Latest news with #MonroeCountyPublicDefender'sOffice
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Defense Attorney on discovery law controversy at heart of state budget delay
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — New York State lawmakers recently passed a third budget extender which runs through Wednesday, April 9, allowing government employees to still get paid. One major policy item still causing a hold up: the state's discovery law. Last week, News8 explored why local District Attorneys are in favor of continued changes and now our news team is hearing from the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. The Discovery Law was first passed in 2019 and then implemented in 2020 and requires prosecutors to turn over evidence to defense attorneys in a more timely manner. First Assistant at the Monroe County Public Defender's Office, Erik Teifke, explains that New York was actually one of the last states across the country to have these rules on the books, adding it allows those accused of a crime the ability to have the information they need to make informed decisions. 'It's approaching fair in this one respect, in an otherwise pretty unbalanced criminal justice system. So we have one effort in one area of the system to establish some evening of the playing field. And the people that have enjoyed all of these institutional advantages believe it to be an outrage, because they now have requirements that they must meet,' Teifke explains. The Governor is calling for more changes, amid several revisions and rollbacks over subsequent years, asking for the elimination of what the governor calls 'incentives' to delay discovery challenges and ensure any errors made in discovery are addressed specifically regarding that evidence as opposed to a technicality. Teifke notes that there are exceptions already built in place for prosecutors (as part of those revisions). He adds that the responsibility of ensuring the current process is implemented properly hinges on compliance from all agencies involved. 'It's not as onerous as they would have you believe. And the proof of this lies in the fact that a lot of prosecutors are complying with the law – plenty of them are. In our local District Attorney's Office, there are prosecutors who comply with this law – their cases aren't dismissed, they suffer no consequences and then there are others who just don't,' Teifke says, also noting thousands of cases get dismissed for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons can include police not filing competent paperwork or an agreement made with the prosecution. Teifke claims most increases in dismissal cases post-2020 discovery law implementation can be traced to New York City. Public court data shows Monroe County's Superior Criminal Court saw a decrease in dismissals in 2020 with a slight decrease in 2021 and then a significant decrease by 2022. Across the five counties in the New York City area there was a notable decrease in dismissals in 2020 with a more major upswing by 2022. 'And the problem that they're having there is they have increased dismissals because New York Police Department doesn't cooperate with the prosecutors in those jurisdictions. So, prosecutors in those jurisdictions can't get that bucket of stuff from the police in order to meet their requirements, so cases are getting dismissed,' Teifke says. The First Assistant points to newly introduced legislation in the Senate called the Myrie bill which would require police departments and agencies to provide DAs' offices with access to electronic records systems for discovery purposes. Governor Hochul's proposal also calls for expanding the scope of automatic redaction to include sensitive details such as witnesses’ physical addresses and personal data unrelated to the case, eliminating the need to engage in lengthy litigation to redact such material. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘Beyond comprehension': Florida Keys prosecutors seek death in child molestation case
The Monroe County State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against a Florida Keys man accused of raping his 3-year-old daughter and recording the horrific acts dozens of times on his cell phone. A law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 made sexual battery of a child under the age of 12 a capital offense, and Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward said the details of this case meet all the criteria for the death penalty. 'The nature of this crime is beyond comprehension,' Ward said. 'Crimes against children, especially those this egregious, demand the full force of the law, and we will not hesitate to seek justice.' Micheal John Demerjian, 36, was already in county jail on Jan. 17 when someone who bought his car found his phone in the vehicle that contained more than 70 images and videos of the child. READ MORE: Buying used car leads to disturbing discovery, Keys cops say The images and videos were so disturbing that grand jurors, who indicted Demerjian in February, were reduced to tears hearing about them, as was the Monroe County sheriff's detectives who had to describe to them the imagery he and his colleagues discovered, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield. 'The evidence in this case leaves no doubt about the necessity of seeking the death penalty,' Mansfield said. 'We will aggressively prosecute this case to ensure justice is served.' Major Crimes division prosecutor Colleen Dunne will try the case on behalf of the state, according to the State Attorney's Office. Once the person alerted the sheriff's office about the phone he found in Demerjian's car, detectives worked with prosecutors to investigate the case. Demerjian, who lives on Big Pine Key in the Lower Keys, had been in county jail since November on charges that he stole $4,800 from a woman looking to rent a home in the island chain. According to his arrest warrant for that case, Demerjian advertised a house for rent on Facebook Marketplace with an address that did not exist. After the woman sent him the money as a down payment, he ceased all contact with her, according to the warrant. County jail records show Demerjian has an arrest history in the Keys going back to 2018 on charges that include felony child neglect, hit-and-run, grand-theft auto and drug possession. He pleaded no contest to the hit-and-run-charge in March 2024 and was sentenced to time served. The other cases are still pending. He is being held without bond on the child-pornography and sexual-battery charges. Demerjian is being represented by an attorney with the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. Public Defender Robert Lockwood declined to comment when reached by the Herald.
Miami Herald
12-03-2025
- Miami Herald
‘Beyond comprehension': Florida Keys prosecutors seek death in child molestation case
The Monroe County State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against a Florida Keys man accused of raping his 3-year-old daughter and recording the horrific acts dozens of times on his cell phone. A law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 made sexual battery of a child under the age of 12 a capital offense, and Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward said the details of this case meet all the criteria for the death penalty. 'The nature of this crime is beyond comprehension,' Ward said. 'Crimes against children, especially those this egregious, demand the full force of the law, and we will not hesitate to seek justice.' Micheal John Demerjian, 36, was already in county jail on Jan. 17 when someone who bought his car found his phone in the vehicle that contained more than 70 images and videos of the child. READ MORE: Buying used car leads to disturbing discovery, Keys cops say The images and videos were so disturbing that grand jurors, who indicted Demerjian in February, were reduced to tears hearing about them, as was the Monroe County sheriff's detectives who had to describe to them the imagery he and his colleagues discovered, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield. 'The evidence in this case leaves no doubt about the necessity of seeking the death penalty,' Mansfield said. 'We will aggressively prosecute this case to ensure justice is served.' Major Crimes division prosecutor Colleen Dunne will try the case on behalf of the state, according to the State Attorney's Office. Once the person alerted the sheriff's office about the phone he found in Demerjian's car, detectives worked with prosecutors to investigate the case. Demerjian, who lives on Big Pine Key in the Lower Keys, had been in county jail since November on charges that he stole $4,800 from a woman looking to rent a home in the island chain. According to his arrest warrant for that case, Demerjian advertised a house for rent on Facebook Marketplace with an address that did not exist. After the woman sent him the money as a down payment, he ceased all contact with her, according to the warrant. County jail records show Demerjian has an arrest history in the Keys going back to 2018 on charges that include felony child neglect, hit-and-run, grand-theft auto and drug possession. He pleaded no contest to the hit-and-run-charge in March 2024 and was sentenced to time served. The other cases are still pending. He is being held without bond on the child-pornography and sexual-battery charges. Demerjian is being represented by an attorney with the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. Public Defender Robert Lockwood declined to comment when reached by the Herald.
Miami Herald
27-02-2025
- Miami Herald
Jury convicts Keys woman who shot and killed boyfriend. Her strangle story didn't hold up
A jury convicted a Florida Keys woman of murdering her boyfriend inside the bedroom of their home, finding that she abused him prior to shooting him, despite her claim that he strangled her. The woman, Brittany Holbrook, 35, had claimed she was being battered by her 29-year-old boyfriend, Tyler Nulisch. But, prosecutors successfully argued that it was Nulisch who suffered physical abuse that early morning, July 17, 2023, prior to the shooting. '... Based on the autopsy report, Tyler, the victim, had significant injuries to his face, head and neck — all evidence that she severely attacked him, not the other way around,' Chief Assistant Monroe County State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told the Miami Herald. 'And her claim of battered spouse syndrome was simply not supported by the evidence.' Mansfield argued during trial that the motive behind the shooting was that the couple's nine-month relationship was dissolving. Nulisch was a commercial fisherman at the time of his death. The jury reached its verdict Monday. Holbrook faces 25 years to life when she's scheduled to be sentenced on April 11. She was represented by an attorney with the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. Public Defender Robert Lockwood declined to comment when reached Thursday. Night of drinking The bizarre case unfolded after a night of having some drinks at the Big Coppitt Key stilt home the couple lived in on Avenue F in with their roommate, 44-year-old Jordan Kinn. After all three went to bed, Kinn was awakened by Holbrook screaming. Kinn was in the living room, and when he ran upstairs, he found Holbrook cradling a profusely bleeding, but still alive, Nulisch on the floor, according to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office arrest form. Kinn called 911, telling the operator that his friend was 'in bad shape. He's hurt real bad,' according to the report. When deputies and detectives arrived around 3 a.m., they questioned Kinn. He said that Nulisch told him, 'that bitch shot me in the back.' Paramedics took Nulisch to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he died at 3:46 a.m., the arrest report states. He was shot in the lower back, according to the report. Cops found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun with a spent bullet casing on the floor of the room near the couple's bedroom. The gun belonged to Holbrook, who said she brought it with her when she moved from Stuart to the Keys nine months earlier. Holbrook at first told detectives that there was a 'gap in her memory,' according to the report. But, she changed her story later that morning, saying she woke up in bed to Nulisch strangling her, at times pushing her against the wall. The detective left for a few minutes and came back, and Holbrook's version of events changed slightly. This time, she told the detective she recalled Nulisch going to the bathroom and returning 'like he was a different person,' before attacking her, according to the report. The detective noted in his report that Holbrook had no marks on her neck 'of any kind.' She did, however, have bruises on her knuckles, and the autopsy report noted injuries to Nulisch's head and neck. During the trial, Holbrook testified that she was blacking out when Nulisch was attacking her. She grabbed the gun 'and just happened to shoot him in the back,' Mansfield said. 'I was very pleased that I was able to convince the jury that the evidence supported a different story from the one that she was telling,' Mansfield said. 'The story supported by the evidence was fact. Her story was not supported by the evidence, and it was fiction.'
