Magidson's attorney says Merel's damning testimony was result of

Lawyer accuses DA of deal that hurt client
Magidson's attorney says Merel's damning testimony was result of
agreement

By Ben Aguirre Jr., STAFF WRITER
Daily Review Online
07/29/2005

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_2898440

HAYWARD — After hearing testimony that could be damning to his
client, an attorney on Thursday said he believed that Jose Merel
was instructed to testify a certain way in exchange for easier
questioning from prosecutor Chris Lamiero.

Away from the jury, defense attorney Michael Thorman told Judge
Harry Sheppard that his client, Michael Magidson, informed him
several weeks ago about the deal.

The supposed agreement was that Lamiero would "take it easy" on
Merel if he would tell the court that Magidson strangled
17-year-old transgender teen Gwen Araujo, who was killed after
it was learned that she was biologically male, Thorman said.

Keeping his client's statements in mind, the defense attorney
said he immediately became suspicious Wednesday when Lamiero
uncharacteristically asked the hard questions right out of the
gate. "I kept waiting for the other shoe to fall," he said,
assuming Lamiero had something incriminating on Merel.

But when it didn't happen, Thorman believed there indeed was a
deal and decided to tell the judge, he said. "If something has
been agreed to, I want to know about it," he said.

Judge Sheppard asked Lamiero, attorney William Du Bois and his
client, Merel, if there was a deal, but all three denied it.

"No offer has ever been made to me, period," Du Bois said. "All
I did was tell (Merel) to tell the truth and not to deviate from
it."

The discussion of a possible deal — which Lamiero called
insulting — came moments before Thorman began his
cross-examination of Merel, one of three 25-year-old men on
trial for Araujo's killing.

Merel and his friends, Magidson and Jason Cazares — all of whom
have been charged with first-degree murder and a hate-crime
enhancement — faced a jury trial in 2004, but it ended when
jurors could not reach a verdict.
A fourth man, 22-year-old Jaron Nabors, originally was charged
in the killing, but he accepted a plea deal in exchange for
testimony against his former friends. He will be sentenced to 11
years in prison.

Lamiero and attorney J. Tony Serra concluded their
cross-examination of Merel on Thursday before Thorman began his
questions. He is expected to continue on Monday.

It was Merel's third day on the witness stand and the first
since he broke down in tears while initially refusing to answer
a question about the degree of Magidson's involvement in the
slaying.

As he did on Wednesday, Lamiero focused his questioning on
Merel's feelings the night Araujo was killed, and the events
that surrounded the slaying.

Merel told the deputy district attorney that he was sad that
Araujo, whom he knew as a girl named Lida, was killed, and that
her last words to him were that she was sorry. He expressed
remorse, saying, "I've had a long time to think about it. I wish
it never happened. None of us would be here. I wouldn't even be
talking to you right now."

Serra spent a most of his cross-examination asking Merel about
Nabors' testimony, suggesting that much of it was false.

© 2005 ANG Newspapers