An appellate court in Florida has approved a petition calling for Judge Michelle Sisco to be removed from the Julio Foolio murder case.
Following Alicia Andrews’ manslaughter conviction in October after an eight-day trial, her attorney, Jeremy McLymont, requested a delay in sentencing and pushed for Sisco’s removal from the case, citing “hostile comments” and “obvious bias,” according to Legal Affairs and Trial with Meghann Cuniff.
As a result of the ruling, Chief Judge Christopher Sabella has been directed to assign a new judge to the case.
According to Cuniff, McLymont claimed in the petition that Sisco failed to maintain “cold neutrality” and “did everything in its power to ensure that Ms. Andrews was convicted,” alleging the judge humiliated the defense team and treated defense witnesses more harshly than those for the prosecution.
While Andrews was cleared of first-degree murder in the deadly shooting of Julio Foolio, she still faced a potential sentence of up to 15 years for her manslaughter conviction. Three days before Judge Sisco was set to hand down sentencing, an appellate court approved McLymont’s request for a delay and gave prosecutors 30 days to “show cause” as to why the judge should not be disqualified.
McLymont praised the court for making “the right decision” and hinted that a push for a new trial is next.
“Everyone is entitled to a fair trial, including Ms. Andrews,” McLymont said. “We are convinced that a new trial should and will be granted after some litigation at the trial and or appellate level.”
