I keep catching the same bad cop but they won't fire her!

[Dylan Garcia]

Mistrial declared in man's rape case
Defense accuses cop of withholding report

Byline By Meghan Gordon
St. Tammany bureau
Date Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Almost a year after a state judge lashed out at a St. Tammany sheriff's detective for improper treatment of a jail inmate awaiting trial, another judge declared a mistrial in the man's rape case Tuesday when the same detective turned over a 2-year-old medical report on the alleged victim on the eve of the trial.

The aggravated rape case against Rickey Odom caused a stir at the Covington courthouse last year when District Judge Patricia Hedges scolded Detective Jayme Seymour for her investigative work and characterized her actions as "trampling" on Odom's rights. Prosecutors succeeded in pulling Hedges off the case, and it was reassigned to Judge Raymond Childress.

With 13 jurors picked and ready to hear the trial's opening statements Tuesday afternoon, defense attorney Buddy Spell notified Childress that he had just received a copy of a June 3, 2003, medical report on the girl involved in the case from Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Spell blasted what he called a deliberate move on Seymour's part to hide evidence favorable to Odom's defense.

Prosecutor David Weilbaecher said Seymour told him during a phone conversation Monday night that he needed a copy of the report for the trial and gave it to him when she returned to work Tuesday. In arguing against the mistrial, Weilbaecher said he didn't intend to introduce the document into evidence or call as a witness Dr. Scott Benton, who wrote the report.

Childress asked Spell to outline why the document prejudiced the defense he had prepared. Without revealing the report's contents, Spell said it shattered his theory of the case. He said afterward that it pointed to Odom's innocence.

"I planned for an entirely different case, your honor," Spell said. "Nothing could be more fundamental to the prosecution's case than a forensic report from Children's Hospital. . . . They know it's important. But this is their formula. They thought they'd jump me, that she'd jump me. Well, she jumped me and threw me off my case."

Sheriff's Office spokesman James Hartman said the department will work to determine how the "breakdown" in communication occurred. He said neither Seymour nor any other officer would do anything of the sort intentionally.

"I'm completely confident that we would never withhold documents that would be relevant to our case," Hartman said. "It would be contrary to our cause."

Odom, 32, of Denham Springs, was charged in September 2003 with aggravated rape and attempted aggravated rape of a friend's 13-year-old daughter. The first explosive hearing in the case came three days before it was set to go to trial in Hedges' court. The same week, Spell gave prosecutors a letter to Odom signed in the name of the girl's mother, who implied that she had concocted the allegations.

"I told you when we first met that if you ever left me, I would get the last laugh," the letter reads.

Detectives then removed Odom from his jail cell to secure a handwriting sample without Spell's knowledge and searched his cell for other letters. Spell challenged the actions in an April 30 preliminary hearing before Hedges, during which Seymour and other investigators testified that they simply wanted to know whether the girl's mother had actually penned the note. Hedges chastised the investigators and released Odom on his own recognizance, saying she feared for his safety in jail.

Judge Reggie Badeaux ruled four days later that Hedges' criticism from the bench revealed that she couldn't preside over the trial fairly. When Childress took over the case in May, he sent Odom back to jail for failing a drug test. Seven months later, he lowered Odom's bond and released him on his own recognizance.

Childress said Tuesday that he would hear any motions related to the newly released document on April 18.

Spell said he plans to argue that another trial would be considered double jeopardy and prohibited by constitutional law, because the prosecution in effect caused the mistrial.

District Attorney Walter Reed could not be reached for comment.

. . . . . . .


Meghan Gordon can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone].


Caption
Column
Words 675
Section NATIONAL
Page 01
Story Notes
Pub Date 03/16/2005
Copyright Copyright © 2005, The Times-Picayune. All rights reserved

[AnnInLa]

1. Interesting

"Sheriff's Office spokesman James Hartman said the department will work to determine how the "breakdown" in communication occurred. He said neither Seymour nor any other officer would do anything of the sort intentionally."

Will the defendant be recharged? On different charges?

[funkybutt]

2. How can he say whether someone ELSE did something intentionally?

I can't speak to the motivations of other people. Does this spokesman have ESP?