GRAND HAVEN — In a bid for a new demo for Juan Cabrera, a 20-calendar year-aged Holland guy convicted of murdering a 14-calendar year-aged boy in 2019, a protection attorney is arguing Cabrera’s attorney did not do a good more than enough work defending him.
Cabrera’s new legal professional, Frank Stanley of Grand Rapids, has been pursuing a assert of ineffective lawful representation to try out to establish grounds for a new demo for Cabrera, who is serving a sentence of life in prison without the need of the probability of parole.
Cabrera was convicted of murder by an Ottawa County jury. The sufferer, Troy “TJ” Wells, was shot and killed with a superior-run rifle at the Hampton Inn resort off Felch Avenue on Feb. 16, 2019.
At a hearing before 20th Circuit Court Judge Karen Miedema Thursday, Stanley experimented with to introduce his personal online video of a reenactment of the resort stability footage of the capturing. The surveillance footage of the shooting was a critical piece of evidence in the demo, since it captured a figure matching the clothes and footwear of Cabrera holding an AR-15 rifle.
Additional:Juan Cabrera convicted of murdering TJ Wells
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A lot more:Guy convicted of killing Holland teenager seeks new trial
Stanley reported he thought “there was a little something off” about the security movie and the way the gun was staying held. He instructed there could have been a next shooter in the doorway and utilized the video reenactment to check out to demonstrate that scenario was possible.
The choose rejected the reenactment footage as evidence, agreeing with the prosecutor’s argument that it was “speculation.”
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Stanley argued Cabrera’s law firm at the time, Chris Kessel, really should have pursued this angle of defense in addition to his principal protection at demo, which was to question the truthfulness of the witness testimony.
“He experienced a protection out there to him that he must have pursued,” Stanley said.
He also argued Kessel really should have objected to autopsy pictures remaining launched at trial, which he argued could have prejudiced the jury. Kessel is a former legislation firm associate of Michigan’s legal professional typical, Dana Nessel.
At a preceding Ginther listening to, Kessel was named to testify about his work on the case.
Lawyers have various weeks to file ultimate briefings ahead of the judge will make a ruling.
— Get in touch with reporter Carolyn Muyskens at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.