GUILTY FL - Guerline Damas, 32, & her five kids murdered, Naples, 18 Sept 2009

[OkieGranny]

http://www.news-press.com/story/new...c-damas-files-change-of-plea-motion/20440427/

Attorneys for Mesac Damas filed a motion for a change of plea hearing late last week. The one-page document states only that Damas wishes to change his plea from "not guilty" in open court...

The motion comes more than two months after Judge Ramiro Manalich found Damas competent for trial for the third time. He's in custody at the Naples Jail Center. No date has been set for the hearing. It's unclear from records what Damas will change his plea to.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/crime/private-attorneys-appointed-in-damas-case

During a 5-minute hearing Friday, Judge Fred Hardt said he had appointed Kevin Shirley of Punta Gorda as Damas’ lead counsel and James Ermacora of Fort Myers as assistant counsel. Damas’ next scheduled hearing will be June 19.

Damas has been churning through attorneys lately...

Friday’s hearing was originally scheduled to discuss Damas’ desire to plead guilty to six first-degree murder charges.

 

[0101ABA]

Murder defendant Mesac Damas believed to have brain injury, his lawyers say

Lawyers for murder defendant Mesac Damas believe their client suffers from a traumatic brain injury, which could impact whether he should be sentenced to death if convicted of slaughtering his family in 2009, according to newly obtained court records.

The filings in Collier County mark the first time that Damas' lawyers have publicly stated their belief that Damas has a traumatic brain injury. Damas' mental health has been a constant source of contention in his case, though his lawyers hadn't previously discussed in public any possible underlying causes for any mental illnesses.

(...)

The claims, which were included as part of a defense request to appoint a forensic psychiatrist, likely won't impact Damas' trial.

Rather, if he's convicted, Damas' mental health and any underlying brain trauma would be cited at sentencing as a "mitigating factor," the legal term for reasons why a defendant shouldn't be given the death penalty. At sentencing, a judge and jury must weigh whether any mitigating factors are significant enough to keep the defendant off Death Row.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/crim...-say-2f6ec4af-4813-68d1-e053-0-374311191.html

 

[JoeFromLB]

Why in the world has this thing not gone to trial yet? It's been six-and-a-half years since his arrest! What's the matter with justice in the state of Florida?!

For some reason my picture of the children is no longer posted here. I found another one, and here it is. I hope justice comes soon for these innocents.

 

[0101ABA]

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/crim...allenges-3696613e-99f3-0bf6-e0-386012551.html

The first-degree murder case of Mesac Damas remains in legal limbo due to ongoing challenges to Florida's death penalty laws.

Damas appeared in court Friday morning. During the appearance both his appointed attorney, James Ermacora, and the assistant state attorney expressed frustration that "nothing has happened" for months to untangle the legal knot that is holding up cases throughout the state.

 

[0101ABA]

Sept. 5 trial set for Damas in 2009 deaths of wife, 5 children in North Naples

Almost eight years since he was accused of killing his wife and five children in their North Naples home, Mesac Damas is scheduled to face a jury in September.

Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt on Friday morning scheduled Damas’ four-week trial to begin Sept. 5.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Naples man charged with killing family wants to plead guilty

http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/35740292/last-defendant-sentenced-in-case-of-decapitated-body-found-in-northwest-wyoming-in-2014

Damas says he doesn't want a trial because he doesn't want the pictures of the bodies shown.

For years, Damas has said he was possessed by demons when the murders happened. On Friday, he gave a little more insight, saying this all happened because he wasn't a good Christian.

"I was not a good Christian. I was having an affair with another lady; you know what I'm saying," Damas said.

 

[0101ABA]

Naples murder suspect tells judge he wants to plead guilty, die

A man accused of killing his wife and five children told a Collier County judge Friday that he wants to plead guilty and be executed.

Mesac Damas is charged with the murders of his wife and five children.

In court Friday, Damas wouldn't answer the judge's questions, and instead told the judge he wanted to plead guilty and get it over with.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Damas quiet when given chance to plead guilty to killing his family in N. Naples

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/08/18/mesac-damas-quiet-when-given-opportunity-plead-guilty-family-killing/565656001/

“He refuses to talk to us, judge,” a clearly frustrated James Ermacora, one of Damas’ two court-appointed attorneys, told Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt after a break in Friday’s pretrial conference to discuss a plea change.

“When staff tried to get him to talk to us, to even listen to what we had to say, he just refused.”

“OK, we’ll have a trial,” Hardt replied.

“The court’s of the opinion that this case has gone on too long and needs to be resolved,” Hardt said.

The two sides will meet again next Friday to come to an agreement on jury instructions and a jury questionnaire. The trial is expected to last four weeks after a jury is selected.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Mesac Damas refuses to speak during Friday hearing

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/08/25/mesac-damas-refuses-speak-during-friday-hearing/581037001/

In his last court appearance before a planned trial in early September, Mesac Damas again refused to speak or acknowledge questions from Collier County Circuit Judge Fred Hardt.

The purpose of Friday’s hearing was for the prosecutors and defense attorneys to make final preparations for Damas’ Sept. 5 trial . Most of the two-hour hearing was spent trying to reach agreement on a jury questionnaire, verdict forms, procedures for selecting a jury and jury instructions, which will give jurors a framework for deciding the case.

Last week, Hardt ruled against further delaying the trial and waiting for the Florida Supreme Court to approve updated standard jury instructions for death penalty cases. Florida’s jury instructions for death penalty cases haven’t been updated since lawmakers changed the law earlier this year requiring a unanimous recommendation of death.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Damas' attorneys file to have Collier judge recused from family-killing case

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/2017/08/31/mesac-damas-attorneys-file-motion-have-circuit-judge-fred-hardt-recused-case/621491001/

Just days before Mesac Damas’ first-degree murder trial is set to begin in Collier County, his attorneys have filed a motion to have Circuit Judge Fred Hardt recused from the case.

Damas’ lawyers, James Ermacora and Kevin Shirley, filed the motion Thursday afternoon.

In it, they argued that Hardt has been making “extra-judicial inquiries and received information prejudicial to the defendant."

If Hardt were to recuse himself, it almost certainly would delay the case even longer. Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Collier judge exits family-killing case; Mesac Damas trial still set for Tuesday

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/01/judge-fred-hardt-withdraws-mesac-damas-murder-case/624704001/

Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt withdrew from the case early Friday, finding that a defense motion calling on him to recuse himself was “legally sufficient.”

Circuit Judge Christine Greider will replace Hardt, according to court documents. She will be the fourth judge to oversee Damas’ case.

However, the judge swap is not expected to substantially prolong the case, which has been delayed several times in the past.

The case is set to proceed Tuesday as scheduled, said Kevin Shirley, one of Damas' two court-appointed lawyers.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Mesac Damas tells new judge he wants to plead guilty

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/05/mesac-damas-tells-new-judge-he-wants-plead-guilty/626263001/

"I don't want no jury or nothing," Damas said. "No witnesses."

Damas' court-appointed lawyers, Kevin Shirley and James Ermacora, are working on an affidavit to confirm the plea later this morning.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/36290615/collier-man-who-murdered-family-asks-to-plead-guilty

The judge accepted a Naples man's guilty plea for the murder of his wife and five children.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29th.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Mesac Damas sentencing being pushed back a month due to Hurricane Irma

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/20/mesac-damas-sentencing-being-pushed-back-month-due-hurricane-irma/686072001/

The sentencing hearing for Damas, 41, is being pushed back to Oct. 27 due to Hurricane Irma delays. The hearing initially had been scheduled for Sept. 29.

 

[MsFacetious]

I'm glad they finally let him plead guilty.
Imagine the tax payer money they could have saved allowing it 8 years ago!

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Mesac Damas sentenced to death for Sept. 2009 slaying of his wife and five children

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/10/27/mesac-damas-sentenced-death-family-slaying/762974001/

Mesac Damas has been sentenced to death.

After more than eight years, the sentence, handed down Friday morning by Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider, finally brings resolution to the most horrifying Southwest Florida murder case in recent memory; a case that shocked the region at its outset, and then repeatedly frustrated the community – as well as the family members of the victims — through seemingly endless delays.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Death sentence for Mesac Damas resolves Collier's most horrifying murder case

http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/10/27/death-sentence-mesac-damas-resolves-colliers-most-horrifying-murder-case/807709001/

Point by point, Judge Christine Greider laid out the case before her; the eight-year history of the court proceedings, the sometimes grisly facts of the crime, the aggravating factors that ultimately proved Damas deserved death, the mitigating factors – the fact that Damas grew up in a violent household and may have an undiagnosed mental illness – that weren’t enough to spare his life.

“The aggravating factors proved beyond a reasonable doubt in this case outweigh the mitigating circumstances reasonably established by the evidence and warrant that the defendant, Mesac Damas, be sentenced to death,” Greider said, showing little emotion.

“The emotional rollercoaster is over. Its finally time for the Dieu angels to rest in peace,” Mackindy Dieu, the younger brother of Guerline Dieu Damas and uncle to her five kids, said in a post-hearing press conference standing in front of photos of the family.

He noted six dates – Feb. 9, March 21, July 15, July 21, Aug. 28 and Sept. 9, the birth dates of each of the victims, as more significant than one date, Sept. 18, the day of their deaths.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Mesac Damas, on death row for killing wife, 5 children, in 2009 requests new trial

Mesac Damas, convicted of killing his wife and five children in 2009, is requesting a new trial in his case.

www.naplesnews.com