Defense attorneys for two young men charged in the gruesome killings of three children criticized prosecutors after a hearing yesterday, saying that they haven't been able to view much of the state's evidence and that what they have seen has been sloppy.
With a trial date set for next month, lawyers for Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela also pointed to what they said are other problems: defense witnesses who have been ordered to be deported to Mexico and inaccurate oral translations of court proceedings for the Spanish-speaking defendants.
Espinoza's attorney, Timothy M. Dixon, described prosecutor Sharon Holback's case as "taking a stack of $1 bills, wrapping a $100 around it and saying she has a lot of money."
In city Circuit Court yesterday, Holback notified Espinoza and Canela that prosecutors intend to seek three sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At age 17, Canela could not have faced the death penalty, but Espinoza, 22, could have.
State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy would not comment on the decision to seek life sentences. One requirement of Maryland's death penalty statute is that a defendant must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be the person who committed the killing.
Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr. and Lucero Solis Quezada, both 9, and their male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, were killed May 27 in their family's Fallstaff apartment. One child was decapitated, and the others were partially decapitated.
Their uncle, Espinoza, and cousin, Canela, are scheduled to stand trial Dec. 13.
But defense attorneys said that is not a realistic timeframe because they claim prosecutors have not been forthcoming with the evidence. Attorneys James Rhodes and Adam Sean Cohen represent Canela.
All three defense attorneys said the evidence they have seen includes incomplete transcripts, blank pages, medical records with handwritten - but unsigned - notes, and pages from different documents that are scrambled together.
Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office, declined to comment on the defense's allegations, but did say, "We've complied with the law."
Holback wrote to defense attorneys in September to remind them that they had agreed with prosecutors that "substantive documents" should not be placed in the public court file. Rather, she wrote, she is keeping evidence in a "discovery notebook" that they can request to view at any time.
