Mental health officials subpoenaed
Judge denies seal on Gillis action; trial set Oct. 11
By ADRIAN ANGELETTE -- Advocate staff writer
Mental-health officials and the principal of a Baton Rouge high school will receive subpoenas to testify in the case of serial-killer suspect Sean Vincent Gillis. Defense attorney Kerry Cuccia filed the motion Monday seeking to have the subpoenas issued. Cuccia did not specify if the people he wants are being called to testify during Gillis' first-degree murder trial or at pretrial hearings. Cuccia also requested that the motion, which included the subpoena list, be sealed, meaning the documents would be closed to the public.
State District Judge Bonnie Jackson denied that request.
Subpoenaed are:
John C. Fabre, principal at Redemptorist High School. Gillis graduated from Redemptorist in 1980.
Don Shaw, director of medical records for Baton Rouge General Hospital, Behavioral Health Services of Baton Rouge General.
Jennifer Hardin, director of health information for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.
Darlene Davis, medical records supervisor for Southeast Louisiana State Hospital in Mandeville.
The custodian of records for the East Feliciana State Mental Health System, East Division in Jackson.
Cuccia said Monday he could not comment on the motion. He also said he could not confirm or deny whether he is preparing an insanity defense for Gillis. "The motion speaks for itself," he said.
Gillis is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 11 in the February 2004 strangulation of 43-year-old Donna Bennett Johnston.
Prosecutor Prem Burns has said she is seeking the death penalty.
Burns declined comment on the motion Monday.
Johnston's body was found Feb. 27, 2004, by people looking for a lost dog on Ben Hur Road.
Gillis also has been booked in the deaths of four other Baton Rouge women and another from Acadiana.
Gillis has confessed to killing all six women and has told authorities he's killed two others. The other two deaths remain under investigation.
In addition to Johnston, Gillis has been booked in the deaths of Johnnie Mae Williams, 45; Katherine Hall, 30; Hardee Moseley Schmidt, 52; Ann Bryan, 82; and Marilyn J. Nevils, 38, of Abbeville.
The two killings that remain under investigation involve the deaths of Lillian Robinson, 52, and Joyce Williams, 35, both of Baton Rouge.
Gillis' next scheduled court date is May 19 to handle any remaining pretrial motions.
Jackson has said she will know after the May 19 hearing whether the Oct. 11 trial date is feasible.
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