McWatters attorneys set to appeal conviction
January 4th, 2009 by TCPalm.com
Eugene McWatters
Nearly five years after a trio of grisly rapes and strangulations rocked Martin County, attorneys for the “Salerno Strangler” will try to convince the state’s highest court to let the convicted killer go.
Confessions made in 2004 by Eugene Wayman McWatters Jr. were illegally obtained and the convictions and death sentences should be thrown out, attorneys are scheduled to argue Thursday before the Florida Supreme Court.
Oral arguments have been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. as the court hears McWatters’ first appeal following 2006 convictions and sentences of death for the 2004 murders and sexual assaults of three Martin County women.
The bodies of the victims — Jacqueline Bradley, 43, Christal Wiggins, 29, and Carrie Caughey, 18 — were found hidden in various locations near the home where McWatters was staying.
Leading off a 16-point appeal, McWatters’ court-appointed attorneys say their client was not aware his confession could come back to haunt him when he was brought in for questioning in June for an unrelated charge.
While Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies informed McWatters of his rights to remain silent or have an attorney present on the unrelated charge, they did not invoke the warning when the questioning, as previously planned, turned to the murders.
“The police admitted they intentionally used a strategy in order to avoid McWatters exercising his rights when interrogating him on June 23, 2004,” public defender Carey Haughwout wrote in her petition to the court. “Such a strategy undermined the effectiveness of the Miranda warnings and requires reversal.”
State prosecutors acknowledged deputies had worked to get McWatters to confess to the crimes, but said the interrogators did not cross the line of denying his rights. Subsequent lower court hearings, they argued, validated the approach.
“The record shows that police pursued this strategy in order to maintain a relationship … developed with McWatters over the preceding two and a half months,” wrote assistant attorney general Lisa-Marie Lerner. “It was not a plan to subvert his constitutional rights since they gave him the standard complete advisement.”
Thursday’s hearing marks the latest chapter in a murder spree that focused on the area’s homeless.
According to court testimony, McWatters lived with his sister in Port Salerno and frequently visited members of the homeless community throughout the area. He met Bradley, his first victim, at a homeless community near the Golden Gate area in March 2004.
Witnesses said the two left the homeless camp together at dusk on March 28 and Bradley was never seen again. Her body was found three days later in a canal near McWatters’ home. Autopsy reports indicated she had been raped then strangled.
On May 30, 2004, McWatters was seen walking down a street near the Lil Saints Food Store on Kanner Highway with Wiggins, his second victim. Her partially decomposed body was found a week later in an isolated region near the convenience store.
That same night, Caughey met McWatters near the store to buy drugs. The two left together and she was never seen again. Her body was found June 3.
McWatters, deputies testified, confessed to killing the three women, saying during his interrogation he had “freaked out” after having sex with each. During his interviews, McWatters described each of the crime scenes including the positions of the bodies.
The court is not expected to rule this week but will take the case under advisement. McWatters is also guaranteed a second round of appeals to ensure that his defense was adequately presented.
– Michael Peltier, TCPalm.com
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January 4th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
this piece of human feces deserves to die for his crimes. if he is let loose, he will kill again, unless a good samaritan kills him first.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
How do the lawyers live with themselves? This guy confessed to killing these 3 women. I don’t get it. Why does this guy have more rights then the dead women and their famlies. And the kicker is that the tax payers are most likely paying for the killer’s bill since I would doubt that he hired a private attorney.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:41 am
I think that this is crazy because you just don’t confess to something that you didn’t do especially not rape and then murder. I think he deserves to remain behind bars for the rest of his life. Suppose he comes home and then he strikes again and my mom,sister or etc is his next victim then what? To tell a police durning questioning the position of bodies and other important facts about the murders its simple either you were present or you did it yourself and you still should be held accountable.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:19 am
People, especially women, are getting sick of the WAR on us by scum like McWatters…if he gets out, there will be an uproar of such a magnitude that each and every person involved with the travesty of this will rue the day it crossed their minds! He breaks into my home, and I will shoot first, ask questions later!