By Robert Zlatkin

On Wednesday April 3, at a birthday party, Pashun Jeffrey was found dead in her apartment. According to state officials, the apparent cause of her death was from stab wounds she received. To make matters worse, she was the mother of 2-year-old Taylen Mosley and the alleged murder occurred at his birthday. Tomas Mosley, Taylen’s father was arrested for the murder. Taylen was found later, rescued from a Lake. At first glance, the evidence against him seems overwhelming. Most news articles aren’t even bothering to use words such as alleged or suspected killer, they are simply stating that Tomas stabbed Pashun and killed her.

Cases like these are often the toughest for Defense attorneys to defend. Obviously, you have the moral dilemma of defending an alleged murderer. However, as defense attorneys our job is not to pass judgement on our clients. That is the role of the judge, rather our job is to represent our defendants to the best of our ability making sure they are offered a fair and equitable defense, no matter the circumstances. So, looking at this alleged murder critically, we must determine what defense we would use if we were Taylen’s defense attorney.

analysis deaths of St. Pete mother and son

The first defense is the most obvious but the most often overlooked. People are INNOCENT until proven guilty. That is the cornerstone of our criminal justice system. It is the job of the state of Florida’s job to prove any case beyond a reasonable doubt and it is our job as criminal attorneys to point out areas in which the Prosecution has failed to do so.

In Tomas’ case, we must look at the possibility that this was done in self-defense. Looking at the evidence, we can see that Tomas himself was covered in wounds and scratches. We must examine whether it was Tomas that was in fear of his life when he allegedly stabbed Pashun. However, the prosecution will have the strong rebuttals. The first is that Tomas is alleged to have been stabbed over 100 times. This type of alleged murder makes the argument that Tomas stabbed her in self-defense quite difficult. Next is the nature of the injuries to Tomas, the prosecution would obviously assert that these were defensive in nature.

With this amount of evidence, a smart defense attorney would be wise to examine closely the state of mind of his victim, not only at the time of the offense but also the mental capacity of his client in totality. In other words, a defense attorney can raise the defense of both insanity at the time of the offense, therefore challenging whether Tomas was of sound mind when this alleged incident took place. Also in addition, whether Tomas was competent. Under Florida law, a criminal defense attorney can bring to the court’s attention the competency of a defendant at any time if they feel that the defendant does not have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the criminal justice system.

There is no question that Defense attorney will have an uphill battle in cases like Tomas Mosley’s. However, the attorneys at Smith and Eulo have the experience, knowledge, and tenacity to take on ANY case. Don’t hesitate to call our firm at 352-WIN-4YOU if you or a family member find yourself arrested for a crime, we offer free consultations.