JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The new lawyer for a man whose conviction for killing his neighbor was overturned on appeal is asking for a change of venue.
Michael Hernandez was appointed to take over Randall Deviney's case after the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled the Public Defender's Office had a conflict that required it to withdraw.
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Deviney was convicted and sentenced to die in 2008 for killing his neighbor, Delores Futrell (pictured below). That conviction was overturned last year by the Flordia Supreme Court, which found that Deviney's confession was coerced by police. He is scheduled for a retrial in July.
Hernandez is asking for a change of venue because of all the publicity the case has generated. He's also asking the judge to block the State Attorney's Office from seeking the death penalty, until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in another case.
Lawyers for a death row inmate contend Florida's death penalty law is unconstitutional, because it allows death sentences without a unanimous jury recommendation. The High Court will take that case up in the fall.
Deviney was in court briefly Tuesday morning, and the hearing was continued until Friday.