Rooney Wants Dismissal in Gardner-Quinn Murder

November 22, 2006 - 10:15am

Michelle Gardner-Quinn (Photo courtesy of the Burlington Police Dept.)

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The lawyer for the man charged in last month's sex assault and killing of a University of Vermont student from northern Virginia is pressing for dismissal because of what he maintains is prejudicial comments by an FBI agent.

"A hearing is necessary so that this court may consider what remedy best accounts for the state's malfeasance," attorney David Sleigh wrote in court papers filed Tuesday.

Sleigh wants charges against Brian Rooney, 36, of Richmond, Vt., dismissed because FBI agent T.C. Fuller wrote what the lawyer called an "inflammatory" column about the case in a Burlington weekly newspaper, Seven Days.

Rooney has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated murder and is being held without bail in the death of UVM senior Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va.

Michelle Gardner-Quinn disappeared Oct. 7, six weeks after arriving in Burlington. Her body was found a week later near a gorge, and an autopsy determined she had been sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten.

DNA evidence ties Rooney conclusively to the crime, police and prosecutors have said.

Justin Jiron, deputy Chittenden County state's attorney, argued in court papers that dismissing the case because of the FBI agent's Nov. 8 column would be an extreme and inappropriate sanction for the court to impose.

Legal experts have said Judge Michael Kupersmith signaled that he agreed with the prosecutor when he said during a hearing last week that he doubted a hearing on Sleigh's motion would be necessary. Sleigh made Tuesday's deadline for filing additional paperwork on his motion to dismiss.

"The intentional publication of inflammatory and prejudicial information by agents of the state is misconduct designed to adversely impact defendant's right to a fair and impartial trial," Sleigh wrote.

The comment was included in a three-page brief filed in Vermont District Court in Burlington. "An evidentiary hearing is necessary to provide an adequate factual record for potential appellate review," Sleigh wrote.

"A hearing is necessary so that this court may consider what remedy best accounts for the state's malfeasance," attorney David Sleigh wrote in court papers filed Tuesday.

Rooney has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated murder and is being held without bail in the death of UVM senior Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va.

DNA evidence ties Rooney conclusively to the crime, police and prosecutors have said.

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