By C1 Staff
DAYTONA BEACH — A man sentenced to die for the slaying of a Tomoka Correctional Institution officer asked a judge to overturn his conviction due to defense attorneys failing to call a psychologist.
The News-Journal Online reports that Enoch Hall, 46, is sentenced to die for his part in the death of Donna Fitzgerald on June 25, 2008.
Hall was serving two consecutive life sentences when he killed Fitzgerald, stabbing her 22 times with a makeshift knife while she was supervising him on a work crew. Fitzgerald’s body was found over a cart with her pants pulled down, which prosecutors say showed intent to rape.
A jury unanimously recommended capital punishment after finding him guilty of first-degree murder in 2010.
Hall’s defense attorney during that trial was Assistant Public Defender Matt Phillips. Phillips said he chose to not call the psychologist during the trial’s penalty phase because he had more “bad things to say than good things.” He said that the psychologist would have testified that Hall suffered from “mild cognitive deficits.”
Phillips went on to say that calling a psychologist would have opened the door for prosecutors to call their own expert witness, psychiatrist Jeffrey Danziger, who could have said that Hall had considered raping Fitzgerald and had considered using her uniform as part of an escape attempt.