By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - William Dathan Holbert, alias "Wild Bill", and his partner Laura Michelle Reese were scheduled to appear in court three times during the month of May 2012. The first case was going to be for the murder of the Brown family, the second for the murder of Cher Hughes, and the third for the murder of Bo Icelar. Holbert's defense lawyer filed a motion to have all three cases combined or "accumulated" and to have them heard at once, as one big trial. In addition the defense lawyer also filed two other motions or petitions, asking for both Holbert and Reese to be released basically on bail while they await trail. As a result of these requests the Superior Court in Chiriqui - which will be hearing all three cases - was forced to cancel the three hearings scheduled for May 2012, until all appeals on these issues are exhausted.
Request Denied: The Superior Tribunal in Chiriqui denied all three motions filed by Holbert and Reese's defense lawyer. Now their lawyer will probably appeal those decisions to the Supreme Court in Panama City. The Superior Court in Chiriqui cannot proceed with the trials until the appeals are decided. So, that means everything is on hold for now.
Executive Summary and Short Answer Up Front: This types of motions and appeals will certainly delay the legal proceedings to some extent. The request filed by Holbert's defense attorney has already been denied by the Superior Tribunal. If appealed, I expect the lower court's decision will eventually be upheld by the Supreme Court of Panama. In the meantime, both Holbert and Reese will remain right where they are, in prison awaiting trial. I know there are family members of the victims who are watching these legal maneuvers intensely, so I'm taking the time to analyze and explain the issues, to look at the Panamanian law as well as previous case history. However in the end I think this whole tactic will simply delay things to some degree, but not have any real impact on the final outcome. (more) Click Here To Read The Full Article (1,409 words)














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In Panama there are 397,118 homosexuals, considering that 11% of the population admitted to being gay or lesbian, when asked by CID Gallup for El Siglo. According to the investigation, young people aged 18-29 years were more likely to report themselves as being gay, at 17.8%. Only 4.4% of those over 40 years said to have this sexual orientation. Respondents who expressed being gay were asked if they have publicly acknowledged their condition. Of those 63.8% said they had left the closet and admitted their sexual preference, compared with 36.2% who said that had not admitted it in public.






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