Prosecutors in Monmouth County are asking a Superior Court judge to disqualify the attorney for an Ocean Township man accused of killing his daughter’s former husband because they say the lawyer became a key witness in the case when his client tried to commit suicide. In a hearing today before Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. in Freehold, prosecutors...
Left to right, Kathleen Dorsett, her mother Lesley Dorsett and father Thomas Dorsett enter a courtroom at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold today. All are charged with various crimes related to the death of Kathleen Dorsett's ex-husband.Prosecutors in Monmouth County are asking a Superior Court judge to disqualify the attorney for an Ocean Township man accused of killing his daughter’s former husband because they say the lawyer became a key witness in the case when his client tried to commit suicide.
In a hearing today before Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. in Freehold, prosecutors are calling witnesses to recount the days leading up to Thomas Dorsett’s suicide attempt.
Dorsett and his daughter Kathleen Dorsett are charged with killing her former husband Stephen Moore on Aug. 16 after he dropped off their young daughter at his former wife’s house in Ocean Township. His body was found two days later in the trunk of his mother’s car, which had been set ablaze in Long Branch.
In a bizarre family reunion, Dorsett’s wife Lesley Dorsett is also in the courtroom with her husband and daughter because she is accused along with Kathleen of trying to arrange the death of Moore’s mother Evlyn Moore in January.
Evlyn Moore, sitting in the front row of the courtroom, spent much of the morning’s hearing directing hard, cold stares at Kathleen, who averted her gaze.
At issue is whether Thomas Dorsett’s attorney, Steven Nelson became a critical witness for the prosecution when Dorsett attempted to commit suicide in the parking lot of Nelson’s Neptune Township law office the morning after Kathleen was arrested for Moore’s death.
Nelson, who will be called to testify this afternoon for this hearing, found Dorsett, who was in the refrigeration installation and repair business, unconscious in his gold Ford F-150 pickup truck on Aug. 24. In his mouth was a hose connected to a box of refrigerant.
Thomas Dorsett was charged with murder later that day while he was recovering at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.
Prosecutors are trying to use the attempted suicide as evidence of guilt in Moore’s death. Lawence Welle, the attorney appointed to represent Dorsett at this hearing, contends Nelson should not be called as a witness _ and therefore excluded from being Dorsett’s trial attorney _ has no more information about the incident than any other first aid personnel or police officers who were called to the scene
Moore, 42, of Manchester, was involved in a bitter legal dispute with his ex-wife over increased visitation time with their daughter, who is nearly 2 ½ years old. After Kathleen was charged in his death, temporary custody of the child went to Moore’s family.