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Jury selected for suspect in attempted hit on relative in South Florida
Jurors won't hear about his slaying of speedboat king in 1987
By Vanessa Blum | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
November 4, 2008
Lawyers selected a jury in Fort Lauderdale federal court on Monday for the trial of a drug smuggler charged with trying to put out a hit on a relative from inside a federal prison.
No stranger to criminal court, Robert Young, 60, is best known for carrying out the execution-style slaying of speedboat king Don Aronow in 1987.
The sensational murder, which went unsolved for years, earned Young minor notoriety in the lore of South Florida's cocaine cowboys era. He pleaded no contest to the $60,000 hit job in 1995.
But Broward County jurors won't hear about Young's violent past as they weigh the current charges against him: that he tried to arrange the slaying of his brother-in-law; that he possessed a firearm as a convicted felon; and that he gave that firearm to another felon.
Prosecutor Donald Chase will tell jurors Young wrongly thought Roderick "Rickie" Mudrie tipped off authorities leading to Young's arrest in 2001 and sought to have him killed.
Young has denied wanting Mudrie dead. His attorney, Paul Donnelly, contends his client never ordered associates to kill Mudrie. Donnelly says prosecutors waited too long to charge Young with the gun offenses, allowing a five-year statute of limitations to expire.
The trial is expected to last about one week. Young, who is currently serving a 10-year federal sentence for possession of a firearm, faces life in prison if convicted. Otherwise, he is set for release in March 2011.
Young was sentenced to 19 years in prison for Aronow's murder, but served just a fraction of that and was released in 1999. At the time, Florida prisons were severely overcrowded.
Jurors won't hear about his slaying of speedboat king in 1987
By Vanessa Blum | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
November 4, 2008
Lawyers selected a jury in Fort Lauderdale federal court on Monday for the trial of a drug smuggler charged with trying to put out a hit on a relative from inside a federal prison.
No stranger to criminal court, Robert Young, 60, is best known for carrying out the execution-style slaying of speedboat king Don Aronow in 1987.
The sensational murder, which went unsolved for years, earned Young minor notoriety in the lore of South Florida's cocaine cowboys era. He pleaded no contest to the $60,000 hit job in 1995.
But Broward County jurors won't hear about Young's violent past as they weigh the current charges against him: that he tried to arrange the slaying of his brother-in-law; that he possessed a firearm as a convicted felon; and that he gave that firearm to another felon.
Prosecutor Donald Chase will tell jurors Young wrongly thought Roderick "Rickie" Mudrie tipped off authorities leading to Young's arrest in 2001 and sought to have him killed.
Young has denied wanting Mudrie dead. His attorney, Paul Donnelly, contends his client never ordered associates to kill Mudrie. Donnelly says prosecutors waited too long to charge Young with the gun offenses, allowing a five-year statute of limitations to expire.
The trial is expected to last about one week. Young, who is currently serving a 10-year federal sentence for possession of a firearm, faces life in prison if convicted. Otherwise, he is set for release in March 2011.
Young was sentenced to 19 years in prison for Aronow's murder, but served just a fraction of that and was released in 1999. At the time, Florida prisons were severely overcrowded.
