By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com
Attorneys defending convicted cop killer Marco Antonio Topete jumped on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down earlier this week and submitted a second motion for a new trial just before their client was to be sentenced this morning.
In today's session, Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul K. Richardson was to hear arguments on the previous motion, submitted by attorneys Hayes H. Gable III and Dwight M. Samuel on behalf of Topete, before potentially sentencing him.
The new motion created another delay in the trial, with the next hearing scheduled for Feb. 7.
A jury convicted Topete of the first-degree murder of Yolo County sheriff's Deputy Jose Antonio Diaz with special circumstances, including that he was lying in wait. That same jury also recommended that the 39-year-old Topete be sentenced to death for the crime.
His attorneys' first motion for a new trial took issue with Richardson's dismissal of a juror during the death penalty phase of deliberations because of concerns over the Russian-born juror's issues with the English language.
Richardson denied that motion this morning, saying he had sufficient evidence to support the juror's dismissal on grounds that she could not sufficiently understand the issues at play.
The last-minute filing of the second motion required a new hearing to allow prosecutors time to review the case. Sentencing, too, was delayed until the Feb. 7 hearing.
The defense's latest motion claims the court "prejudicially erred in finding good cause to dismiss" two prospective jurors who, during jury selection, said they did not have strong opinions for or against the death penalty.
Gable and Samuel cited a Supreme Court decision that a trial court "prejudicially erred when it excused a juror for cause who did not have strong views on capital punishment," according to the motion. A new penalty phase in that trial will follow.
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