I have a better question

A juror asks why is someone being tried for murder twenty years after the crime. From today's Tampa Tribune-

TAMPA - After a full day fielding questions from a prosecutor and a defense attorney, one man in a pool of 80 potential jurors asked a question of his own.

Why, he asked, is this murder trial scheduled to run 20 years after the crime?

Neither the prosecutor nor the defense attorney was allowed to provide the answer. They simply asked the man, should he sit on the jury, to keep an open mind and listen to all the evidence.

The reason for this week's trial: Oscar Ray Bolin's previous two convictions of the murder of Stephanie Collins were overturned by appeals courts.

In December 1986, Collins' body was found off Morris Bridge Road. On Nov. 5 of that year, prosecutors contend, Bolin abducted the 17-year-old from the parking lot of a Carrollwood drugstore.

He was convicted twice and sentenced to death twice.

The convictions were overturned for several reasons, including too much pretrial publicity, improper jury selection and improper testimony from Bolin's then wife.

Bolin has had other successes in the appeal process.

The 44-year-old also was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Teri Lynn Matthews, 26, and Natalie "Blanche" Holley, 25. Those convictions and death sentences also were overturned twice.

In 2001, at Bolin's third trial for Matthews' death, he was again sentenced to death. The Florida Supreme Court upheld that conviction in 2004.

Last year, in Bolin's third trial for Holley's death, he was found guilty of second-degree murder and is serving a life prison term.

Bolin is on death row, he is also in prison for second degree murder. What good does trying him again for another murder even after it has been twice overturned? Seems to me it is one big waste of money and resources.

What do you think?

Linked to- Bright & Early, Is it Just me?, Adam's Blog,