Following the release of a police file including details about other clown-sighting leads around the time, the trial of a Florida woman accused of donning a clown costume and murdering shooting the wife of a man she later married has been delayed.
According to a court document filed by defence counsel in the Palm Beach County case, prosecutors told Sheila Keen Warren‘s defence team on Wednesday that they had discovered the “clown sighting file” that the defence had demanded but that prosecutors had claimed they lacked.
The first-degree murder trial was set to begin the following week, but defence attorneys requested a delay in the move. On Friday, the jury trial was abandoned.
Along with appealing for Keen Warren’s pretrial release from jail, defence lawyers are also asking for sanctions against prosecutors for what they claim are instances of failing to disclose evidence to the defendant.
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According to the defence attorneys’ court petition, the 25-page “clown sighting file” has the names, addresses, or phone numbers of 40 reliable leads.
“Needless to say this will take the defense considerable time and resources to investigate,” the defense attorneys said.
In May 1990, Marlene Warren answered the door of her wealthy South Florida house and was shot dead in the face by a stranger wearing an orange wig, red nose, and white face paint.
2017 saw the arrest of Keen Warren in Abingdon, Virginia. Detectives at the time claimed that Keen Warren was the murderer based on evidence acquired decades earlier and DNA technological advancements. She worked for Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used car yard at the time of the shooting. In 2002, they got hitched.
Keen Warren entered a not-guilty plea.
