Death Penalty Sought In Trooper Slaying
GRAND JURY BEING CONVENED
By CHRIS BUTLER

SEBRING — State attorneys said this week they intend to seek the death penalty against a 19-year-old Sebring suspect charged with last week’s shooting death of a Florida Highway Patrol officer north of Lake Placid.

The shooting is prompting Highlands County Court officials to convene their first grand jury in two years.

Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said late Wednesday that any trial involving the suspect might be at least two years away.
Meanwhile, Highlands County Court Services Director Bob Germaine said the 21-member grand jury is scheduled to convene the morning of Feb. 5 to determine whether to issue an indictment against Joshua Lee Altersberger, 19.

“I’m sure that’s what this grand jury is being brought in for,” Germaine said, adding areas more populated than Highlands County usually have grand juries established at all times because of higher crime rates.  Houchin said Highlands County usually averages one murder per year.
Altersberger is charged with first-degree murder in the death of FHP Sgt. Nicholas Sottile, 48. Sottile stopped a 2003 Toyota Camry on northbound U.S. 27 last Friday for a traffic violation. According to an FHP report, Altersberger’s passenger, Quintin Jerome Kinder, 21, then fled into a nearby orange grove. FHP said Kinder is a Georgia resident.

The FHP said Altersberger then shot Sottile in the chest and fled in his vehicle, later located in a Sebring orange grove.
Officers found and arrested Altersberger early Saturday morning.

According to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Altersberger was arrested two years ago and charged with battery, aggravated assault with a weapon and cocaine possession.

Kinder was charged with trespassing in a cultivated grove after surrendering without incident early Saturday morning.
The two suspects have been ordered held without bond and are currently being held in the Highlands County Jail.

Houchin said setting a trial date will take longer than any usual criminal trial, given the capital murder charges.
“I expect his defense attorneys will ask for a continuance. It’s also likely the defense will seek a change of venue,” he said, meaning the trial could take place as far away as Tampa or even Miami.

Tenth Judicial District Office spokesman Chip Thulberry said from Bartow that any of the suspect’s court-appointed attorneys are required to have at least tried a certain number of previous first degree murder trials.

Stetson University law professor Robert Batey of St. Petersburg said Altersberger’s young age could serve as a mitigating factor for any judge or jury pondering a death sentence, assuming he’s convicted.

“But in the end, the jury can only make a recommendation to the judge as to what the final sentence is,” Batey said.

He also said any appeals process after a capital murder trial is “notoriously slow.”

“There’s an extreme appeals process through the state supreme court. Then there is a period for the governor and his cabinet to consider executive clemency,” Batey said.

He also said a period of 10 years or more to carry out a death sentence after a conviction isn’t all that unusual.

“There’s a relatively high reversal rate in the appeals process in capital cases as opposed to other criminal cases,” Batey said.