Here’s a better defense. He was drunk and thought he was at home run derby.
SAN RAFAEL — from www.sfgate.com – The attorney for the man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend with a baseball bat said Wednesday that the crime did not appear to be premeditated.
“I know enough about the case that I don’t believe it is first-degree murder,” said Terence Hallinan, a former San Francisco district attorney representing James Raphael Mitchell, 27, of Pittsburg.
Mitchell is accused of bludgeoning ex-girlfriend Danielle Keller, 29, to death with a metal baseball bat Sunday in the backyard of her Novato home, then fleeing in his car with their 1-year-old daughter.
Mitchell, the son of the late San Francisco porn impresario Jim Mitchell, was arrested about five hours later in Citrus Heights (Sacramento County). The girl was unharmed.
Marin County prosecutors have charged Mitchell, with murder, domestic violence, kidnapping, child abduction and child endangerment. The degree of the murder charge would be determined in trial. But a first-degree murder conviction, which requires a determination that the crime was planned, carries a stiffer penalty than second-degree murder.
Mitchell sat beside Hallinan in Superior Court at a hearing Wednesday in San Rafael and said nothing, even when Judge Kelly Vieira Simmons said, “Good morning.”
Hallinan declined to enter a plea, saying he wants to review the evidence first. Simmons set a July 24 date for Mitchell to enter a plea.
Outside court, Hallinan said he had held off on a plea not only to review evidence but to dampen public interest in the case.
“We’re trying to slow this thing down a bit,” he said. “Publicity never helps a case.”
Charlotte Huggins, an attorney who had helped Keller obtain a restraining order against Mitchell, questioned Hallinan’s assertion that the killing was not premeditated. “He brought a metal baseball bat,” she said.
A memorial service for Keller is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at the Novato Seventh-day Adventist Church, 495 San Marin Drive, Novato.
Trust fund
A trust fund has been established to help pay for funeral expenses for Danielle Keller and to benefit her 1-year-old daughter, Samantha. Donations can be delivered to Chase Bank, 1595 Grant Ave., Novato, CA 94945. Checks should be made payable to Chase Bank, “For benefit of Samantha Mitchell/Danielle Keller.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/16/BAU318P940.DTL#ixzz0LQRYBEKq