A Broward County judge ruled on Monday that Nathan Gingles, the man facing the death penalty in the Feb. 16 triple murders in Tamarac, can’t afford private attorneys and will keep his current public defenders, despite prosecutors’ arguments to the contrary.
Gingles, 43, is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the shootings of his estranged wife, Mary Gingles; her father, David Ponzer; and a neighbor Andrew Ferrin, who was shot when Mary Gingles ran into his home while trying to get away.
After allegedly shooting Ponzer first, Nathan Gingles followed Mary Gingles through her Tamarac neighborhood with a gun and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter as Mary Gingles ran from home to home seeking refuge. In the months before her murder, Mary Gingles repeatedly sought help from the Broward Sheriff’s Office and through the judicial system, writing in one court record that she believed her husband would kill her before the end of February.
The public defender’s office was initially appointed to represent Gingles, but the office quickly withdrew due to a conflict of interest because its attorneys previously represented Ferrin in a case. Since then, Gingles has been represented by public attorneys with the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel.
Prosecutors recently raised concerns that Gingles was not eligible to be represented by public defenders because he could afford private attorneys. At a hearing Friday, Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley pointed to Gingles’s jail phone calls where he called his attorneys Kaitlin Gonzalez and Maury Halperin “corrupt” and talked about hiring Vanessa Lezcano, a Miami family law attorney who represented him in past proceedings involving Mary Gingles.
“They’re in the same office building as all the other dirtbags here,” Gingles said of his attorneys in one jail call from June that was played to the courtroom Friday. “… My own counsel is flat-out lying to me. I want counsel that does their job.”
Judge Marina Garcia-Wood wrote in her order Monday that most of the jail calls played at the hearing were irrelevant to the issue. Gingles receives $3,900 a month in veterans’ benefits, has $102,000 in debt and owns no personal property other than a car valued at $6,000, which has been impounded, according to an application for indigent status he signed on Aug. 12.
Gingles and his sister previously received a $200,000 inheritance from their mother, but they both had transferred their halves back to the trust “well before” the February murders, according to the judge’s order.
Gingles’ attorneys testified that he tried to hire a private attorney to represent him, but the attorney required a $250,000 retainer, which he could not afford, the judge’s order said.
Gingles faces the death penalty in each of the three separate murder charges and is also facing additional charges of kidnapping, child abuse and violation of a domestic violence injunction.
In one call, the person to whom Gingles was talking suggested that Lezcano could help represent Gingles pro bono, but there was no evidence in the call that the attorney “would actually do so nor if her firm even handles capital murder cases,” Garcia-Wood wrote.
Garcia-Wood wrote that a private attorney would most likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in Gingles’ case.
“As noted, Defendant’s current financial status would make him unable to pay for the services of private counsel in this exceptional case,” the judge wrote. “Without question, this is a difficult case and not a typical felony or capital case.”
Sun Sentinel staff writer Shira Moolten contributed to this report.