Craig Titus update

[FUZO]

TweetBODYBUILDERS FACING TRIAL: Ruling backs Ryan on lawyer choice
Move allowed if defendant voluntarily waives right to 'conflict-free' counsel

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former national fitness champion Kelly Ryan can select a lawyer of her choosing, even though her prospective attorney's law firm also will defend her husband, bodybuilder Craig Titus.

Ryan and Titus are co-defendants in an upcoming trial in which they face charges of murdering their personal assistant, Melissa James, in December 2005. James' body was found in Ryan's burned car just off state Route 160 in Southern Nevada.

District Judge Jackie Glass postponed their trial, set to begin in April, so that Ryan could ask the Supreme Court if she could fire her current attorney, Greg Denue, and replace him with a lawyer whose law firm also represents her husband.

In the decision, justices said there is a strong presumption in law that nonindigent criminal defendants can choose their own lawyers if they voluntarily waive their right to a "conflict-free" counsel.


When a defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waives the right to conflict-free representation, the district court must accept that waiver," the court stated.

The justices also said if Ryan agrees to representation with the firm that represents her husband, she cannot later claim she was ineffectively represented.

The appeal to the Supreme Court was filed in the spring after Denue filed legal documents in which he said Ryan was a battered woman. He added that he planned to tell a jury that she was under the control of her husband when James was found dead.

Denue also asked that Ryan be tried separately from her husband. He added that Ryan was wavering on whether she wanted to fire him. Earlier, Ryan had fired another lawyer.

Denue claimed that Titus was trying to control his wife's legal defense through his lawyer, Marc Saggese.

In court motions, Denue said Saggese wanted to have Ryan "sacrificed at the altar of Craig Titus."

But Michael Cristalli, the lawyer who wants to represent Ryan, said Denue's comments were untrue. He said Ryan did not want to blame her husband for James' slaying. Cristalli and Saggese are law partners.

Chief Justice Bill Maupin entered a dissent in which he said "this attempt at joint representation has been mismanaged."

If Ryan is convicted, Maupin said there still would be an issue about whether she had an effective lawyer because of the dual representation

[daved150]

Tweetcant believe how that all went down....how could some people be so stupid to throw thier lives away? if in fact they did it (witch i believe they did) they should both be takin' out!

[horsepwr]

TweetThat is horrible what they did to her. I can't imagine how or why people do the things they do. That is pure evil. Just, ew, terrible.

[Klash]

TweetDamn, that doesn't sound like a smart move on Ryan's part.

[daved150]

Tweet

Damn, that doesn't sound like a smart move on Ryan's part.

yea, i agree...she needs her own rep!

[6p6]

Tweetcrazy people, but they were heavy into recs too and thats what happens

[T-Man007]

Tweet

crazy people, but they were heavy into recs too and thats what happens

Bingo!

The things you are capable of while on those things is unimaginable. Trust me. There was one night I almost killed a guy but my friends stopped me. I had no real reason for it other than I was out of my mind. That night was one of the pivtal turning points in my life. Had I been able to go through with that I would not have a wife and child right now. That stuff is scary stuff and people just do not think right when on that stuff.

And yet, LE finds aas to be a bigger threat to society than these rec drugs. What a bunch of morons!

[Blackfoot]

Tweet

Bingo!


And yet, LE finds aas to be a bigger threat to society than these rec drugs. What a bunch of morons!

Yep!

[GBAGH]

TweetI don't understand why you would put someones dead body in your own car? Why wouldn't you bury it someplace? WTF?

[cromespider]

TweetThis is the kind of **** that puts steroids in the media and it is the **** like this that had lead to the recient droughts

[O2BESOHUGE]

Tweet

I don't understand why you would put someones dead body in your own car? Why wouldn't you bury it someplace? WTF?

DIDNT THIS GUY EVER WATCH CSI?