Retarded Teen to Get a New Trial

A retarded teenager convicted of drowning a 5-year-old autistic boy was granted a new trial by an appeals court Wednesday because he was not specifically told he could have an attorney present during questioning.

The state’s 4th District Court of Appeal threw out the manslaughter conviction of Gorman Roberts, who was sentenced to three years in prison for the death of Jordan Payne. Jordan drowned in a neighborhood canal in Pompano Beach in 2002.

At Roberts’ trial, prosecutors argued that he had pushed Jordan, who was unable to talk or swim, into the 3 1/2-foot-deep water. Neither Roberts, then 17, nor two 10-year-old boys who were also present went for help. Jordan’s body was found a day later.

The defense said that Jordan fell into the water during roughhousing and that Roberts had nothing to do with it.

His attorneys also said that Roberts -- who has an IQ of 67 -- was mentally incapable of recklessly disregarding the younger boy’s safety, a requirement for a manslaughter conviction.

Roberts has been free on bail pending the appeal.

The three-judge panel ruled that although a Broward County sheriff’s detective read Roberts his rights from the office’s standard Miranda warning form, telling him he could meet with a lawyer before questioning, it did not say he could have a lawyer present during questioning.

The sheriff’s office has since revised the form, but the warning given to Roberts was “perfectly adequate,” spokesman Jim Leljedal said.

The state was considering asking the appeals court for a rehearing or the Florida Supreme Court to review the case.