Attorney For Teen Charged With Rabbi's Murder Asks For More Evidence From State
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- One day after a judge granted bond to the teenage suspect in the murder of a New York rabbi in Miami Gardens, his attorney was back in court trying to get the State to give up more evidence in the case.
The family of 15-year-old DeAndre Charles appeared at the court hearing Thursday, as Charles' defense attorney Adam Goodman argued to the court that they need to release more information about the state's confidential informants who gave up details connected to the murder of Rabbi Joseph Raksin.
"To be honest, I want to know how reliable this confidential informant is. I'm hoping he is reliable because he gave up a lot about a lot of people, but not my client," he said to Judge Jason Bloch.
Prosecutors shot back that the informant's "handler", a police officer, should not be identified. Goodman dropped the motion, noting that prosecutors had possibly accidentally already given out the officer's name.
The state suffered a blow Wednesday when Judge Bloch put out his decision on last month's Arthur hearing, ordering that Charles be granted $300,000 bond.
In the order, Judge Bloch found, "In this case, the state has presented no direct evidence of the defendant's guilt. No witness has identified the defendant as the shooter. And indeed there are no witnesses to the shooting at all. The murder weapon has not been found. While gun accessories or "pieces" were recovered from the scene, the defendant's fingerprints were not found on them, nor was his unique DNA profile."
But the judge also wrote that the state has a higher burden of proof in that hearing than it does in a jury trial.
Goodman told CBS4's Natalia Zea he was thrilled to win the Arthur hearing but says it does not guarantee an acquittal at trial.
"If you win or lose an Arthur hearing, than you would think a jury would always do that, when that happens. But a jury could do whatever they want."
Despite the news that Charles can be released on bond, so far his family has not been able to come up with the $30,000 needed to get him out of jail.
Zea spoke briefly with Rabbi Raksin's daughter. She chose not to do an interview and noted that it is a holiday.
Despite the concerns of a prosecutor who says she will be out of the country, Judge Bloch set Charles' trial for May 9th.
