THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080442
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Three North Carolina appeals court judges denied a new trial Tuesday to a Norfolk construction worker convicted of killing his live-in girlfriend and chopping off her head and hands.
But Michael Grant Dial's attorney plans to take the high-profile case to the state Supreme Court.
``I'm not giving up,'' said Kitty Hawk lawyer John B. Gladden, who represented Dial through two capital murder trials. ``I'm saddened by the court's decision, no doubt. But the odds of winning a new trial in an appeal are always stacked against the defendant.
``We plan to pursue the avenues of appeal for this case as far as it can go.''
Dial, 40, has been serving a life sentence in North Carolina prisons since a Dare County jury convicted him of second-degree murder on March 1, 1994.
He is in a state prison in Lillington and will be eligible for parole in about six years.
Tuesday, Judge John Martin of the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued an 18-page opinion saying the ``defendant received a fair trial, free from prejudicial error'' and that Dial's request for a third trial is ``without merit and may be overruled without discussion.''
Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette, who prosecuted Dial in both previous trials, said he's pleased with that decision. ``It says that the court did the right thing,'' said Trivette. ``The judge in that case made the correct decisions.''
Brenda Gail Dozier, a 22-year-old Norfolk cocktail waitress, had lived with Dial for more than a year before she disappeared on July 1, 1991.
Three days later, tourists visiting the Outer Banks for Independence Day discovered Dozier's nude, decapitated, handless body on the beach near the Nags Head police station. The body had washed ashore from the Atlantic Ocean. Relatives identified Dozier by a rose tattoo above her left breast.
In April, 1993, a Dare County jury found that although Dozier was last seen in Virginia Beach, she was killed in North Carolina. The panel split 6-6, however, over whether Dial was guilty of murder. The Superior Court judge accepted the jury's decision on jurisdiction - then declared a mistrial.
Another jury heard the same case the next year. This time, jurors were not asked to determine whether the murder took place in North Carolina - only whether Dial committed the crime.
After a 12-day trial, the panel convicted Dial.
Gladden, the defendant's attorney, argued that the same jury that decided the jurisdictional issue also should have ruled on the question of guilt.
Trivette said he, too, ``always thought that was the most important appeal issue in this case.''
State case law does not set a precedent for one jury deciding whether a court actually has jurisdiction to hold a trial and another panel deciding a defendant's guilt or innocence.
Gladden has 35 days to file an appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
``The state funded our appeal to the Court of Appeals,'' Gladden said. ``It's unclear who will fund the next step. But Dial's made it clear that he wants to keep pursuing his chance for a new trial.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael Grant Dial was convicted in 1994 in the murder of his
girlfriend, Brenda Gail Dozier. He will have his attorney appeal to
the North Carolina Supreme Court; that appeal must be filed within
35 days.
KEYWORDS: MURDER APPEAL by CNB