Miami Beach man loses bid for retrial in DUI manslaughter case
Secretly recorded tapes between a lawyer and a Miami Beach man who pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk are illegal and will be sealed, a judge ruled.
BY DAVID OVALLE
Sean Casey, a Miami Beach man who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter, then tried to use a secret recording of his ex-lawyer as proof his guilty plea was tainted, has lost his latest campaign to win a new trial.
A Miami-Dade judge ruled Tuesday that a covertly recorded audio tape of Casey speaking with attorney Milton Hirsch in the lawyer’s office is illegal and should remain sealed.
Circuit Judge John Thornton also ruled that Casey’s conviction will stand.
“I’m pleased the court brought an end to this nonsense,” said Hirsch, who is running for Miami-Dade circuit judge.
Hirsch represented Casey when the defendant pleaded guilty three years ago to plowing his BMW, while drunk, into 71-year-old Mary Montgomery in March 2001 as she crossed the street carrying a bag of groceries. She died from the injuries.
Casey is now serving 12 years in prison.
He has since tried unsuccessfully to convince two judges and the Third District Court of Appeal that his plea deal was tainted because Hirsch and a therapist urged him to flee Miami to avoid a trial.
Casey spent two years on the lam in Chile before he was extradited to Miami in September 2006.
In recent months, Casey, a former administrator with the Inter American Press Association, and his mother have embarked on a media blitz, creating a detailed website, FreeSeanCasey.org.
The IAPA and the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press have lent their support to Casey’s claim that the tapes and transcripts should be unsealed.
Casey claimed, in court motions, that the tape reveals Hirsch told him and his mother during one meeting:
“I wish I could wave my wand and make Sean disappear magically, you know. I wish I could cause him to simply reappear on the Planet Vulcan . . . or something like that and be out of harm’s way.”————————-
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