The motion goes on to note that hundreds, if not thousands, of Hampshire County residents have been directly or indirectly involved in the case through community meetings, tip lines, relief funds and a Facebook page set up for the fire victims.
Northampton arson suspect Anthony P. Baye, right, talks with his attorney David P. Hoose, center, during a recent appearance in Hampshire Superior Court.
NORTHAMPTON – Maintaining that he cannot find an impartial jury in Hampshire County, Anthony P. Baye has asked that jurors be impaneled in Hampden County and transported to and from Northampton every day for his trial on murder and arson charges.
Baye, 26, is facing more than 40 charges stemming from 15 separate fires that prosecutors say he set in Northampton in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2009. One of those fires destroyed a hour at 17 Fair St., taking the lives of 81-year-old Paul Yeskie and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39. Baye is charged with two counts of first degree murder in connection with that fire.
Last month, Judge Constance M. Sweeney heard three days of testimony on a defense request to exclude evidence resulting from Baye’s encounters with police on the night of the fires and his subsequent interview with arson investigators on Jan. 4, 2010. The hearing included some ten hours of video from that interview, some of which shows Baye admitting he set some of the fires. The defense maintains that police did not comply with Baye’s request for a lawyer and that evidence from the interview should not be admitted at his trial.
The evidentiary hearing is scheduled to resume on Wednesday with the defense planning to call an expert witness on coerced confessions to the stand.
The motion to impanel a jury from outside Hampshire County filed Monday by defense lawyers Thomas Lesser and David P. Hoose contends that extensive publicity about the fires and Baye’s subsequent arrest prevent him from getting a fair trial by an impartial Hampshire County jury. The attached exhibits include numerous newspaper articles by The Republican and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The motion maintains that the newspaper stories are “problematic and noteworthy beyond simply their volume” because they contain references to other unsolved fires in the neighborhood.
“While no one ever directly accused him of responsibility for these other fires, there are several references to investigators pursuing a link between Mr. Baye and these unsolved crimes,” the motion states.
It also notes several editorials in The Daily Hampshire Gazette that can be construed to conclude Baye is responsible for the fires, according to his defense team.
In addition, Baye contends that media coverage of the evidentiary hearing could prejudice potential jurors against him, even if Sweeney rules in his favor and excludes the evidence.
“If the court grants suppression, it will be difficult to find jurors in Hampshire County who have not heard about the defendant’s purported ‘confession,’” the motion states.
The motion goes on to note that hundreds, if not thousands, of Hampshire County residents have been directly or indirectly involved in the case through community meetings, tip lines, relief funds and a Facebook page set up for the fire victims.
Special prosecutor Brett J. Vottero has not yet filed a response to the defense motion.