Date: Wed Jun 25, 2003  1:55 pm
Subject: FLORIDA : Deputies Hope For New Murder Case Against Cop..

 
Polk deputies hope for new murder case against death row ex-cop
 
 
Polk County deputies say they hope to convince state prosecutors to
seek a
murder indictment against a Lake County policeman on death row in
another
murder case.
 
Investigators want James Aren Duckett charged by a grand jury with
the
strangulation and sexual assault of Jennifer Weldon, 14, in case he
gets
cleared in the case that has him awaiting execution, said Maj. W.J.
Martin, criminal investigations chief for the Polk County Sheriff's
Office.
 
Duckett has been a suspect in the Sept. 19, 1986 slaying, but when
he
went
to death row that year for a murder in Lake County, officials in Polk
County thought it wasn't necessary to pursue the case, Martin said.
 
"When we saw that he could walk, we pushed to get him indicted,"
Martin
told The Daily Commercial newspaper in Leesburg in a story for
Wednesday
editions.
 
Duckett's appeal attorney, Elizabeth Wells of Atlanta, dismissed the
Polk
detective work.
 
"They have nothing there that wasn't in the files before," Wells
said.
"They don't have anything to charge him with."
 
Duckett is appealing his murder conviction for killing Teresa
McAbee,
11,
of Mascotte in 1987.
 
Duckett, 47, was accused of picking up McAbee at a convenience store
while
cruising at night in his patrol car. He says he saw her with an
older
boy
and told her to go home. Duckett has said in previous appeals that
evidence against him was circumstantial and flawed.
 
In April, a circuit judge in Lake County ordered DNA testing sought
by
appellate attorneys for the former Mascotte police officer, but
limited
the tests to clothes worn by McAbee.
 
Among other similarities in the 2 cases, Martin noted that Duckett's
jobs
put him close to the girls. When he murdered McAbee, Duckett was on
duty
and picked the girl up.
 
Suspected in McAbee's death but not yet arrested, Duckett was fired
and
got a mining job in Polk County to the south. Traveling to the job
put
him
along U.S. Highway 98 at the same time Weldon was last seen walking
home
alone from a carnival on the same road, Martin said. Duckett was 2
hours
late for work that day, Martin added.
 
Martin said it was a strong case to present to prosecutors and said
it
was
a good example of why the state should bring charges against
suspected
murderers even if they are on death row on other cases.
 
"It is insurance," he said. "If years down the road the cases tend to
unravel, at least they'll be able to keep him for the 2nd case."
 
Polk County prosecutors could not be reached late Tuesday for
comment.
A
telephone recording at their offices in Bartow told people to call
back
during regular business hours.
 
(source: Associated Press)