"The case of a Harrison
County man accused in a 2001 rape, robbery and home invasion has taken
another twist, as the attorneys spar over whether the defendant’s prior
legal counsel can testify next month at his trial. Joseph A.
Buffey, now 33 and of Enterprise, pleaded guilty at age 19 in 2002 to
two counts of first-degree sexual assault, and one count of first-degree
robbery, in the Nov. 30, 2001, attack of an 83-year-old woman. He
was sentenced to 70 years in prison and had served about 14 years of
that when the state Supreme Court last November decided Buffey would be
permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas. One of the most persuasive
arguments for Buffey: The Allan N. Karlin & Associates law firm of
Morgantown, and the New York-based Innocence Project, developed a
perpetrator who was convicted in 2015. In February, Buffey, who insists he’s innocent, officially withdrew his pleas, sending the case back to square one. Assistant
prosecutors Dave Romano and James Armstrong have signaled their intent
to put on the stand two of Buffey’s attorneys from 2002, when he pleaded
guilty. And they also have listed as a witness another attorney who
represented Buffey in a legal challenge of his imprisonment from
2003-2004. Bailey Glasser LLP lawyer Isaac Forman, who will be
among several lawyers representing Buffey at trial, argued Tuesday that
Harrison Circuit Judge John Lewis Marks Jr. would be committing
reversible error by allowing the attorneys to testify.........Marks
also intervened in an evidence-sharing issue between Karlin and Romano
involving interviews of individuals by police during the prosecution of
Adam Derek Bowers, the man convicted in 2015 of the attack. Karlin
believes the police may have interviewed individuals who could help
establish that Buffey and Bowers, now 30 years old, and 16 at the time
of the crime, didn’t know each other back in late 2001. Romano
indicated he believes they’ve shared all potentially exculpatory
materials with the defense, but he agreed to file something with the
court to respond to Karlin. The judge also ordered the state to
provide medical records of the victim to Buffey’s lawyers. Karlin said
the records could show that the woman, now in her late 90s and unable to
testify due to dementia, was in the early stages of the disease at the
time of the attack. Or, they might show that she wasn’t suffering from
dementia during Buffey’s first legal challenge of his imprisonment, in
2003-04, and therefore could have testified at that time, Karlin
indicated. The sides also sparred over whether the state should
have to specify which phone records from prison it plans to use. The
state has turned over a huge amount of recordings from Buffey, Bowers
and another prisoner, Karlin told the court.........Marks will decide both the law and the facts in the trial, which is to start the morning of Oct. 11 and last at least four days."
http://www.theet.com/news/free/attorneys-spar-over-whether-buffey-s-prior-lawyers-can-testify/article_f85eb67c-8c49-57e8-b53f-37ba90844d0c.html