Hammer Defense Files Motion to Declare Death Sentence Unconstitutional

By Joel Frady

The Capital Defense Team representing Frederick P. Hammer filed three motions during a short pre-trial

meeting held on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Grayson County Courthouse in Independence, Va. It was the second pre-trial meeting that has been held for the case in 2009, but no date has been set for the trial. Hammer has been charged in the Jan. 24, 2008, murders of Ronald F. Hudler, Frederick D. Hudler and John S. Miller.

The first motion presented was a motion for discovery. The motion will require that the prosecution provide Hammer's defense team with all the information that they plan to use against Hammer when the case finally goes to trial.

Grayson County District Attorney Doug Vaught said that the prosecution "agrees that [the defense] will be able to achieve discovery."

The defense next filed a motion for a Bill of Particulars that will require the prosecution to provide the defense with all the arguments they are going to make that aren't directly related to the case.

Roger Dawson, a member of Hammer's Capital Defense Team, said that a bill of particulars is generally filed by defense attorneys "if the prosecution is going to have to establish some fact in the case other than the elements of the offense.

"If they're going to try and prove something in addition to that, the defense is entitled to know what they're going to try and prove and what facts or evidence they're relying on to prove that," he said. Dawson noted that he was describing bills of particular in general and not the motion filed in the Hammer case.

Vaught submitted the prosecution's response to the motion, but asked for the response to be sealed.

"These things have been provided to the defense and at this point those should be the only people who see that," Vaught said. Circuit Court Judge Brett L. Geisler agreed and ordered that the documents be sealed.

The defense also filed a motion to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. Geisler said that he would review the motion and make a decision at the next pre-trial meeting.

Vaught has stated that he feels the defense has not made a case strong enough to find the death penalty unconstitutional. Defense attorney Jonathon Venzvie said the motion "has to be filed.

"All of those types of objections have got to be raised at the trial level to preserve them," he said. "Nobody expects Judge Geisler to rule that it's unconstitutional, but it has to be built into the case at this stage or what's known as procedural default would prevent it from being raised on the appellate level.

"It's filed at this stage because it has to be filed at this stage," he continued.

Hammer will next appear in court on Wednesday, March 11, at 9 a.m. Hammer has been charged with three counts of Class-1 felony capital murder, along with four counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony; three counts of malicious wounding; statutory burglary while armed with a deadly weapon; grand larceny and robbery. All of the charges are felonies.