Bordt could face death in bathtub murder

After hearing from her husband, who flew in from Germany to testify against his wife, a Franklin County grand jury last week indicted Marianne Bordt on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in connection with the drowning death Jan. 4 of the couple’s 5-year-old grandson on St. George Island on Jan. 4.

For two hours on Feb. 25 in the Apalachicola courthouse, the 21-person grand jury, meeting in secrecy, heard testimony from only two witnesses, Heinz Bordt, and from Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Tom McGraw.

A 71-year-old German national, Marianne Bordt is accused of drowning her 5-year-old grandson, Camden Hiers, in the bathtub of a vacation home as they were completing their stay on the island.

Heinz Bordt, 75, who was on a shopping trip to Apalachicola when the alleged murder took place, told sheriff’s office investigators his wife told him she killed the boy because she didn’t want him growing up in a divorced home. Hiers was the son of Karin and David Hiers, who live separately in suburban Atlanta and who shared custody of the boy ever since divorcing in 2006.

The prosecution flew Heinz Bordt in from his home in Nufringen, Germany for the grand jury hearing. Florida law requires a grand jury be empanelled for all indictments for first-degree murder, a premeditated crime which can carry a penalty of anywhere from life imprisonment to death.

“At this point the death penalty is still on the table,” said Robin Myers, the assistant state attorney who is prosecuting the case. “We would have to waive the death penalty.”

Myers’ boss, Willie Meggs, state attorney for the 2^nd Judicial Circuit, said the grand jury hearing was not without dramatic moments. “It’s very emotional for all involved because Mr. Bordt has now lost a grandchild and a wife to this event,” he told a Tallahassee television station.

Marianne Bordt’s defense attorney, Maria Ines Suber, with the public defender’s office, had hoped to block Heinz Bordt’s testimony by invoking the “husband-wife privilege” contained in Florida law. That law asserts that a spouse has a privilege “to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing” communications intended to be made in confidence between husband and wife.

The statute, however, specifically excludes such a privilege in a criminal proceeding in which one spouse is charged with a crime committed against the child of either of them.

Myers said he believed a first-degree indictment would have been attainable had Heinz Bordt chosen not to testify, particularly since hearsay evidence, which is evidence obtained from a third party, is admissible to a grand jury.

“We like to be open and honest with a grand jury and we like to present sworn testimony,” he said.

In the charge of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony, the prosecution left open the manner in which Marianne Bordt allegedly harmed the grandson. The count asserts that Bordt committed a battery on the boy “by cutting with a knife, or did torture or maliciously punish a child by drowning.”

Circuit Judge James Hankinson allowed Suber to submit in writing questions to be asked the grand jurors. Her questions included whether jurors were familiar with the case via the newspaper, Internet or by discussing the case, and whether what they knew would affect their ability to hear the case. She also asked whether they had any thoughts or feelings about the fact that Bordt is not a U.S. citizen, and whether they had strong feelings because the alleged victim was a child.

After failing last month to get a broad ruling from Hankinson to shield the entire trial from the public due to intense pre-trial publicity, Suber has filed a specific motion to have Hankinson block disclosure of her client’s “alleged statements to the police and others” and hold a closed review to determine of they should be exempt from public disclosure.

Michael Glazer, an attorney for the Tallahassee Democrat, has weighed in against the motion, which will be heard Tuesday, the same day as the pre-trial conference.

Marianne Bordt is being held in the Leon County Jail.