Citing extensive publicity about the fires, defense lawyers Thomas Lesser and David Hoose have asked that jurors be impaneled in Hampden County and transported to and from the Hampshire County Courthouse for the trial.
Anthony P. BayeNORTHAMPTON – With the location of his murder and arson trial pending, Anthony P. Baye is scheduled return to court Wednesday as his defense team calls an expert witness on interrogation techniques to testify on the police interrogation that led to his arrest.
Baye, 26, is charged with more than 40 crimes in connection with a string of fires police say were deliberately set in and around the Ward 3 neighborhood on the rainy night of Dec. 27, 2009. One of those fires destroyed a Fair Street home, taking the lives of Paul Yeskie and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr. Among the charges against Baye are two counts of first degree murder.
Citing extensive publicity about the fires and Baye’s arrest, defense lawyers Thomas Lesser and David P. Hoose have asked that jurors be impaneled in Hampden County and transported to and from the Hampshire County Courthouse for the trial, which is scheduled to take place in September. Prosecutor Brett Vottero released a statement Tuesday saying he has joined in that motion.
“Although we feel that a fair and impartial jury could be selected in Hampshire County, the District Attorney is also obligated to protect the defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial,” he said, calling the defense request “a reasonable compromise.”
It is up to Judge Constance Sweeney to rule on the matter. The defense contends that the magnitude of the case has already influenced Hampshire County residents who might be selected for jury duty. Vottero, a former Hampden County prosecutor and an expert on arson trials, was brought in especially to try the case. Sweeney was also specially appointed to oversee it.
Wednesday’s session is a continuation of an evidentiary hearing that spanned three days in May. Lesser said their expert, Alan Hirsch, will testify whether or not, in his opinion, two state police officers used proper interrogation techniques during the Jan. 4, 2010, session, in which he confessed to some of the fires. The defense maintains that the officers denied Baye his right to a lawyer. The complete video of that interview, some ten hours in all, was played in Hampshire Superior court during the May hearing.
Hoose and Lesser also argue that police stopped Baye without probable cause as he was driving around the area on the night of the fires. That want evidence from those encounters excluded as well.
The Dec. 27 fires terrified the neighborhood, which had experienced a number of suspicious fires in the previous several years. Arson investigators from the state Fire Marshall’s Office joined local and state police in an all-out investigation in the following days. Baye was arrested eight days later.