The bizarre murder case against David Superville took yet another twist Thursday when a handwriting expert testified that the Miranda rights form he was alleged to have signed was forged.
"I'm not an expert and that looks forged to me," Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jorge Cueto said at Thursday's hearing. "What I have read here is beyond the pale, it's outrageous."
Thursday's hearing was called to discuss Superville's motion to dismiss the case, after handwriting expert Howard Seiden testified that there was no doubt Superville's signature on the Miranda form was traced and forged.
Superville's attorney, Andrew Rier, claims he was previously told there was no Miranda form, and it wasn't until earlier this year that the form was turned over. Superville says he never signed the form.
Judge Cueto didn't rule on the motion, saying he'd give prosecutors until Tuesday to have their own handwriting expert give an opinion on the signature.
Superville is facing second-degree murder charges in the 2001 killing of James Duarte, who was gunned down outside his North Miami Beach office. Police say the hit man behind the shooting and the man who hired him fled the country, and that Superville led the hit man to Duarte.
Superville was arrested in 2007, and that's when the drama began.
The lead detective in Superville's case, Ed Hill of the North Miami Beach Police Department, admitted in depositions and in an internal affairs investigation that he had an affair with Superville’s wife, Ana Gulevitskaya.
Andrew Rier, Superville's attorney, says Hill showed up five days after the arrest and made contact with Gulevitskaya, and the two carried on a sexual relationship from 2007 to 2008.
Rier claims the two even entered into business together and that Gulevitskaya was even forwarding emails sent from her husband to her on to Hill without Superville's knowledge.
"I'm actually the one who figured it out originally," Superville said. "When I got out of jail, she said, 'Just clear your legal problems, we'll be back together.' And then boom, I found out they were in business together, traveling together, seeing each other while I was still in jail."
The relationship between Hill and Gulevitskaya raises a possibility that Hill may have had an ulterior motive to putting Superville behind bars, Rier claims.
Prosecutors have said the emails and Hill's affair with Gulevitskaya have no bearing on their case.
Hill is still on the force, despite two internal affairs investigations that sustained allegations against him of conduct unbecoming an officer. Superville and Gulevitskaya are now divorced.
