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Miami-Dade County prosecutors on Monday dropped jailhouse informant Robin Lunceford as a witness in the retrial of the ''Baby Lollipops'' murder case --
Assistant State Attorney Susan Dannelly told a judge she would not ask Lunceford to testify against accused killer Ana Maria Cardona after Lunceford left phone messages with the prosecutor saying she now refused to cooperate -- an attitude Lunceford echoed in interviews with The Herald last week.
In the past few months, Lunceford -- a robbery suspect in jail since May -- has offered police and prosecutors information about Cardona and three other murder defendants she met while in custody.
But Lunceford told The Herald that she plans to testify only against Geralyn Graham, the caregiver accused of killing missing foster child Rilya Wilson four years ago. Lunceford has said that Graham told her about smothering the child while Graham was serving time on fraud charges.
Lunceford told The Herald that Dannelly offered her a plea bargain in exchange for her assistance in the Cardona case -- a claim Dannelly denied.
Nevertheless, the conflict has damaged Lunceford's value to prosecutors as a witness in the Cardona case.
''It became apparent to me that Ms. Lunceford had her own agenda,'' Dannelly told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick.
Cardona, 43, faces the death penalty for the 1990 beating death of her 3-year-old son, Lazaro Figueroa, whose body was found dumped on a Miami Beach road wearing a T-shirt patterned with lollipops. A jury sentenced Cardona to death in 1992, but the Florida Supreme Court overturned her conviction 10 years later, saying prosecutors failed to turn over crucial information to the defense.
Lunceford has been placed in an isolated cell since she was revealed as the key witness in the Rilya Wilson case last month. She says she's been mistreated by corrections officers, and she's threatening to sue both the jail and the state attorney's office for ``putting my life in danger.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/11428849.htm
Assistant State Attorney Susan Dannelly told a judge she would not ask Lunceford to testify against accused killer Ana Maria Cardona after Lunceford left phone messages with the prosecutor saying she now refused to cooperate -- an attitude Lunceford echoed in interviews with The Herald last week.
In the past few months, Lunceford -- a robbery suspect in jail since May -- has offered police and prosecutors information about Cardona and three other murder defendants she met while in custody.
But Lunceford told The Herald that she plans to testify only against Geralyn Graham, the caregiver accused of killing missing foster child Rilya Wilson four years ago. Lunceford has said that Graham told her about smothering the child while Graham was serving time on fraud charges.
Lunceford told The Herald that Dannelly offered her a plea bargain in exchange for her assistance in the Cardona case -- a claim Dannelly denied.
Nevertheless, the conflict has damaged Lunceford's value to prosecutors as a witness in the Cardona case.
''It became apparent to me that Ms. Lunceford had her own agenda,'' Dannelly told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick.
Cardona, 43, faces the death penalty for the 1990 beating death of her 3-year-old son, Lazaro Figueroa, whose body was found dumped on a Miami Beach road wearing a T-shirt patterned with lollipops. A jury sentenced Cardona to death in 1992, but the Florida Supreme Court overturned her conviction 10 years later, saying prosecutors failed to turn over crucial information to the defense.
Lunceford has been placed in an isolated cell since she was revealed as the key witness in the Rilya Wilson case last month. She says she's been mistreated by corrections officers, and she's threatening to sue both the jail and the state attorney's office for ``putting my life in danger.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/11428849.htm
