Mass Murderer Serrano Not In Court As Jury Picked For Wrongful Death Suit

BARTOW | Jury selection continued in the wrongful death trial against condemned murderer Nelson Ivan Serrano on Monday, but Serrano wasn't there to see it.

His lawyer. Bob Norgard of Bartow, said he didn't have to be in the courtroom.

"In the civil case, his presence isn't required," Norgard said. "The rules are different from criminal court."

Serrano, 70, sat in the courtroom for three months in 2006 while a 12-member jury heard the state's case against him. His lawyers, Norgard and Orlando lawyer

Cheney Mason, didn't present a case for the defense, relying instead on testimony presented during cross-examination.

The jury deliberated about six hours before convicting Serrano of four counts of first-degree murder for the 1997 massacre at Erie Manufacturing in Bartow.

It was the worst mass murder in Polk County history.

Now the parents of one of those victims, 28-year-old George Patisso Jr., are suing Serrano for wrongful death, seeking damages for mental pain and anguish, funeral expenses and wages that their son would have earned during his lifetime.

His mother, Mary Ann Patisso, said Monday that the case is as much about principal as it is about monetary damages.

"I want it on the record again that this man killed my son," she said.

Norgard said settlement was never an option because Serrano is appealing his murder conviction and death sentence, and a settlement in this case might be interpreted as an admission of guilt.

"Besides, he doesn't have any assets," Norgard said.

During Monday morning's proceedings, Circuit Judge Jay Yancey read a statement about the case to 17 potential jurors, asking them if they were familiar with the case.

Six raised their hands, and lawyers, along with Yancey, interviewed each of them privately.

After those interviews, three of the jurors were excused.

Lawyers will interview the remaining 14 jurors as a group this afternoon, hoping to seat a six-member panel to hear the case.