JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A death-row inmate convicted in the 1995 murder a of Clay County man was back in court Thursday, claiming his defense attorney was inadequate.
Donald Bradley was sentenced to die for the 1995 fatal beating and shooting of Jack Jones. Jones, wife, Linda, was found, bound with duct tape, in the next room of their Clay County home.
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For a year, investigators though she was the only witness to the crime -- then prosecutors accused her of hiring Bradley and two others to kill her husband.
Bradley was convicted in 1997 of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Brothers Patrick and Brian McWhite were sentenced 10 years or less for their part in the murder.
Linda Jones, accused of hatching the murder plot, received a life sentence for first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation.
"There were four people allegedly involved in this case. Only one of them got the death penalty, and that was Mr. Bradley," his new attorney, Richard Kurtz, said. "The people who put in into motion and assisted -- two of them are free, one of them is serving life. Only Mr. Bradley was sentenced to die."
While several previous appeals by Bradley were denied, at a hearing Thursday, Kurtz questioned the adequacy of the original trial defense. Kurtz asked the judge to either overturn the conviction and grant Bradley a new trial, or at least a new sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors said that they wished capital-murder cases were settled quicker, but they respect the right of defendants in the system.
"It's unfortunate in general in death penalty cases, especially for the victim's families, that we're sitting here 10 years after the crime still litigating this case, but the defendant is entitled to all his procedural rights, and we're not going to quarrel with that," Assistant State Attorney Jay Plotkin said.