PEABODY — Prosecutors yesterday accused a Salem attorney of intentionally trying to delay a murder trial until after a key witness in the case becomes unavailable.
And, if that doesn't work, prosecutors say, Ray Buso is also deliberately setting up the grounds for an appeal.
"The commonwealth suggests that the court should be skeptical of Mr. Buso's timing," prosecutor Maureen Wilson Leal told Salem Superior Court Judge John Lu yesterday afternoon during a hearing where the judge was mulling a request by Buso to postpone the trial of Fernando Aristy.
Aristy, 25, of Chelsea, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the beating death of Chad McDonald, a 34-year-old father from Peabody who was found with severe head wounds inside a Lynn storage facility, where he was staying in October 2010.
The two men had previously argued over Aristy parking his Jeep too close to the gate of the storage facility, where McDonald worked.
A key witness in the case, Wilfredo Mordan, also known as Antonio Santos, had been deported after the incident but was brought back to the United States temporarily so he could testify at the trial.
Under the arrangement that prosecutors worked out with federal officials, Mordan will be in the United States until Feb. 10.
Yesterday, Leal, who was joined in court by First Assistant District Attorney Jack Dawley and several other high-ranking prosecutors in District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office, told Judge John Lu that they believe Buso had a plan to file a last-minute request to re-enter the case.
The prosecutors accused Buso of intentionally manipulating the system in order to prevent Mordan from testifying by approaching Aristy's family months after Buso was forced to withdraw from the case and just days before the trial was set to start.
In August, Buso, then facing charges of stealing advertising signs from a Salem business, was removed from the state public defender's so-called "murder list," a group of private attorneys who accept court-appointed cases for indigent defendants.
As a result, he was removed from representing Aristy and replaced by Salem defense attorney John Morris, who had prepared for what was supposed to be a trial starting yesterday.
But last week, Buso showed up at court asking that he be allowed to again represent Aristy, whose family has come up with money to hire him privately.
He also asked to postpone the trial to give him time to prepare.
Yesterday, Lu flatly refused to delay the case, which is now expected to get under way either next week or the week after that. Another case that was ready to be tried was allowed to proceed in the courtroom where Aristy is also scheduled.
"You should assume you have seven days until trial," Lu told Buso.
Buso then told the judge that he does not believe he will be "100 percent ready" to handle the case, something Leal suggested would eventually become the basis of an appeal if Aristy is convicted.
Buso also said that he intends to hire an expert witness in the case but does not know if that witness will be available.
The judge said he would like to have a third lawyer — neither Buso nor Morris — meet with Aristy to discuss the situation before making a ruling on the request to let Buso return to the case.
That could happen as early as today, when the lawyers will be back in court.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or jmanganis@salemnews.com.
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