Lee County, FL: Two Lee County murder trials set to begin today

Four deaths attributed to pair of suspects
BY THOMAS STEWART • TSTEWART@NEWS-PRESS.COM • JULY 13, 2010
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1:10 A.M. — The murder trials of Mohammed Javed and Loubert Jules are set to begin today.

Javed, 30, of Lehigh Acres, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, 26-year-old Susan Vicars, in February 2008.

Jules, 22, of Fort Myers, is accused of killing three Bonita Springs men as part of a drug turf war in 2007.

This is the second trial for Jules. The first one ended in a hung jury.



Javed’s trial will be his first. He also is accused of burying Vicars’ body in a remote part of Lehigh Acres.

He was arrested in upstate New York in April 2008, soon after his wife’s body was found.

Javed’s roommate, Thomas Carroll Parker, was charged with being an accessory after the fact and will testify against Javed.

In October, a judge granted a motion to throw out evidence collected during a search of Javed’s home, ruling detectives misled the judge who signed the search warrant by leaving out key details.

The items collected during the search include DNA swabs, cell phones, clothing and personal effects.

Javed’s attorney, David Brener, declined to comment.

Jules, meanwhile, is charged in the deaths of Robert Barckley, 35, Scott Highfill, 44, and Willard Graham, 55.

The three men were found dead in a car in September 2007 on Ruth Lane in Lehigh Acres. Highfill’s body was in the trunk, while the bodies of the other two were slumped over in the backseat, with gunshot wounds to the head.

Prosecutors argued in the previous trial that Jules had been robbed by rival crack cocaine dealers at Graham’s house. Jules returned to the house the day before Graham, Barckley and Highfill were found slain in an abandoned Hyundai Elantra.
A jury was unable to reach a verdict in April.

Jay Brizel, Jules’ attorney, said his strategy will be no different this time around.
“In the cross-examination, we’re going to bring out all the inconsistencies (in the prosecution’s evidence) that were brought out the first time,” Brizel said.

He said one reason the jury may have been hung in the previous trial is because jurors were worn out.

With that in mind, he said, prosecutors may choose to leave out some of the peripheral evidence they presented last time.

Samantha Syoen, spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office, declined comment.