Greta Lindecrantz, a defense investigator from Colorado, was jailed for refusing to testify for prosecutors in a death penalty appeal
A Colorado criminal defense investigator jailed for refusing to testify in a death penalty case now plans to take the stand because it might help save the defendant’s life.
Greta Lindecrantz, 67, a Mennonite who opposes capital punishment, refused to testify for prosecutors during an appeal of the conviction and death sentence of Robert Ray, fearing her testimony could be used to help execute him.
The investigator is now set to testify after Ray’s lawyer said her refusal could actually put the man’s life at risk, according to court documents filed Saturday.
‘Based on this dramatic change in circumstance, she has concluded that her religious principles honoring human life now compel that she must testify,’ Lindecrantz’s lawyer, Mari Newman, wrote in the document.
Lindecrantz worked for Ray’s defense team during his first trial in 2009 where he received a death penalty sentence.
Her job on the team was to investigate and find information to convince the jury that Ray did not deserve the death penalty once he was convicted of the murder of two people.
Lindecrantz, a Mennonite who opposes capital punishment, did not want to risk her testimony being used to help execute the defendant
Lindecrantz worked on Ray’s original legal team, focusing on finding things that might persuade jurors to vote against the death penalty.
His current lawyers are challenging his 2009 conviction and death sentence partly by arguing that he did not have an effective defense.
Robert Ray was found guilty of killing two people in 2005. He was sentenced to the death penalty in 2009 but is now appealing the decision
Prosecutors subpoenaed Lindecrantz to testify to back up their case that he did have good representation from his publicly-funded defense team.
They questioned Ray’s original lawyers as part of the appeal proceedings.
One of Ray’s current lawyers, Mary Claire Mulligan, declined to comment on the defense’s position on Lindecrantz’s testimony, citing a gag order in the case and court rules.
Lindecrantz was held in contempt of court on Feb. 26 for refusing to testify and has been jailed since.
She filed an emergency motion on Friday in a bid for freedom, but the court denied her motion.
It’s not clear how soon she could be released and called to testify after she agreed on Saturday to take the stand.
Lindecrantz is a member of the Mennonite Church USA, a Protestant denomination that opposes acts of violence, including executions and war.
Ray and co-defendant Sir Mario Owens were sentenced to death for the 2005 killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe.
Marshall-Fields had witnessed an earlier shooting that Owens was convicted of committing.