FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Prosecutors say they may no longer pursue the death penalty for the upcoming trial of Sheila Warren in South Florida's three-decade-old killer clown case.
"My office is in the process of a re-evaluation on this," Assistant State Attorney Reid Scott told Circuit Judge Joseph Marx on Tuesday.
The prosecutor didn't elaborate about the reasons, but said a final decision would made in time for a Feb. 20 hearing. The judge then also could determine whether it remains realistic for jury selection to begin May 29.
Warren, 56, is charged with first-degree murder in the May 26, 1990, shooting death of Marlene Warren, 40, in Wellington, Fla.
According to witnesses and investigators, the victim opened the door and greeted a person wearing an orange wig, a red bulb nose, gloves and a smile painted on white makeup. The clown _ who held two balloons and flowers in one hand and a pistol in the other _ fired a bullet into Warren's face.
Twelve years after the shooting, Warren's husband, Michael, married Sheila Warren in Las Vegas. The couple settled in southwest Virginia, near the Tennessee border, and operated a restaurant together.
Cold-case detectives said new DNA evidence led to the fall 2017 grand jury indictment of Warren, who was an original person of interest soon after the slaying. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg then said his office would seek a death sentence.
Defense attorney Richard Lubin said his client wants the judge to know that she is tired of waiting in jail after more than two years and doesn't want any more trial delays.
"Sheila would like this case tried, and so would we all," he said, later telling reporters that he never thought it was a death penalty case.
