WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |EBR Public Defender's Office Asks To Be Removed From Gillis Case

EBR Public Defender's Office Asks To Be Removed From Gillis Case

There are new developments in the case of accused serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis. 9 News has learned some interesting details concerning Gillis' DNA and how that could affect the case of serial killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee. WAFB's Avery Davidson explains.

A source close to the Gillis investigation says experts at the State Police Crime Lab have compared Gillis' DNA to that found on the murder victims in the Derrick Todd Lee case. According to the source there is no match. That could be important considering one of the reasons the East Baton Rogue Public Defender's Office is asking to be taken off the Gillis case.

Gillis is accused in the murders of five women in the Baton Rouge area , may soon find himself without an attorney. A motion filed by Mike Mitchell in the Public Defender's Office asks Judge Tony Marabella to remove his office from the case due to conflict. Attorney Bruce Unangst says one conflict is the fact he represented at least one victim in the Gillis case. Sources close to the legal team say another conflict is due to the public defender's office representing Derrick Todd Lee: that it would be incumbent upon them to look at the possibility Gillis committed the murders Lee is accused of committing. If removed, Judge Marabella would have to give Gillis a private attorney.

"I think it's going to be very difficult to find anyone from the private bar who is able and willing to take on the case," said defense attorney Michele Fournet.

Fournet is one of twelve local attorneys certified by the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board to defend a capital case. She says the lawyer appointed to represent Gillis would most likely have to work for free.

"I don't want the case," said Fournet. "A case of this magnitude can completely devastate a private attorney's practice. I'm sure it would completely devastate mine."

Fournet says defending Gillis would be worse because of recent decisions in the Lee case not to provide additional funding to the defense. "The stage seems to be set in Baton Rouge at this point for the notion that it is not necessary to fund these cases properly," said Fournet.

Of the twelve lawyers listed as certified to take a capital murder case in Baton Rouge, only five would be able to accept the case. Six of them say they can't take Gillis as a client either because of conflict or workload. And one of the lawyers on that list, which was last updated April 15th, recently passed away. Judge Marabella will hear the motion at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Officials in the District Attorney's Office say they will not fight the motion.