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By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal
With triple murder suspect Deandra Marquis Lee in attendance, Wednesday, Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Terri Bozeman Lovell took under advisement defense motions to seal court records, seal pre-trial hearings and to prevent attorneys and law enforcement officials from discussing the case with the media.
She also took under advisements defense motions regarding the viewing of evidence by the defendant and the qualification of potential jurors.
Defense attorney Jerry Thornton said he did not mean prejudicial information was being intentionally released but said, “That is the effect.”
Lovell also took under advisement motions to reconsider allowing the defendant to see physical evidence as well as heard a motion to allow him to visit crime scenes in Montgomery, Hayneville, Minter and Selma.
Lovell also heard defense motions regarding the qualification of potential jurors who would automatically vote for the death penalty as well as those who would not be in favor of the death penalty and the disclosure of relations between prosecutors and potential jurors.
Attorneys for the state asked that hearings regarding expert witnesses be limited to the use of public funding and regarding an examination of the defendant’s qualification to face the death penalty.
District Attorney Charlotte M. Tesmer declined to comment on the motions following Wednesday’s hearing. However, she stated previously, “Of course, he (Lee) is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.”
Lee faces six capital murder charges in connection with the 2012 deaths of 9-year-old twins, Jordan and Taylor Dejerinett, from Montgomery, and their 73-year-old caretaker, Jack Mac Girdner of Hope Hull.
On June 5, 2012 the bodies were discovered by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) on a dirt road off Alabama Highway 21 near Hayneville.
The three had been reported missing on Monday, June 4, 2012.
Lee’s trial date has been continued to the October term of court.
Defense attorneys Thornton and Logan Taylor of Hayneville represent Lee.