PLEA DEAL FALTERS FOR LAKE WORTH TEEN ACCUSED OF KILLING HER BABY

Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Source: The Sun-Sentinel

A plea deal for a Guatemalan girl accused of killing her newborn baby fell apart on Monday amid questions of whether she will get new attorneys.

A Palm Beach County judge said the issues surrounding who will represent Petrona Tomas, who is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and is thought to be 15 years old, need to be aired at a later hearing. Circuit Judge Hubert Lindsey also imposed a gag order in the case, which has received heavy publicity.

"It's developing into something more than a criminal prosecution," Lindsey warned the participants. "I don't want you to say anything about the case."

That left the court-appointed guardian for the Lake Worth girl unable to explain the request for a change of defense attorneys. Likewise, the gag order prevents prosecutors; Tomas' current defense attorney, Marc Shiner; and her potential new defenders, Miami-based lawyer David Kubiliun, from talking about developments in the case.

Miami-Dade prosecutors decided last month not to file abuse charges against the woman because she likely was suffering from a medical condition that may have led her to leave her baby on the sand in late July. That baby survived.

Lindsey set a hearing for early November to determine who is going to represent Tomas in the criminal case. Tomas signed an affidavit last week authorizing Kubiliun to take over as her new attorney.