Hearing sets up second trial in Lee County manslaughter case

A man originally convicted of manslaughter for a shooting death is getting a new trial after having it reversed. At the center of it all is an alleged confession by a fellow inmate that won’t be used in the second trial.

Filed motions will be reviewed in Lee County court Monday ahead of Dalvon Deon Lawrence’s, 21, second trial. And Lawrence’s lawyer has already entered a written plea of not guilty.

Friedrich “Fritz” Timmermann died after being hit in the head by a stray bullet in 2017 while driving down Summerlin Road near the Whiskey Creek community in Lee County.

Lawrence was convicted of firing a bullet into Timmermann’s vehicle and killing him, but Lawrence will get a new trial because evidence originally used to convict him was decided to be unacceptable and an appeal was granted.

MORE: Appeals court overturns Lee County man’s manslaughter conviction

Attorney Pam Seay, an FGCU criminal justice professor, told us reversing a manslaughter conviction is rare.

“What they have to do is start all over from scratch,” Seay said. “That’s very unusual and really difficult. You have to go back and get all your witnesses again.”

Seay said prosecutors will have to focus on circumstantial evidence in the new trial.

During Lawrence’s first trial, the state called an inmate to the stand, who told investigators Lawrence confessed to the shooting. That inmate later took back the statement about the confession and said so in court during the trial.

Prosecutors then called investigators, who spoke to the inmate, for their testimony. But the appeals court said that was inadmissible hearsay, so the new jury will not hear about the alleged inmate confession.

Seay said disallowing hearsay is supposed to protect the integrity of the trial.

Another attorney told us the court must have thought using this statement about a confession was a big mistake.

“That’s not allowed in a court of law,” Attorney Michael Raheb said. “You’re trying to use an inconsistent statement against someone with the sole purpose of showing that they somehow lied.”