Federal prosecutors say Jason Pleau — along with his co-defendants Jose A. Santiago and Kelley M. Lajoie, both of Springfield, Mass. — hatched a plot to rob Main at least two days before the killing.
This undated inmate photo released by the Rhode Island Department of Corrections shows Jason Pleau, charged in the fatal shooting of a man outside a bank in Woonsocket, R.I., in September 2010. A federal appeals court in Boston is set to hear arguments Thursday, July 28, 2011, in a possible death penalty case against a Pleau, who is at the center of a custody battle over state and federal jurisdiction in the trial. (AP Photo/Rhode Island Department of Corrections)By LAURA CRIMALDI, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to grant him a more prominent role in a legal tug-of-war over a murder suspect who could face the death penalty.
In a court filing, Chafee asserts he needs the authority to fight the decision to surrender Jason Pleau to federal officials because the move would weaken the governor's power.
Pleau, 33, is battling federal prosecutors who may seek the death penalty if he is convicted of murdering a gas station manager outside a bank last September. Prosecutors and attorneys for Pleau and Chafee argued the case on Thursday before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The panel has yet to rule Chafee's request which was filed after the hearing.
"Since the governor seeks to vindicate an important sovereign interest of the state of Rhode Island that cannot be adequately represented by any other party, he requests to intervene as an appellant," wrote Claire Richards, Chafee's chief legal officer. Chafee currently has minimal legal standing in the case.
The appeals panel must decide whether to turn Pleau over to federal authorities or honor Chafee's decision to keep him in state custody, where he has offered to plead guilty to the Sept. 20, 2010, shooting of David Main, 49. Rhode Island does not have a death penalty.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald C. Lockhart said prosecutors believe Chafee does not have the legal right to join the case.
"The governor can try to intervene later today. We would oppose that," Lockhart said while arguing the case Thursday morning.
The battle began last month after Chafee rejected a request from prosecutors to surrender Pleau to federal officials, citing the state's longtime opposition to the death penalty. Pleau has agreed to plead guilty to state murder charges and serve life in prison without parole.
After Chafee's denial, prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to have Pleau surrendered. Smith sided with prosecutors, but Pleau's federal court arraignment was cancelled after the appeals court granted a stay of the transfer order.
Richards told the appeals panel the court must honor Chafee's decision as the final word on Pleau's custody because his action was made under a federal statute that puts states on equal footing as the federal government. Richards and Pleau's defense attorneys assert Chafee's decision was the first time a governor has refused to transfer a prisoner under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers.
Pleau's defense attorney, Robert B. Mann, said the federal government can't take "two bites at the apple" to get custody of Pleau. He argued the federal government does not have the authority to circumvent the decision Chafee made by using a different federal law to request the outcome it seeks.
"The governor has a right to decline to turn Mr. Pleau over," Mann said. "I think that under the act he clearly has a right not to be transferred now the governor has declined to turn him over."
Lockhart asserted Pleau hasn't proved he shouldn't stand trial in federal court.
If the appeals court denies Pleau's request to halt proceedings to transfer his custody to federal officials, his lawyers are asking the panel to extend the stay it has already granted so an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court can be prepared.
Pleau was indicted along with two others in federal court last year in the shooting death of Main as he approached a bank in Woonsocket to deposit receipts from the nearby Shell station where he worked.
Prosecutors say a masked Pleau chased and shot Main multiple times as he approached the bank. Officials say Pleau then made off with a bank deposit bag containing more than $12,000. He is serving an 18-year sentence in state prison for violating his parole in a separate case.
Federal prosecutors say Pleau — along with his co-defendants Jose A. Santiago and Kelley M. Lajoie, both of Springfield, Mass. — hatched a plot to rob Main at least two days before the killing. They say Santiago drove the getaway car and that Lajoie acted as a lookout.
The court has entered pleas of not guilty for Santiago and Lajoie.