BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
South
Louisiana serial killer Derrick Todd Lee was back in a Baton Rouge courtroom
for a hearing Thursday.
His
lawyers asked for the original DNA swabs taken from Lee to be turned over to
them.
They
requested the shirt and bra from victim Charlotte Murray Pace. Lee was
convicted eight years ago of murdering the 22-year-old. His attorneys also
wanted a telephone cord.
Judge
Richard D. Anderson denied the requests from defense attorneys.
Ann Pace,
the mother of Murray Pace, said hearing the request about her daughter's
clothing was difficult.
"These
have been long years made traumatic by this process," Pace said.
"This post-conviction process is a gift to the serial killer. It
completely dismisses the importance of these young women's lives. It completely
traumatizes all of us repeatedly."
She went on
to say she can't believe the state of Louisiana allows this to continue.
Prosecutor
Dana Cummings said defendants in capital cases have lots of rights. However,
she didn't quite understand the reason for the requests from Lee's attorneys,
but agreed with the judge's decision.
"They
didn't really explain it, other than they talked about the phone cord,"
Cummings said. "I think that anything they want to do can be accomplished
and I think that the judge's ruling was really good."
She added
defense attorneys are given lots of leeway by the system, even if they make
requests that make no sense or is intended for delay.
"If
people are innocent, they should be freed, but the flip side of that is when
you have a case like this, that you have insurmountable DNA in all of these
cases, it is ridiculous that this murder case is now…we tried it in 2004, so
we're eight years past the date and we're still struggling to get it where it
needs to be," Cummings explained.
Marie Scavetta,
Lee's appeal attorney, did not comment on the denial of the motion.
Lee has
been through most of his appeals process and the case has been upheld the
entire way.
The defense
was given until Feb. 7, 2013 to examine the evidence that will remain with the
court.
Lee is
currently going through the process of appealing his death penalty sentence.
He
is trying to get it changed to life in prison.
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Derrick Todd Lee
