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| Death row inmate to testify lawyers failed him |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/20/2003 |
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More than a decade after his murder conviction, death row inmate Sedrick Cobb will make his first appearance on the witness stand in a bid to get his conviction and death sentence overturned, his lawyer said. Cobb, who confessed to raping and killing 23-year-old Julia Ashe of Watertown in 1989, maintains he had insufficient legal counsel during his trial and failed appeal to the state Supreme Court. A hearing on Cobb's allegations began Tuesday in Vernon Superior Court. Defense lawyer David S. Golub said Cobb plans to testify Friday as part of his 18-point petition _ the first time he has taken the stand in the case. Golub is not arguing that Cobb is innocent. He said the former Naugatuck delivery man would not have been convicted and sentenced to die had it not been for several legal errors. Cobb, 41, is expected to testify that he would not have confessed to the killing had he known that his defense attorneys were trying to contact him at the time of the confession. He finished confessing before his lawyers reached him and advised him to stop. In his confession, Cobb said he flattened a tire on Ashe's car at a Waterbury department store. When she returned to her car, he offered help to change the tire. He later asked her for a ride to his own car. She agreed. Cobb grabbed her by the throat and forced her to drive to a nearby wooded area, authorities said. He bound her hands and ankles, and covered her mouth with tape, before raping her, carrying her to a dam and dropping her 24 feet into the icy water below, prosecutors said. During sentencing, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting that Ashe freed her hands and pulled herself out of the water. But Cobb allegedly killed her after returning to be sure she was dead, a move prosecutors used to secure the death sentence. |
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