State Seeks Death Penalty in Tampa Interstate Baby Homicide

Prosecutors in Tampa have announced that they will seek the death penalty against Richard Anthony McTear Jr. if he is convicted of murdering 3-month-old Emanuel Wesley Murray in May. McTear is accused of throwing the infant on a concrete floor after beating the child’s mother. McTear then allegedly threw the baby out of a moving car onto the shoulder of Interstate 275.

McTear is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping, felony battery and burglary with battery.

The decision to seek the death penalty was announced at the beginning of a hearing regarding the disclosure of pre-trial discovery to the media. McTear’s defense attorneys sought to limit the disclosure.

Attorneys for several media outlets argued that the public has a great interest in how the case is tried and that most information about the crime and the defendant has already been aired. Interestingly, the prosecutors did not oppose the defense attorney’s requested limitations. The court, however, denied the request.

In Florida, in order for a jury to recommend the death penalty, it must find sufficient aggravating circumstances as outlined by the state statute. In this case, it appears that the state will rely on the following aggravating factors:

• The capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any robbery, sexual battery, arson, burglary, kidnapping, or aircraft piracy or the unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb
• The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.
• The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.

Those factors could be potentially be outweighed by consideration of statutory mitigating factors. Without knowing more about the defendant’s background, it is hard to determine which of these circumstances the capital defense attorneys might rely upon.