Man convicted in Wiregrass Commons murder wants new trial

The defense lawyer for a Dothan man on death row for the slaying at Wiregrass Commons Mall parking lot asked for the court to grant him access to his client’s jail records.

Robert Schnell, of Minneapolis, who has filed a 138-page petition for a new trial for 28-year-old Brandyn Benjamin submitted several motions to the court to be heard.
The basis behind the petition is ineffective assistance of counsel during Benjamin’s first trial. Benjamin was previously represented by Michael Crespi.

Benjamin was convicted in May 2004 for the shooting death of Jimmy Floyd Lewis on Nov. 18, 2000. Benjamin was convicted of capital murder robbery, and sentenced to death in September 2004. Testimony during the trial said Benjamin, who was 19 at the time of the murder, pistol-whipped Lewis several times and shot him in the heart and leg, then stole his wallet, according to previous reports.

“I’d like the jail records to show he was in fact a model prisoner,” Schnell said.

Schnell said there was no evidence presented during the mitigation phase of trial as to his client’s behavior prior to trial.
Schnell also asked for the prosecutor’s notes from the jury selection in his client’s trial.

He said notes would show the prosecutor’s reasons for striking the African Americans from the jury pool. He said Crespi was ineffective in his failure to challenge the prosecutor’s reasons initially given in court for striking the African American jurors during the selection process.

Thomas Govan, an attorney with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, said a prosecutor’s notes are considered work product making it privileged and not subject to discovery law.

“The issues on what the prosecution’s thoughts were are irrelevant to an ineffective assistance issue,” Govan said.

The lawyers will argue their cases on ineffective assistance of counsel at an evidentiary hearing in front of Circuit Court Judge Brad Mendheim. No date has been set for the hearing, but Mendheim said he’d likely set it before the end of the year.

Mendheim did not immediately rule on the motions heard Monday afternoon.