Pablo Ibar seeks release on bond before retrial

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjpL8peHBtSbIio6l6NvpdaoiRgbAHyMnIq-SWzNgiwkqSDWaauTFCDBM6G4LWX3SP2dXmM3JcQ9Ro9L49Bw3d3N1yGvMxk_CxDRq7J5dlkqf7B-D8EtVLBQtq7jaPrfH4Tw_gJYO5as/s1600/Pablo+Ibar%252C+left%252C+and+defense+lawyer+Fred+Haddad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad" border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjpL8peHBtSbIio6l6NvpdaoiRgbAHyMnIq-SWzNgiwkqSDWaauTFCDBM6G4LWX3SP2dXmM3JcQ9Ro9L49Bw3d3N1yGvMxk_CxDRq7J5dlkqf7B-D8EtVLBQtq7jaPrfH4Tw_gJYO5as/s400/Pablo+Ibar%252C+left%252C+and+defense+lawyer+Fred+Haddad.jpg" title="Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A man who spent 16 years on Death Row for three murders he insists he did not commit went before a Broward judge Friday to ask for a bond so he can leave jail as he and his lawyers prepare for a retrial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal said he will need time to review volumes of material provided by both sides and will make a decision July 14 on whether Pablo Ibar, 44, should go free while he awaits trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murders of Casimir "Butch Casey" Sucharski, the flashy former owner of the Casey's Nickelodeon nightclub, and Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers, two women he brought home with him early on June 26, 1994, the same morning two men chose to rob Sucharski's Miramar house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case has proved one of the most expensive and time consuming in Broward history, with prosecutors going after two co-defendants spanning four trials so far, taking up more than 20 months in front of the juries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar and former co-defendant Seth Penalver first went on trial together in 1997, with the jury deadlocking after eight months of testimony. Penalver's second trial ended in a conviction in 1999 after six months, and Ibar was convicted after a six-week trial the following year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Penalver was granted a retrial, which ended with his acquittal in 2012.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Penalver was among more than two dozens supporters and family members who attended Friday's bond hearing before Singhal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar was granted a retrial earlier this year, with the Florida Supreme Court ruling that Ibar's defense lawyer at trial, Kayo Morgan, failed to retain a facial recognition expert to challenge the prosecution's evidence that Ibar was at the scene of the crime. The brutal beating of Sucharski and all three murders were captured on home surveillance video, and the man believed to be Ibar left his face uncovered for part of the video.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar is legally entitled to bail unless prosecutors can demonstrate that the evidence against him is stronger than what a jury would require for conviction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Defense lawyers, led by Benjamin Waxman and Fred Haddad, told Singhal Friday that the Supreme Court's decision granting the retrial contained language showing prosecutors cannot meet that burden. In one place, the ruling described the evidence against Ibar as "scant."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But prosecutor William Sinclair said the case remains strong enough to keep Ibar in custody.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides are pushing for the trial to get underway by this fall, and attorneys told Singhal they expect it to last four months.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-ibar-bond-hearing-20160701-story.html" target="_blank">Sun Sentinel</a>, Rafael Olmeda, July 1, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Juez evalúa la petición de libertad condicional para español Pablo Ibar</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MIAMI -- El juez Raaj Singhal evalúa hoy la petición de libertad condicional presentada por la defensa del español Pablo Ibar, cuya pena de muerte fue anulada en febrero pasado por el Tribunal Supremo de Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">En una audiencia celebrada en un tribunal del condado de Broward, la defensa de Ibar pidió la libertad condicional al considerar que no “se atiene” a la Constitución que el español siga preso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sin embargo, la Fiscalía, que ya notificó su intención de solicitar de nuevo la pena capital en la repetición del juicio contra Ibar por el triple asesinato en 1994 por el que fue condenado, rechazó esta moción de la defensa.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Para reforzar su negativa a esta libertad condicional, la Fiscalía presentó ante el juez cuatro cajas con documentos y transcripciones de testimonios.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tras recibir este material, el juez pidió un receso para analizar el índice del contenido de las cajas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mientras tanto, la defensa, encabezada por el letrado Benjamin Waxman, calificó esta maniobra como táctica dilatoria por parte de la Fiscalía.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pablo Ibar, con uniforme de preso común, en color gris con rayas gris oscuro, se mostró durante la vista muy comunicativo y relajado.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">El reo estuvo acompañado por una docena de familiares, entre ellos su esposa, Tanya, su hermano Michael y su padre, Cándido, así como el cónsul español en Miami, Cándido Creis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, de 45 años y origen vasco, fue condenado en 2000 por el asesinato en 1994 del dueño de un local nocturno y dos bailarinas, y lleva encarcelado casi 22 años, 15 de ellos en el corredor de la muerte, del que fue trasladado a una cárcel común a principios de mes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fuente: <a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/article87123787.html" target="_blank">elnuevoherald.com</a>, Julio 1, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Español Facial recognition Florida Innocence Pablo Ibar Spain USA Pablo Ibar seeks release on bond before retrial

Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad. A man who spent 16 years on Death Row for three murders he insists he did not commit went ...

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State of Florida will ask for the death penalty at Pablo Ibar retrial

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s1600/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pablo Ibar" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s320/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" title="Pablo Ibar" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pablo Ibar</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Spaniard of Basque descent has already spent 16 years on death row, after a conviction in the 1990s for a triple-homicide</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The State of Florida has announced its decision to ask for capital punishment for Pablo Ibar, despite the Florida Supreme Court having vacated a death penalty sentence from the year 2000 and ordered a new trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, a Spanish citizen of Basque descent, was convicted of a 1994 triple homicide of a nightclub owner and 2 models. He has already served 22 years in prison, 16 of them on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Andres Krakenberger, a spokesman for the Pablo Ibar Association Against the Death Penalty, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that the defense had received the state's notification. He said the decision was "predictable," though it has caused "profound disappointment," given that the prosecution is pressing charges against someone who has "clear proof of his innocence."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Krakenberger said Ibar was wrongly convicted and has already had to serve 16 years on death row, while the Florida Supreme Court agrees that the "scant" evidence against him is "weak."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court vacated the conviction in February saying: "Ibar's DNA was not found on a blue t-shirt recovered from the crime scene that was allegedly used to partially cover the face of the perpetrator, whom the state claimed to have been Ibar. [...] Ibar never confessed to the crime as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence [and] presented an alibi as to his whereabouts."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The spokesman criticized "the coldness" of the notification the defense received. Krakenberger said it shows that capital punishment is seen as a "procedure" in the United States despite the fact that it is "cruel, inhumane and degrading" and "has no place in the 21st century."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Krakenberger told reporters that Ibar, who was transferred from death row to a county jail earlier this month, received the news with "a certain resignation," though he said, speaking broadly, that he was in good spirits because his situation "has improved."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar's defense team needs $1.3 million to mount their case. They still need to raise $590,000. The defendant has received $50,000 for his legal fees from the Basque Country government, regional organizations and private individuals who have donated to the cause through the association's website.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: El Pais, June 23, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

DNA Facial recognition Florida Innocence Pablo Ibar Spain USA State of Florida will ask for the death penalty at Pablo Ibar retrial

Pablo Ibar The Spaniard of Basque descent has already spent 16 years on death row, after a conviction in the 1990s for a triple-homicide The...

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Spaniard Pablo Ibar taken off Florida death row

<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s1600/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pablo Ibar" border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s320/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" title="Pablo Ibar" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pablo Ibar</td></tr></tbody></table>Pablo Ibar, whose death sentence was overturned in February by the Florida Supreme Court, has been transferred to a regular prison</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Florida Supreme Court vacated Ibar's sentence and ordered a new trial, citing several flaws in the state's arguments against him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">45-year-old Ibar, who is of Basque descent, will appear before Judge Jeffrey Levenson in a Fort Lauderdale court, in Broward County, on Friday. Levenson presided over his case in 2009, nearly 10 years after the Spaniard was sentenced to death for the triple murder of a nightclub owner and 2 models.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, who has served 22 years in prison, 15 of them on death row, has always maintained his innocence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Ibar is already listed as being transferred to a jail in Broward County," said Andres Krakenberger, a spokesman for the Pablo Ibar Association Against the Death Penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Florida Supreme Court underscored one of the most important arguments used by the defense: the fact that "Ibar's DNA was not found on a blue T-shirt recovered from the crime scene" and which was allegedly "[used] by the perpetrator to partially cover his face."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Benjamin Waxman, Ibar's lawyer, filed 7 motions in Broward County questioning the basis of the prosecution's case. He argued against the strength of a key piece of evidence, a "soundless, blurry, grainy" home surveillance videotape that a facial identification expert said could not prove "with certainty" that the killer was in fact the defendant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar will appear before Judge Levenson on Friday for a short hearing to decide "future steps to be taken in the procedure leading to the retrial."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, who has served 22 years in prison, 15 of them on death row, has always maintained his innocence. The defense will ask the court to release him on bail and under the supervision of his family while awaiting the new trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the 1st trial, which began in 1998, a Broward County jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict and the judge threw out the case because there were no fingerprints or DNA linking Ibar to the murders. But he was convicted on August 28, 2000 after a 2nd trial. Ibar is the only Spanish citizen to have been sentenced to death in the United States.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: el pais, June 10, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Spain's Pablo Ibar, newly off death row, appears in court ahead of retrial</span></b></div><br />Spanish former death-row inmate Pablo Ibar appeared Friday before the new judge assigned to his case, who expressed his desire to expedite a retrial after the Florida Supreme Court earlier this year vacated the defendant's 2000 murder conviction.<br /><br />The brief hearing in Judge Raaj Singhal's court in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, lasted just over 10 minutes and was open to the media.<br /><br />Singhal asked the defense attorneys how much time they would need to prepare for the retrial of their client, who is accused of killing 48-year-old nightclub owner Casimir "Butch Casey" Sucharski and two female models, Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers, both aged 25, during a June 1994 home invasion in the South Florida city of Miramar.<br /><br />The judge also scheduled a new hearing for July 1.<br /><br />"It's been a long journey and we've waited a long time for this moment to arrive. It's a wonderful day, and we're going to be able to demonstrate Pablo's innocence," Ibar's wife, Tania, told EFE, visibly moved by this week's developments.<br /><br />Though acknowledging that "no one knows what will happen," Tania said she was hopeful that her husband would be acquitted.<br /><br />Ibar's defense team is expected to request during the July 1 hearing that he be released on bail ahead of the retrial, with one of the attorneys saying they were "very optimistic" that petition would be granted.<br /><br />The 45-year-old Ibar was initially tried for the triple homicide along with co-defendant Seth Penalver in 1997, but a mistrial was declared.<br /><br />Penalver was convicted two years later and sentenced to death, but that conviction was subsequently annulled and he was acquitted in a new trial in 2012.<br /><br />Ibar was convicted in 2000, but the Florida Supreme Court overturned that verdict by a 4-3 vote in February of this year based on, among other things, the fact that his DNA was not found on a T-shirt that was recovered from the murder scene and which one of the perpetrators had used to partially cover his face.<br /><br />The Spaniard's attorneys also successfully argued that the quality of the grainy and soundless security camera footage found at Sucharski's home was inadequate and that Ibar had been poorly represented by trial lawyer Kayo Morgan, who passed away in 2014.<br /><br />Morgan's most blatant error was his failure to "present a facial identification expert to explain the physical differences between Ibar and the perpetrator alleged to have been him in the video and to demonstrate that the quality of the images were so poor that they were inadequate to make a reliable identification," the majority of Florida Supreme Court justices wrote.<br /><br />Ibar had been on death row at the Union Correctional Institution near the northern Florida town of Raiford, but he has been moved to a regular cell at a prison north of Miami, his attorneys told EFE on Thursday. <br /><br />Source: Latino Fox News, June 10, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

DNA Facial recognition Florida Innocence Pablo Ibar Spain Spaniard Pablo Ibar taken off Florida death row

Pablo Ibar Pablo Ibar, whose death sentence was overturned in February by the Florida Supreme Court, has been transferred to a regular priso...

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