ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The man charged in the 2010 killing of a 45-year-old Ponte Vedra Beach woman in 2010 has asked a judge to appoint a new defense lawyer to the case.
Joseph Roberts is charged with murder in the death of Brittany Tavar (pictured below).
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According to the state attorney's office, Roberts complained to the judge his current lawyer hasn't paid enough attention to his case, has not been visiting him in jail to talk about the defense, and has been slow requesting discovery evidence from prosecutors.
The request was taken under advisement by the Judge.
Roberts' next court appearance is July 18.
In November, a new charge was added against Roberts, stemming from an incident in September in which deputies said he assaulted fellow St. Johns County jail inmate Richard Edsall, who apparently had become a witness in the case.
Roberts was arrested in Seattle three months after Tavar's killing. He confessed to beating Tavar with a hammer and stabbing her, deputies said.
Roberts, a transient who had been living with Tavar, had made a DVD for her to use in a court case in which she was involved, an ongoing dispute with a neighbor.
Tavar and Roberts got into a fight over the DVD, and he killed her, deputies said.
Investigators found Tavar's body after they said Roberts confessed to killing her.