Lawyers: New Evidence Points To Innocence In Case Of Florida Death Row Inmate

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - Lawyers for James Dailey filed an appeal Friday claiming a co-defendant in a Florida murder case is ready to testify he acted alone.

Dailey, who is facing execution for the 1985 slaying of a 14-year-old girl, was originally scheduled to be executed Nov. 7, but a federal court gave defense lawyers more time to make their case.

The appeal comes three days before a stay of execution expires.

Friday's filing in a Pinellas County circuit court included a signed statement from Jack Pearcy saying he is solely responsible for the death of Shelly Boggio, whose body was found in the water off Indian Rocks Beach. She had been stabbed and drowned. Pearcy, now 64, and Daily, now 73, were convicted of first-degree murder in separate trials. Pearcy is serving a life sentence.

Pearcy signed a similar statement in 2017 but then refused to testify at an evidentiary hearing and Dailey's conviction was upheld.

"He is ready to come into court and come clean," said Joshua Dubin, one of Dailey's lawyers.

Pearcy originally told investigators that Dailey stabbed Boggio and held her down in the water.

Dailey's lawyers maintain he is innocent and say he was convicted on circumstantial evidence and jailhouse informants. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant in September and has maintained since then that Dailey is guilty.

"We're praying at some point someone is going to listen," Dubin said. "The filing that we made just corroborates what we've been saying for so long."

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)