A judge is expected to rule today on a request to stay the execution of convicted murderer Oba Chandler. He is set to be executed next month, but his attorney filed a motion in which he argued Chandler’s rights were violated during his trial.
The attorney wants to see another jury seated to determine if Chandler should be put to death.
Chandler was convicted of killing a mother and her two daughters, then throwing their bodies into Tampa Bay.
Oba Chandler’s attorney is scheduled to ask a judge this afternoon to block the lethal injection of the 65-year-old who was convicted of murdering a mother and her two teenage daughters in 1989.
Chandler’s attorney says he will argue the some of judge’s findings during the penalty phase should have been made by a jury.
Governor Rick Scott signed Chandler’s death warrant last week, scheduling the state to use lethal injection to put Chandler to death at 4pm on November 15th.
The bodies of 36-year-old Joan Rogers and her daughters, 17-year old Michelle and 14-year-old Christie were found in Tampa Bay near the Pier.
St. Pete Police detectives say Chandler invited the women, who were vacationing from Ohio for a sunset cruise. Once out on the water, police say Chandler stripped them of their clothes, tied their hands and feet and tied a cement block to their necks before throwing them overboard.
It took detectives nearly three years to finally track down the killer. It was a handwriting sample that they posted on billboards that led them to Chandler. A palm print on that handwriting sample confirmed they had their man.
Chandler will not attend the 1pm hearing, but will join in via a phone line from state prison.
10News
