Davis Gets New Lawyer, Quits Defending Himself

BARTOW | Leon Davis, accused in Polk County's deadliest murder rampage, got a new lawyer Thursday and abandoned defending himself against five counts of murder.

The 30-year-old Lake Wales man is accused of killing two women, a newborn and two men in two separate, unrelated attacks.

During a Thursday hearing, Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter expressed concern about the lack of progress in preparing Davis' two murder cases for trial.

"We've already spent almost a year doing nothing," the judge said.

The primary problem has been that Davis has changed lawyers twice and, for about the last two months, has insisted on exercising his right to represent himself.

Davis, a high school graduate, does not have legal training.

Davis requested the Thursday hearing to dismiss his "standby counsel" and appoint a new lawyer.

He complained about difficulties that he has had trying to contact his standby counsel for help and trying to get his murder cases ready for trial while incarcerated in the Polk County Jail. His standby counsel was Stephen Fisher, a lawyer with the Florida Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel.

No depositions of witnesses have been taken or scheduled to be taken in either of his cases.

Assistant State Attorney John Aguero said prosecutors would be prepared for trial - whether Davis was ready or not.

"Mr. Davis is just finding out what it's like to try to conduct his own defense," Aguero said.

Hunter asked Davis whether he wanted to have a new lawyer to represent him.

Davis agreed.

Hunter said he would appoint Robert Norgard to serve as Davis' new lawyer.

"It's time we got to work," Hunter told Davis.

The Bartow lawyer has represented many high-profile defendants, including mass murderer Nelson Ivan Serrano, who was convicted in 2006 of four counts of first-degree murder.

Serrano, 68, was found guilty of the 1997 murder of four people at Erie Manufacturing in Bartow. Those who were slain were George Patisso Jr., 27, George Gonsalves, Frank Dosso and Diane Dosso Patisso. He was sentenced to death in June 2007. Prosecutors said during the trial that Serrano killed his former partner, Gonsalves, and the two men in a dispute over the business. Diane Patisso is thought to have been killed when she walked in on the other murders

Davis is charged with fatally shooting two employees, Pravinkumar Patel and Dashrath Patel, at a BP gas station near Lake Alfred on Dec. 7, 2007.

He is also accused of robbing a Lake Wales insurance office Dec. 13, 2007, where two women were doused with gasoline and set on fire.

His trial for that case is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2010.

Juanita "Jane" Luciano and Yvonne Bustamante later died from their injuries. Luciano's infant son, who was delivered by Caesarean section after the attack, also died.

After Thursday's hearing, Alicia Littleton, Bustamante's aunt, said she hoped that Davis' decision to have a lawyer represent him would help the murder cases move along toward trial.

"He should have done that a long time ago," she said. "It's just wasting time."

[ Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or (863) 802-7536. ]