BRADENTON — The attorney of a man accused in the death of Janice Fore claims his client was coerced into giving incriminating statements about his reported involvement in the slaying.
Court-appointed lawyer Chris Rigoli wants to prevent prosecutors from using statements Marcus Herrera, 21, made to Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sam Levita because he argues the statements were not voluntary.
Herrera and a co-defendant, Otis C. Mack III, 20, are scheduled for separate trials this spring on charges of first-degree murder and burglary stemming from 74-year-old Fore’s death in her 67th Street Northwest home.
Rigoli wrote in a court filing that Levita used coercive influence over his client by telling him he would only charge him with burglary.
Circuit Judge Diana Moreland will decide what the prosecutors can use at trial. A hearing is set for Feb. 26.
Detectives say that May 21, Mack and Herrera entered Fore’s home through a garage side door left open for her cats.
The men, investigators say, bound and gagged Fore before leaving her home in her green convertible Volkswagen.
An autopsy revealed that Fore, who suffered from asthma and emphysema, died from suffocation.
While in custody, Herrera on May 25 denied participation in the burglary and slaying, according to the motion.
That’s until Levita told Herrera he would “only charge the defendant with burglary,” the motion states.
“It wasn’t until after Detective Levita informed the defendant that he would only be charged with burglary of a dwelling that the defendant expressed his participation in the offense,” Rigoli wrote in his motion.
During a deposition, Levita was asked why he didn’t tell Herrera that he would also be charged with murder.
“If I would have told him then, ‘I’m charging you with murder,’ he probably would have shut up,” Levita said in the deposition. “So I’m telling him what I had to.”
Mack and Herrera were arrested May 24 after authorities said both mens’ fingerprints were found in Fore’s house and in her car.
A grand jury indicted them June 9 on first-degree murder charges, making them eligible for the death penalty. But prosecutors in November announced they would seek life prison sentences if they are convicted of killing Fore.
Both defendants are being held without bond at the Manatee County jail.
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@