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COURTS Wimer pig farmer might play active role in her double murder trial Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 4:49 PM Updated Apr 13, 2015 at 5:10 PM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 4:49 PM Updated Apr 13, 2015 at 5:10 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Accused killer threatens disclosures • Accused murderer Susan Monica shot victims in head, prosecutors say... • Susan Monica's letter from jail, Feb. 18 • Susan Monica's letter from jail, March 4 • VIDEO: Susan Monica Arraignment » Social News Jury selection will begin Tuesday in the murder trial of accused serial killer Susan Monica while attorneys are still grappling over how much of a role the 66-year-old Wimer pig farmer will play in her defense. Court filings state that Jackson County Circuit Judge Tim Barnack told Monica during a Friday pretrial hearing that she has the right to defend herself and act as a co-counsel by cross-examining witnesses against her in front of a jury hearing her double-murder and abuse-of-corpses case. Prosecutors have balked at that so-called "hybrid representation," which past state and federal supreme court rulings have determined is not a right protected under the Sixth Amendment. In an objection filed this morning in court, prosecutors state that they previously agreed to a framework that would allow Monica to cross-examine witnesses against her but not in the presence of jurors. Defense attorneys would cross-examine the witnesses in front of the jury while Monica sat silent, then the jurors would be escorted out of the courtroom for Monica's cross-examination, the filing states. Barnack then would rule on which of Monica's questions were admissible, then have jurors return to hear the attorneys — but not Monica — ask the witnesses those questions, the filing states. Under typical self-defense situations, the defendant is responsible for conducting every phase of the trial, even if defense attorneys are appointed to advise the defendant but not conduct any portion of the trial, the filing states. Senior Deputy District Attorney Allan Smith's filing asks Barnack to amend the record to show that, if Monica is granted the right to cross-examine witnesses in front of jurors, that it be because it is a valid exercise of a judge's discretion, not a constitutional right. Monica is accused of shooting and dismembering 56-year-old Robert Harry Haney and 59-year-old Stephen Frank Delicino, whose bodies were found in January at Monica's 20-acre pig farm in the 9000 block of West Evans Creek Road. The indictment asserts that Delicino was murdered in summer 2012, and that Haney was murdered in September 2013. Monica was arrested Jan. 10 after she was found to be using Haney's Oregon Trail card, leading to a search of her farm that revealed the bodies. Monica in court previously had said Haney was found in her pigs' pond. Prosecutors in previous court hearings have alleged Monica shot both victims in the head, made incriminating statements to investigators about the crimes and that investigators have amassed mounds of evidence supporting her statements. FBI criteria for a serial killer is one who kills at least two people in separate acts that are not part of a running crime spree. In jailhouse letters to Barnack, Monica has railed against her attorney's possible attempt to introduce an insanity defense and even hinted that at least one of the slayings was self-defense. "I came before you a few days ago saying I wanted a new lawyer," Monica wrote June 7 on a Jackson County Jail inmate request form replete with misspellings. "One reason was she seamed more interested in me being insane than inocent and now she is doing exactly that again. I am guilty of not reporting a crime of selfdefence nothing more." Referring to similar cases cited in his objection, Smith wrote prosecutors worried that a murder defendant had no reason to follow the rules of the court and that the worse thing that could happen to the defendant was a mistrial. Monica may have given a taste of what her court decorum will be like during her Friday hearing. Smith's motion details how Monica told Barnack that she planned to ask objectionable questions during the trial so the jury would at least hear and ponder the questions even if witnesses never answered them. "There is no 'unringing' of a bell once rung," Smith wrote. "This very behavior is the type of danger this court is inviting into this trial by proceeding in the proposed fashion. The defendant has no reason to behave within the ethical constraints placed upon attorneys." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman .       By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 4:49 PM Updated Apr 13, 2015 at 5:10 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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