Attorney for Orange County teen murder suspect argues trial should be delayed

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Attorneys for Sanel Saint-Simon want his trial be delayed until the Florida Supreme Court makes a ruling on the death penalty.

“I have very serious concerns about rushing this to trial,” said Carolyn Schlemmer, defense attorney.

His attorneys spent nearly an hour Friday arguing his case needs to take a back seat to the Hurst and Perry cases currently pending with the Florida Supreme Court.

Saint-Simon is accused of beating, then dumping his girlfriend’s daughter, Alexandria Chery, in a field in 2014 near the Polk-Osceola County lines.

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that Florida’s death penalty cases were unconstitutional and didn’t give jurors enough of a vote.

"We do not have finalized capital jury instructions,” Schlemmer said.

A case tried right now would be lacking the instruction manual for how a jury should decide between life and death.

His trial has already been delayed once over questions about the future of Florida’s death penalty.

The idea that the Hurst case could have any impact on new death penalty cases is legally questionable. But the Perry case is looking for answers on whether a full 12 members of the jury should be deciding on death instead of 10. And whether cases already under prosecution when the state revised the death penalty in March, should be covered by the new rules.

"We all want it done correctly. And we all want it to be done lawfully,” said Ryan Vescio, assistant state attorney.

Meanwhile, Saint-Simon’s attorneys tried to have the judge throw out potentially incriminating statements allegedly made by Saint-Simon when he was first questioned by investigators. The defense argued he thought he was under arrest when he was not.

The judge ruled the entire interview will be admissible at trial.

Contact Field Sutton for more on this story.

Cox Media Group