Murder suspect wants a 12-person jury. So do prosecutors. A Miami judge is refusing.
In murder trials, prosecutors and defense lawyers routinely clash on legal issues. But in the case of Miami’s Ivan Wong, both sides agree: He should be tried by a jury of 12 people, not six, for the killing of his ex-wife and her brother.
The judge, however, is digging in his heels.
In an unusual legal fight, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mark Blumstein is refusing to go forward with selecting a full 12-person jury because prosecutors waived the death penalty. Lawyers this week selected six jurors, but they haven’t been sworn in yet to start hearing testimony against the murder suspect.
After prosecutors filed an emergency appeal, Miami’s appeals court on Thursday morning ordered the trial halted, asking Blumstein to explain his legal rationale.
Here’s the back story: Wong is accused of murdering his wife, Mabel Figueroa, and her brother, Michel Figueroa, in December 2013. Cops say Wong was enraged when he found out that Figueroa was having an affair.
At their Perrine home, police say, he shot and killed Michel Figueroa, then repeatedly used his Ford F350 truck to run over his wife. Wong “was determined to kill his wife” and began “backing up and going forward ramming everything in sight,” according to a Miami-Dade police report.
Wong surrendered to police after driving to his family’s home with the intention of killing himself. Wong was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors last year waived the death penalty after Wong spent months in a psychiatric hospital.
Defense lawyer Julia Seifer-Smith insisted that Wong — who faces an automatic life prison term if convicted — is entitled to 12 jurors. The State Attorney’s Office, mindful that a conviction could get overturned and traumatized witnesses might have to testify again at a second trial, agreed.
But Blumstein cited an appellate decision that he believed allowed for a six-person jury. “This is no longer a capital case,” Blumstein said on Wednesday.
On Thursday, however, prosecutors said the Florida Supreme Court and state law requires a 12-person jury and that Wong’s case remains a capital case. “The trial court’s decision to the contrary ignores the fact that the Legislature has the power to define crimes and set punishments,” Assistant Attorney General Michael Mervine wrote in his appeal.
The Third District Court of Appeal has given Blumstein until Friday at 3 p.m. to respond.
“Although it may seem unusual for prosecutors and defense counsel to be on the same side of a legal argument, when there are issues of basic fairness and due process protections our prosecutors understand and fight for what is right and appropriate,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement on Thursday.
This story was originally published January 31, 2019 at 11:57 AM.