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August 13, 2004

Trial site shifts in child abuse case

08/12/04 by Penny Colston -- HowardCountyTimes.com

A former ballet teacher convicted of sexually abusing two of his students will have a third trial involving a child abuse charge moved out of Howard County.

Circuit Court Judge James B. Dudley granted a request Aug. 9 to move the third trial of Jose Anibal Macedo outside of Howard County on grounds that intense media coverage may have influenced the potential jury pool, thus threatening Macedo's right to a fair trial.

Dudley ruled in response to motions Macedo, 43, filed requesting his trial be removed from Howard County and arguments presented by his attorney, Public Defender Louis P. Willemin, at the Aug. 9 hearing.

The motions and Willemin argued that consistent and frequent media coverage of the previous cases has spread increasingly negative publicity about Macedo that is concentrated in Howard County. Removing the trial from Howard County will help ensure the former dance instructor receives a fair and impartial trial.

"I think (Dudley) made the decision he had to make. It's not just the publicity, it's the fact that there have been those guilty findings," Willemin said, adding that the convictions have created an aura of guilt that could affect the third trial.

Macedo was convicted July 16, 2003 and May 24, 2004 of sexually abusing two preteen students in separate incidents in 2000 and 2001 during private lessons at his Advance Dance Academy in Ellicott City.

The Baltimore County resident is currently serving a six-year sentence for the attempted rape of a preteen girl in the 2003 conviction. He is set to be sentenced Aug. 13 in the May 24 conviction, of child sexual abuse and other related counts.

In the untried case, Macedo is accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl between April and May 2001 during private lessons at the now-closed studio. That trial was originally set for Sept. 8, 2004.

The trial will occur in Anne Arundel or Carroll counties, which are in the same judicial circuit as Howard, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for State's Attorney Tim McCrone. A date has not been set, he added.

Mary Murphy, senior assistant state's attorney, said she believes Macedo would have received a "fair and impartial" trial, as have other high-profile cases in Howard County, despite frequent media coverage.

Murphy added that the state nonetheless "respected" Dudley's ruling.

Motion filed for new trial

The lawyer in the case that yielded Macedo's second conviction, on May 24, 2004, has filed a motion requesting the former dance teacher receive a new trial in that case.

Motions filed June 3, 2004 by Baltimore attorney Thomas P. Bernier argue that Macedo's conviction was "against the weight of evidence" presented at his bench trial before Dudley.

The motion goes on to argue that the then-adolescent victim lacks credibility because she waited weeks before reporting the abuse to her parents and officials.

The girl's accounts of the abuse and the times she alleged it occurred to parents and officials also were inconsistent, further damaging her credibility, the motion states.

Furthermore, the girl, who testified during the May trial that Macedo fondled her as she prepared for private lessons, also alleged the abuse occurred at a time when she didn't have lessons with Macedo, the motion argues.

The state countered with a motion arguing that no grounds for a new trial exist and that Dudley "properly and adequately weighed" the evidence during the trial.

Dudley is expected to rule on the motion Aug. 13, the date Macedo is set to be sentenced in the case. Bernier declined to comment until after Dudley's ruling.

Posted by Nealus at August 13, 2004 10:32 AM

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