New trial ordered for New York City millionaire convicted of autistic son's manslaughter death
09/28/2020 2:35 pm PDT
via WPIX:
MANHATTAN (WPIX/AP) -- A federal judge on Friday ordered a new trial for a self-made healthcare millionaire who was convicted six years ago of fatally drugging her 8-year-old developmentally disabled child in a luxury New York City hotel room in 2010.
The ruling by Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave stems from a 2014 closed courtroom discussion that was requested by the lead prosecutor in the case. Cave determined the off-the-record exchange regarding online material had violated Gigi Jordan's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.
At the time, one of Jordan's lawyers repeatedly objected to the private discussion. Prosecutors plan to appeal the recent decision.
The New York Daily News reports the non-verbal boy died inside their luxury hotel room at the Peninsula Hotel between Feb. 3 and Feb. 5, 2010, after Jordan injected him with a fatal cocktail of prescription drugs, police and prosecutors said.
She jammed a syringe containing a deadly cocktail of painkillers, tranquilizers, and sleeping pills mixed with alcohol and orange juice down the boy's throat, the Daily News reports. Jordan claimed she then took a cocktail of drugs herself. Jordan was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May 2015 after being convicted of first-degree manslaughter.
The New York Post reports that Jordan had just complained about the trial online, and the prosecutor wanted to ask the judge to instruct jurors to avoid online posts about the case, and Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon then closed the courtroom to the press. The judge soon realized his error, and six hours later unsealed the minutes for the press, the Post reports.
But the right to a public trial had indeed been violated, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave ruled Friday in ordering Jordan's conviction vacated.
Jordan will be retried, Manhattan D.A. Spokesman Danny Frost said.
MORE:
