouri Division of Family Services, and the Kentucky Department of Social Services. Such government jobs present big challenges when there's such social turmoil. But they also offer special rewards. At Home Safe, she will deal with the same pathology. But she may be able to fashion new solutions. It's too bad Suzanne Turner is leaving HRS. It's good that she's staying in Palm Beach County. Fran Hathaway is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post.
David Kidwell, jailed Oct. 7 for
refusing Circuit Judge Roger Colton's order to answer questions about
a 1994 jailhouse interview with murder defendant John Zile, was released
on his own recognizance while the issues surrounding his case are resolved.
But Bohrer said he was encouraged by remarks from U.S. District Judge Wilkie Ferguson Jr., who ordered Kidwell's release after a hearing Monday. Ferguson indicated he feels Kidwell is protected by a special reporter's protection from having to make statements regarding his interview with Zile, Bohrer said. State court rulings in Florida have tended to deny such a protection for journalists, except in cases in which a reporter is shielding a confidential source. But Bohrer told Ferguson Monday that federal court rulings from Florida's Southern District have tended to uphold the protection, or privilege, in cases such as Kidwell's. Kidwell's case now goes back to the 4th District Court of Appeal, which on Monday upheld an earlier ruling from Colton that rejected Kidwell's request for bond while his case is on appeal. If that court again rejects Kidwell's arguments on the privilege issue, Bohrer could bring the case back before Ferguson, whose opinion would prevail over the state appellate court. "The last word is the federal court word," Bohrer said. Ferguson is expected to release an explanation, possibly today, of why he decided to release Kidwell from jail until his case is resolved. Zile is on trial in Bartow, accused of killing his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994 on Singer Island. Attorneys in that case expect to select a jury this week. |