Sunday, July 7, 1996
Sunday, July 7, 1996
By Norman Sinclair
Detroit Journal Staff Writer
The two Gaylord men who served eight years in prison in the 1986 Jerry Tobias murder case have been given permission to go to work while a judge decides on further proceedings in the case.
Walter (Terry) Moore and Mark Canter have been confined to their homes on electronic tethers since February when they were granted new trials and released on bond.
Emmet County Circuit Judge Joseph Swallow, who was appointed to hear the case, granted defense lawyers' requests that their clients be allowed to work to pay fees for the tethers.
"While it is recognized that it is highly unusual to have defendants charged with the crime of murder on what amounts to a work release, in this instance I do not see that the granting of this status would constitute an increased danger to the community," E. P. Root, a field supervisor for the Department of Corrections, wrote Swallow.
Swallow took over the case from retired Otsego County Judge William Porter, who granted the men new trials based on new evidence presented during extensive appeals hearings that ended in 1994.
The judge also is considering defense motions to dismiss the case on the basis of police and prosecutorial misconduct, as well the lack of a speedy trial.
Otsego County Prosecutor Kevin Hesselink opposes those motions and is asking the judge to permit him to retry Moore and Canter using selective portions of 1,500 pages of previously given testimony by discredited star witness, Debra (Parmentier) Herrick. She has disappeared and is a fugitive facing eight counts of perjury in connection with the case.
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