‘Unprepared’ defense attorney removed from death penalty case in Ft. Wayne
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The attorney for a man facing the death penalty was removed from the case after a judge said he was unprepared and inexperienced.
Nikos Nakos, the defense attorney in the state of Indiana’s murder case against Marcus Dansby, was removed as counsel by Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull Friday morning during a hearing.
Dansby faces four counts of murder related to the Sept. 11, 2016, deaths of 37-year-old Consuela Arrington; 18-year-old Traeven Harris; 18-year-old Dajahiona Arrington and her full-term baby named A.J., and another for attempted murder related in the shooting and stabbing of 14-year-old Trinity Hairston, all of Fort Wayne.
Since those charges were filed, though, Gull said there have been no depositions taken and no mitigation investigation has taken place, including acquiring a mitigation expert (though Gull signed the appointment for a mitigation investigator in June 2017).
What’s more, Gull argued that Nakos did not meet the expectations of a defense attorney in a capital case as laid out by the American Bar Association. Gull said Nakos has 22 open felony cases and lacks special training to represent a client in a death penalty case. The judge also said Nakos has been generally unprepared and has treated the case like any other case.
Prosecutors said they, too, have been concerned with the issues brought up by Gull.
Gull enforced Dansby’s 6th amendment right of high quality representation and removed Nakos. The public defenders office will appoint Bob Gevers and Michelle Krause to represent Dansby.
Nakos, who has twice filed motions to have Gull recuse herself from the case for violating the code of judicial conduct, said he plans to appeal the ruling.
Dansby is next scheduled to appear in court Feb. 2. He’s not expected to stand trial until 2019.
The charges against Dansby stem from an incident that unfolded around 4 a.m. that Sept. 11 morning inside a home at 3006 Holton Ave. There, police arrive to find the victims bodies stabbed and shot, and Dansby covered in blood, leaning over the couch, crying and asking for help, according to an affidavit. On him, police found a large blood-soaked knife with a broken handle, the affidavit said.
Police said that Dansby and Dajahiona Arrington had been in a relationship, but the pair had separated after the woman became pregnant with another man’s child. Nakos had said Allen County Prosecutors will argue that Dansby killed the family because the baby wasn’t his but a DNA test confirmed with near-certainty that Dansby was the father of the unborn child. Nakos said previously that it was illogical Dansby would have killed the family armed with the knowledge that he was the father of the child.
The Allen County Prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against Dansby.