San Diego
Superior Court Judge Gilbert Nares ruled Tuesday that San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller will not be called to the witness stand to explain how his office decides when to seek the death penalty in murder cases.
Nares said that defense attorney Geraldine Russell was unconvincing in her arguments that Miller should testify on the issue, despite her arguments that the district attorney’s office is discriminatory in deciding which murder defendants are targeted for execution.
Russell represents Laura Troiani, who is charged with murder for allegedly hiring five young Marines for $500 each to ambush her husband on a rural road in Oceanside in August, 1984. Troiani’s trial is scheduled to start Nov. 3, and the district attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty for her and each of the five Marines on the grounds that they killed Carlo Troiani from ambush, and that they did it for money.
Arguments will continue in Nares’ courtroom this morning--without Miller’s testimony--on whether the district attorney’s office was capricious in seeking the death penalty against the six defendants.
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