Drenea "Mama Dee" Rodriguez is serving a life sentence at Muncy State Prison in Lycoming County for planning the murders of elementary school principal Lucy Smith and her husband, Terry Smith, inside their Ephrata home.

Rodriguez appeared Wednesday before Lancaster County Judge James P. Cullen via videocamera from prison because she cannot travel for medical reasons.

Much of the hourlong hearing focused on negotiations with the prosecution on dropping the death penalty against Rodriguez.

The hearing also revealed that one of Rodriguez's attorneys nearly dropped out of the case shortly before it went to trial.

Rodriguez says her trial attorneys, Barry G. Goldman and William Boyd, provided an inadequate defense and convinced her to pursue a bench trial before a judge rather than a jury trial, where she felt she had a better chance of acquittal.

In exchange, the prosecution agreed to not pursue the death penalty.

She also blames the attorneys for not calling character witnesses in her defense and failing to tell the judge she was taking medication that hindered her decision making.

Her new attorney, Paul M. George, contends that the death penalty should not have applied in her case because she did not kill the Smiths.

She planned the murders, which were carried out by the Smiths' adopted son, Michael Bourgeois, and Landon May. Burgeois, then 18, was romantically involved with Rodriguez.

Bourgeois pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. May was convicted of first-degree murder and is on death row.

George questioned Goldman and Assistant District Attorney Craig Stedman Wednesday about negotiations on whether the prosecution would seek the death penalty.

Goldman said he and Boyd worked together on the case for about five months. Boyd wrote a motion outlining the reasons a judge should reject the death penalty in a jury trial, Goldman said, but it was never filed because Rodriguez agreed to the deal with the prosecution.

Boyd and Goldman met with Rodriguez at the county prison Dec. 16, 2002, to discuss the proposed deal.

"Mr. May had already received the death penalty," Goldman said. "We met for two hours with Ms. Rodriguez at the prison to discuss the situation."

It was then that Rodriguez agreed to a bench trial before former Lancaster County Judge Lawrence Stengel.

Stedman said the decision to drop the death penalty came after nearly a year of negotiations with Goldman.

"There were numerous discussions with both sides about what can we work out to get rid of the death penalty," Stedman said. "This was a serious case, but we needed to consider both sides. We also needed to negotiate with the families."

Goldman also revealed Wednesday that he almost walked away from the case.

"There was a conflict of interest," he said. "One of the witnesses ... regarding the planning of the (murders) was the daughter of a client of mine."

Stengel resolved the conflict before the trial began by allowing Boyd to question the witness, Goldman said.

George argued Wednesday that Goldman and George didn't do enough to prove Rodriguez's innocence.

He also said Stedman pressured Goldman and Boyd into starting the trial when they weren't ready.

Stedman disputed that, saying no one on the defense team asked for a delay, called a continuance.

Rodriguez's trial started about a month after the six-week May trial, which Stedman said left him exhausted.

"Had Goldman, Boyd or anyone involved in the defense even hinted at a continuance, I would've been the happiest person in the world," Stedman said. "I was physically and mentally exhausted."

Starting the Rodriguez trial so soon after May's trial "was an advantage for the defense because I was 'spent,'" he said.

During the trial, Stedman called Rodriguez the "queen of hate" and the mastermind behind the brutal Sept. 6, 2001, slayings.

The Smiths were tortured, beaten, stabbed and shot, and Mrs. Smith was sexually assaulted.

Prior to the murders, Rodriguez allowed Bourgeois, May and others to live at her Akron home. She wanted the Smiths dead, trial witnesses said, because they objected to her relationship with Bourgeois.

She also gave Bourgeois and May weapons, a car, money, duct tape and gloves to commit the crime.

Cullen is expected to take several months before deciding whether Rodriguez deserves a new trial. blog comments powered by Disqus