BREAKING NEWS: Meus Motion Hearing Date Set

WAUCHULA - A hearing has been set for Jean Claude Meus that could lead to a evidentiary hearing and potentially a new criminal trial.

Meus will appear in the Hardee County Courthouse at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 regarding his appeal of a vehicular homicide charge in 2003 for the much publicized death of Nona Moore, 40, and her daughter 8-year-old daughter Lindsey.

A written opinion from Judge Douglas A. Wallace, of the Florida Second District Court of Appeals, was released last fall suggesting that Meus had received ineffective counsel during his postconviction trial in 2005 at the Hardee County Courthouse.

Within the conclusion portion of the opinion, Judge Wallace suggested that during his postconviction trial, Meus was not granted an evidentiary hearing, which would have led to a key witness, John Otero, to testify during his trial.

Otero was a volunteer firefighter with the Zolfo Springs Fire Department at the time of the Meus accident. The opinion suggests that Otero would have been a key witness because he was one of the first emergency personnel officials to reach the scene of the accident.

Otero was off duty at the time of the crash and reported it to authorities, and spoke to Meus after it took place. According to the DCA opinion, Otero, who had practical knowledge of crime scene reconstruction and semi-trailer experience, would have testified that the prosecution's theories that Meus fell asleep.

During Meus' criminal trial, prosecutors said that he fell asleep at the wheel of his tractor-trailer, driving through a stop sign and eventually overturning his vehicle onto Moore's van at Seven Mile Point, just outside of Wauchula.

Prosecutors maintained that Meus fell asleep shortly before the accident, but Meus maintained throughout his trial that a vehicle had cut him off, forcing him to swerve into Moore's van.

Meus is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence.

For a complete story please read Wednesday's print edition of Highlands Today.