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Killer Avoids Death Sentence

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@tampatrib.com

Published: March 6, 2009

TAMPA - A Winter Haven man was spared the death penalty Thursday for his role in the 2006 slaying of a Polk County drug dealer.

If the jury had voted for death, Jermaine Michael Julian would have been the first defendant to receive a federal death sentence in the Middle District of Florida since the federal death penalty law was enacted in 1988.

U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore is required to follow the jury's recommendation and impose a life sentence.

Julian was convicted of killing Carlton Potts, 22, during a robbery of a Bartow drug house known as "the Carter" on Oct. 19, 2006. According to the prosecution, Julian and at least two other men burst into the house and beat up the three occupants, including Potts.

The three victims were made to lie on the floor and Julian pointed a gun at them and tried to fire four times, according to the prosecution. The gun jammed three times, but one bullet went through Potts' chest.

Teen In Beating Gets Probation

One of five Polk County teens accused of beating a classmate last March was sentenced Thursday to one year of probation.

Britney Mayes was sentenced as a juvenile by Circuit Judge Keith Spoto at the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow.

Mayes faced charges of battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping for her role in the March 30 videotaped beating of Mulberry High School student Victoria Lindsay.

Mayes has to serve 50 hours of community service within the first six months of her probation and write Lindsay a letter of apology. Mayes also cannot have any contact with Lindsay or her family, have contact with the media for profit, or have a MySpace, Facebook or YouTube account for the next year.

Fellow defendant Mercades Nichols will have her sentencing hearing before Judge Spoto today.

Victim's Family Sues School

The family of a Blake High School secretary who was murdered in 2007 sued the Hillsborough County School Board on Thursday, saying it was negligent in hiring, supervising and disciplining the school custodian who killed her.

Elalia Walker's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the board in Hillsborough County Circuit Court seeking damages in excess of $15,000.

Stanley "Larry" Telfare was convicted of second-degree murder and false imprisonment Feb. 19 in the October 2007 slaying. He is being held without bail while awaiting sentencing March 12.

Trial testimony showed Blake's principal ordered the two to stay away from each other. Walker was so afraid of Telfare that she had an escort when she left the office, including trips to the restroom, her boss testified.

Witnesses said Telfare was seen lurking in the school's parking garage and waited for Walker to return to her van after a junior varsity football game. Telfare later was seen beating Walker unconscious in a parking lot at the Temple Terrace subdivision where he lived and then throwing her limp body back into the van.

The lawsuit claims the school board should have known Telfare had a history of violence against women and that it failed to protect Walker.

TGH Sued Over Man's Suicide

The family of a 28-year-old man who committed suicide in the psychiatric ward of Tampa General Hospital sued the hospital and its CEO Thursday, claiming their negligence led to the death.

Kathleen Murphy sued on behalf of the estate of her son Brian Keith Murphy, who hanged himself July 24.

Murphy used a bedsheet tied to a bathroom door.

The lawsuit contends the hospital failed to properly monitor psychiatric patients, replace doors in the rooms with safer ones and provide adequate staff to supervise patients.

A staff report

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