 Feds make push to keep Gabrion case By Ed White The Grand Rapids Press May 16, 2001 Federal prosecutors defending their jurisdiction over a murder in a national forest said the government "clearly owns" a portion of a shallow, mucky lake where the body was discovered. "Nothing more need be shown," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Meyer said in a court document filed Tuesday, eight days before a judge hears arguments over whether the case against Marvin Gabrion should remain in federal court in Grand Rapids. Gabrion's lawyers are asking U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell to dismiss the indictment and send the case to Newaygo County. The distinction is crucial. The government will ask jurors to sentence Gabrion to death if he is convicted of drowning Rachel Timmerman, 19. But if he is convicted in state court, the maximum punishment is life in prison. Trial in federal court is set for Oct. 1. Timmerman's body was bound with chains and cinder blocks when it was discovered in Oxford Lake in Manistee National Forest nearly four years ago. She and her 1-year-old daughter disappeared after she had accused Gabrion of rape. Gabrion's lawyers claim the water in Oxford Lake belongs to the state "under well-settled principles of property law." They noted that authorities sought a state permit, not a federal one, to dredge the lake for more possible victims. State law, the lawyers said, also gives control over boating and fishing to Michigan. Meyer, however, said there's nothing that bars federal authorities form prosecuting a crime when state and federal governments might have similar jurisdiction. An assumption that the "federal government must establish exclusive authority over the subject lands and waters is misplaced," she wrote. Meyer also referred to a recent ruling in which a judge rejected arguments that waters off a U.S. Navy base were beyond the reach of the government. In a separate court filing, the U.S. Attorney's Office responded to claims that the federal death penalty is unconstitutional. Gabrion's request to drop the death penalty "repeats and rehashes arguments that have been routinely made--and routinely rejected--in prior federal capital cases," Meyer said. "Federal courts have rejected these claims in well-reasoned decisions that rely on the controlling precedents of the Supreme Court." Gabrion's lawyers said local federal prosecutors did not recommend the death penalty but were overruled by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Meyer did not confirm or deny the conflict but said the decision-making process is "irrelevant." "The government is under no obligation" to explain why the death penalty is pursued in some cases," she wrote. "The attorney general," Meyer said, "ultimately decides whether the government will seek a death sentence." PHOTO NEXT HOME If you have any information, Contact: Michigan State Police at: (231)652-1662 The FBI at: (616)456-5489 The Silent Observer at: (616)774-2345 Thank you for caring! |
