Published on Thursday, June 8, 2006
in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Attorneys argue for death row inmate

BRADENTON -- The attorneys who are trying to save the life of the man sentenced to death for killing a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pitched their case Wednesday to the Florida Supreme Court.

The inmate, Daniel Burns, 61, has been on death row since a jury convicted him in 1988 in the shooting death of Trooper Jeff Young, 28, who pulled Burns over on Interstate 75 a mile north of the State Road 64 intersection near Bradenton.

Young was gunned down after Burns grabbed the trooper's revolver. Burns fired a single shot into the trooper, who was on his knees, begging for his life.

The attorneys for Burns say he is mentally retarded and that, before his sentencing, his defense team should have called an expert to testify about his mental health.

But an attorney representing the state said Wednesday that it was a strategic decision by the defense not to call a mental health expert.

The Florida Supreme Court did not rule Wednesday on whether Burns' defense attorneys were ineffective in not having the expert testify.