Judge

Judge: Don't crowd courtroom with TVs

Weitzel case won't be as high-tech as defense wanted

Tue, Aug 13, 2002

By LORETTA PARK
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau

FARMINGTON -- A 2nd District Court judge ruled today that Robert Allen Weitzel's defense team cannot overly use electronic devices -- such as computers and big screens -- for exhibits that would crowd the courtroom and that the prosecutors could not enter into evidence Weitzel's federal conviction, unless he is sentenced before the trial begins.

Judge Rodney S. Page made several rulings Monday during a pretrial conference, which also included a ruling that Weitzel is still considered indigent by the court. The court assigned Glen Cella as his public defender earlier this year. In a court document dated Aug. 7, Page ruled that Weitzel does not have sufficient means to provide legal counsel. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a non-profit organization, has provided $100,000 from an anonymous donor to pay for Walter Bugden, a private attorney, to defend Weitzel.

Page ruled on a motion filed by Weitzel's attorneys asking to use "demonstrative/illustrative exhibits during opening statements, trial and closing arguments." Page said attorneys need to submit what exhibits they plan to use before the trial begins. He also said he would not allow Weitzel to operate or set up any of the equipment during the trial, like he did during a previous pretrial.

He said attorneys can use any demonstrative aids during the upcoming trial, as long as they do not crowd the courtroom.

Weitzel is scheduled for a three-week jury trial, which is to begin on Oct. 30. He is accused of manslaughter and negligent homicide in the deaths of five patients at Davis Hospital and Medical Center's geriatric-psychiatric unit during a 16-day span that began in December 1995. In 2000, a jury found Weitzel guilty of two counts of second-degree manslaughter and three misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide after a six-week trial. That conviction was overturned in January 2001, when Judge Thomas Kay, later removed from the case, ruled that the prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

That exculpatory evidence is a witness, Dr. Perry Fine, that Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson said may testify for the defense team.

"I assume he's (Fine) going to testify. He will be one of theirs. I'm looking forward to cross-examining him," Wilson said.

Fine, a University of Utah Medical Center physician and expert in pain management and end-of-life care, was retained during the first trial by the Davis County Attorney's prosecution team to evaluate the medical records of the five patients.

After reviewing the records, Fine reportedly told two assistant attorney generals, Elizabeth Bowman and Charlene Barlow, he didn't support a criminal case against Weitzel. He also characterized the five patients as terminally ill when they were admitted to the hospital and could have been in pain at the time. Those issues were heavily contested during the six-week murder trial.

It was those statements from the April 26, 2000, conversation between the three that should have been turned over to Weitzel's defense team, Kay ruled in December 2000.

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