Nov
27
Murder suspect, jury pool spar
Filed Under crime, single stories |
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH - The trial of an octogenarian accused of killing a man outside a Boca Raton synagogue began Monday with an unusual conversation between the 81-year-old defendant and the jurors who will decide his case.
Murder suspects typically sit in silence as their attorneys screen the jury pool, trying to weed out those who seem likely to convict. But defendant Marc Benayer, who is adamant about serving as his own attorney, asked prospective jurors the questions himself.
Several told Benayer they did not think it was a good idea to stand trial for murder without a lawyer.
“With all due respect, Mr. Benayer, I’m not sure that you are capable of properly defending yourself in this matter,” one prospective juror told him.
“Bad move,” another said.
Benayer is accused of shooting Jonathan Samuels and pointing his gun at four other people at the Chabad Weltman synagogue during Rosh Hashana services in October 2005. Samuels died nine months later.
Benayer had at least three attorneys before he insisted on representing himself. His first withdrew, saying Benayer asked him to do things he cannot as an attorney. The second left the case after he said Benayer tried to hire a hit man from jail to kill him.
Christopher Haddad is now assisting Benayer as standby counsel, offering help and advice but allowing the defendant to mostly speak on his own behalf. As jury selection was about to begin Monday morning, Haddad asked Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard Wennet to reconsider whether Benayer is competent to act as his own attorney.
Experts disagreed about whether Benayer is competent, but another judge ruled in August that he is.
Benayer said he was prepared and wanted to start the trial immediately. Wennet allowed the trial to continue with Benayer as his own attorney, but paused several times so that Benayer could get advice from Haddad.
In a wide-ranging conversation with his prospective jurors, Benayer asked whether any of them had ever been threatened or confronted.
One man said he killed a soldier at age 12, while living with his family in Africa. He thought his life was at risk, he said, and he had no choice.
“Wrong,” Benayer told him.
“It was a war,” the juror said.
Benayer asked prospective jurors whether they thought people have a right to defend themselves against verbal threats.
One woman said she endured threats from her ex-husband for more than year, and handled the situation by asking police what she should do.
“It’s not easy to walk away” when threatened with physical harm, Benayer told them.
“But it’s the smart thing to do,” one prospective juror shot back.
One first-grade teacher told Benayer that she teaches her students that when someone is bothering them, they may walk away or ask the person to stop.
He also wanted to know who owned guns, who had heard about his case and who believed what they read in the newspaper.
One of the prospective jurors said he lived across the street from the synagogue in Century Village and had read extensively about the shooting. He was dismissed after other jurors said he had discussed the case with them.
Benayer told one man that he should not trust what he reads in the newspaper. The potential juror asked Benayer what actually happened. “I’m the one to ask questions, sir,” Benayer said.
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. today. Benayer told the judge that he has planned what he wants to say and looks forward to telling jurors the truth.
Copyright 2007 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
November 27, 2007 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 575 words