CRIME

Judge in Matusiewicz case asked to step aside

Sean O'Sullivan
The News Journal

A defense attorney has asked for U.S. District Judge Gregory M. Sleet to recuse himself from the federal stalking and conspiracy case against family members of New Castle County Courthouse shooter Thomas Matusiewicz.

The motion by federal public defender Edson Bostic, who is representing David Matusiewicz, the son of the courthouse shooter, was filed under seal on Monday. But in a motion filed last week seeking to have the jury selected outside of Delaware, attorney Jeremy H.G. Ibrahim noted that there could be difficulty selecting a jury from Delaware because of published reports indicating that Sleet may have been named on a "hit list" found in Thomas Matusiewicz's things.

Ibrahim, who is representing David Matusiewicz's sister, Amy Gonzalez, wrote that if that list is brought up at trial, "the jury would be faced with a presiding judge who is also a purported victim and probable witness." Ibrahim further noted that if attorneys ask prospective jurors about the article during the selection process, that may alert them to the situation, making it difficult to get an impartial panel.

Ibrahim, however, did not call for Sleet to step aside due to this "novel situation" but instead suggested that a jury should be selected from "outside the coverage area" of Delaware media, "rendering the issue moot."

Sleet dismissed a previous defense request to move the case outside Delaware due to pre-trial publicity.

Bostic, Ibrahim and attorney Ken Edelin, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward McAndrew, did not return calls on Tuesday seeking comment. Edelin is representing Lenore Matusiewicz, Thomas Matusiewicz's widow.

The conspiracy and stalking trial against Gonzalez, David Matusiewicz and Lenore Matusiewicz is currently scheduled for March 9 at the federal courthouse in Wilmington.

The trio are accused of engaging in a yearslong pattern of stalking and harassment of David's ex-wife, Christine Belford, that ended in her death at the New Castle County Courthouse when Thomas Matusiewicz shot her and a friend, Elizabeth Mulford, at point-blank range. If convicted, the three each could face up to life in prison.

Information about the "hit list" became public in June when it was referred to in a court filing related to a legal challenge by the defense. According to court documents, a red, spiral-bound notebook was recovered in the SUV that Thomas Matusiewicz and David Matusiewicz drove to the New Castle County Courthouse on Feb. 11, 2012, the day Thomas Matusiewicz shot Belford and Mulford.

The two were at the courthouse because of a child-support hearing that David Matusiewicz had requested.

After shooting Belford and her friend, Thomas Matusiewicz exchanged gunfire with Capitol Police before taking his own life.

The notebook with the list was found in an SUV parked across the street from the New Castle County Courthouse, along with a computer, a photo of one of Belford's children, a duffel bag with a bulletproof vest, ammunition and an electronic shock device, knives and plastic zip restraints.

On one handwritten page in the notebook, titled "HL," was a list of a dozen names, beginning with a code name that the Matusiewicz family used to refer to Belford. All the other names were redacted, but according to sources, Sleet's name was on the list.

A former lawyer for the Matusiewicz family confirmed that shortly after the shooting, he was warned by federal authorities that his name was found on a "hit list."

In court papers, prosecutors said the other names on the "HL" document were "lawyers, judges and witnesses involved in the kidnapping cases against David and Lenore Matusiewicz as well as prior Family Court custody and termination of parental rights proceedings."

Sleet oversaw the 2009 federal kidnapping and bank fraud prosecution against David Matusiewicz and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

In 2007, David and Lenore Matusiewicz kidnapped the three children that David Matusiewicz had with Belford and took them to Central America, where they were living under assumed names when authorities tracked them down. Lenore Matusiewicz was prosecuted in state court.

Contact Sean O'Sullivan at (302) 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SeanGOSullivan