Trials of Hialeah cops charged in beating could take an unusual legal turn: Twin juries

Criminal trials involving more than one suspect are everyday events in South Florida. Ones with two juries are rare.

But the judge overseeing the trial of two Hialeah cops and two others charged in the kidnapping and battering of a homeless man and a subsequent cover-up is leaning toward that arrangement — seating two juries in the very same courtroom, at the same time.

It would be unusual but not unheard of. Florida actually became one of the first states to endorse an option introduced a half-century ago in the federal court system. And the state’s commitment to twin juries was solidified in a notorious 1992 case involving the murder two years earlier of a Miami-Dade police officer.

The reasoning is sound: Twin juries can be more economical in financially-stretched court systems. A jury pool could be tainted by the outcome of an earlier trial. And in most instances in which two people are charged with the same or similar crimes, overlapping witnesses are common.

The arguments against are just as solid: Someone charged with a crime has the right to an individual trial. There are too many opportunities for jurors in both cases to discuss issues. And, moving juries in and out of courtrooms to block them from hearing certain parts of testimony can be complicated.

On Thursday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert T. Watson said he was “strongly inclined” to move forward with twin juries that could be seated separately or divided by a curtain in the criminal courthouse’s largest courtroom. The judge said having back-to-back trials “could be worse” and mentioned how jurors were likely to see media coverage or talk to friends and family. And, he said, he’s convinced a trial involving the four men could be finished within two weeks.

His view, however, wasn’t strongly endorsed by three of the attorneys representing the four men charged in the Dec. 17 incident involving a homeless man that prosecutors say was taken by two police officers from a small Hialeah strip mall to a wooded area several miles away, beaten and abandoned. Then, investigators say, the men tried to cover up the crime.

Hialeah Police Officers Rafael Quinones Otano, 27 and Lorenzo Rafael Orfila, 23, have been under house arrest since Feb. 14. Otano is facing charges of armed kidnapping and battery. Orfila, armed kidnapping, battery and official misconduct. Both men are facing potential life sentences if convicted. Also charged with crimes related to the alleged abduction of Jose Ortega Gutierrez, is notary Juan Prietocofino, 51, accused of fraudulently notarizing an affidavit meant to clear the officers, and private investigator Ali Amin Saleh, 45, who police say tried to buy off Gutierrez’s silence and has been charged with witness tampering.

The attorneys representing the two officers and Saleh argued their clients would be better served with individual trials because side-by-side juries would create too many opportunities for jurors from different pools to speak with each other.

“It creates a greater risk of poisoning the well,” said Otano’s attorney Michael Pizzi.

If the defendants end up sharing a courtroom, the fates of Orfila, Prietocofino and Saleh are likely to be determined by one jury and Otano’s by another, according to a plan given to the judge by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. That’s because a witness in the case claimed that Orfila told other officers that the cops roughed up Gutierrez. And since Otano has the right to confront his accuser, that statement would not be permitted in Otano’s trial.

The state’s plan that Judge Watson is considering also calls for the removal of a set of jurors when the judge has excluded certain testimony against one defendant, but not the others. Watson is likely to make his decision some time in June. Attorneys have until the end of the week to file motions related to the plan and the state has until May 30 to respond.

Despite objections from the attorneys, Watson said he believes it’s “logistically possible” and that he planned on discussing it with other judges over the next two weeks.

The two-jury system was endorsed in Miami-Dade in 1992, during the conviction of Samuel Velez in the murder of Miami-Dade Police Officer Joseph Preston Martin. Though Velez was never accused of pulling the trigger, he was convicted of manslaughter of a law enforcement officer, attempted manslaughter, grand theft and armed burglary. Martin was killed after Velez and two others who had committed a string of robberies were pulled over by the officer in North Miami Beach. Testimony at trial showed that one of Velez’s partners said he was never going back to jail and began firing when Martin approached. An appeals court rejected Velez’s claim that the twin juries harmed him at trial.

Otano and Orfila, who were fired in Hialeah after the alleged abduction, have been charged with kidnapping Gutierrez, a man known well by shopkeepers at a Hialeah strip mall. The cops, who were initially called by someone at Los Tres Conejitos Bakery at 1912 W. 16th St., found Gutierrez, handcuffed him and told him they were taking him to jail for drunk and disorderly, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors say the officer’s GPS systems show Gutierrez was taken to a wooded area 6.6 miles away at Northwest 94th Avenue and 174th Street, then beaten. A few hours later an off-duty Hialeah cop found Gutierrez wandering on the street. Gutierrez told the officer he was knocked unconscious and woke up with cuts and bruises.

Less than two weeks later, investigators say, Saleh showed up at the same mall Gutierrez had been taken from by the officers and that the investigator tried to convince him to accept $1,350 and sign an affidavit saying he was not battered and that the cops did no wrong. Prietocofino is accused of notarizing the false affidavit.

A tentative trial date for the four men has been set for July, though it’s likely to be moved back.