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Attorney Wants New Prosecutor Assigned To Teen Shooting Case

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 7, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The attorney representing the family of a teenager fatally shot by a St. Petersburg police officer is asking the governor's office to assign a prosecutor other than the local one to investigate the incident.

Initially, Maura Kiefer, the attorney for the family of Javon Dawson, wanted a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge to disqualify Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe from continuing his investigation into the June 7 shooting. A hearing was set for later this week.

However, Kiefer is apparently abandoning that tactic and instead is asking Gov. Charlie Crist to assign a different prosecutor to investigate. Kiefer's argument is that because Officer Terrence Nemeth has testified in cases handled by McCabe's office, there is a conflict of interest in McCabe looking into the shooting.

Through a spokesman, McCabe's office last week discounted the notion there was a conflict by virtue of Nemeth having testified on behalf of prosecutors before. Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said if that argument always held, McCabe's office would never be able to investigate anything having anything to do with a police officer.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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