Leggs indicted in murder
State's attorney: Evidence supports death penalty in Foxwell case
By Greg Latshaw Staff Writer February 10, 2010
SALISBURY -- A Wicomico County grand jury has indicted the sole suspect in the murder of 11-year-old Sarah Haley Foxwell, a move expected for more than a month as prosecutors built a case against him.
"The evidence has been developed as such that the state will file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty and the notice of intent to seek life without possibility of parole," Davis Ruark, Wicomico County state's attorney, said Tuesday during a news conference.
Thomas James Leggs Jr. of Salisbury, a 30-year-old convicted sex offender, was indicted Monday on first-degree murder, first- and second-degree sex offenses, and kidnapping and burglary charges. Police discovered Foxwell's badly burned body in a wooded area near Delmar on Christmas morning, a somber end to a manhunt effort by law enforcement and more than 3,000 volunteers.
Police first charged Leggs with burglary and kidnapping on Dec. 23, a day after Foxwell's family reported the girl as missing. Since his initial charges, Leggs has been held without bail at the Wicomico County Detention Center.
Ruark said it is impossible to predict when Leggs will be brought to trial. If the case proceeds as a death penalty case, the defendant will have the automatic right for a trial outside of Wicomico County.
Arch McFadden, an attorney with the Office of Public Defender for Wicomico County, said during Leggs' Dec. 29 bond hearing that Leggs denies ever harming Foxwell. McFadden could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Maryland law stipulates that only specific evidence, such as DNA, can be used to obtain a death penalty conviction. Ruark said last month that his office submitted about 200 items to the Maryland State Police Crime Lab in Pikesville for DNA tests.
"This is the start of a very long process," Ruark said Tuesday of the murder indictment. "This is not the end of the investigation
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100210/NEWS01/2100379/1002/Leggs-indicted-in-murder