Tampa, FL: More on slain attorney...
Slimpickins
May 17, 2000 -
Slaying stuns Carrollwood
BRENNA R. KELLY and JIM SLOAN
of The Tampa Tribune
Multimedia Coverage
TBO.com
TAMPA - Four years after their
marriage ended in divorce, the
ex-wife of a prominent
malpractice lawyer gunned
him down in his home, sheriff's
deputies said, beat his wife
with the butt of the pistol and
leaped from the Sunshine
Skyway but survived.
Grover Cleveland Freeman, 54,
lived long enough to call 911.
He died before help arrived.
Friends were shocked to hear
of his death Monday night -
and to hear that former wife
Katherine King Freeman, 41,
was charged with murder.
Tuesday afternoon, a wreath adorned the entrance to
Freeman's law office and others dotted the oak-paneled offices of
Freeman Hunter and Malloy on the 19th floor of the SouthTrust Bank
building.
``Grover was not one to advertise his involvement in community affairs,
but he was there if you needed him,'' said law partner Howard Hunter.
``It's just been a very tough day in our office.''
Freeman's most famous case was the defense of Rolando Sanchez, who
amputated the wrong foot of a patient at University Community Hospital
in 1995. Sanchez received a six-month license suspension, a $10,000
fine and probation.
Beyond work, Freeman was a champion sports car racer and an
accomplished pilot, flying a twin-engine Cessna. Freeman and his former
wife lived less than a mile apart in Carrollwood, close enough for their
13-year-old daughter to bicycle from one home to the other. Police say
that just after 11:30 p.m. Monday, Katherine Freeman slipped into the
sprawling lake-front house at 3113 Mossvale Lane she once shared with
Grover Freeman. Investigators did not know how she entered undetected,
said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman Rod Reder.
Freeman's wife, Connie Freeman, 50, heard gunshots and ran to find her
husband
shot in the upper body - and Katherine Freeman holding a gun, deputies
said.
She repeatedly hit Connie Freeman in the head with the gun and tried to
strangle her, Reder said. Connie Freeman escaped to a neighbor's house.
Katherine Freeman fled in her 1999 Cadillac Catera. Deputies and
emergency vehicles descended on the normally quiet street in the Manors
at White Trout Lake. Detectives looked for Katherine Freeman at her
Carrollwood home at 2815 Linthicum Place. Six hours later, Katherine
Freeman parked her car on the Sunshine Skyway and jumped. She survived
the fall and spent at least 40 minutes in the water before a St.
Petersburg Fire Rescue boat found her at 6:47 a.m. Tuesday. WHEN
RESCUED, Freeman had two broken legs and a broken pelvis, said Fire
Rescue Lt. David Nolsheim. She probably also had internal injuries, he
said. She was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where
she was in critical but stable condition Tuesday night.
Connie Freeman was treated at St. Joseph's Hospital and released. Hunter
said he talked at length with Connie Freeman and said she was doing as
well as can be expected. ``Her husband was almost literally shot in
front of her,'' he said, adding that she was ``as surprised as anyone
else'' by the attack.
Connie and Grover Freeman were married in October 1996, six months after
Katherine Freeman and Grover Freeman divorced. Hunter characterized the
divorce as ``remarkably amicable,'' with no apparent lingering
animosities.
``I'm sure there were disagreements - they did get divorced - but you
certainly didn't get any sense that there was an explosion coming,'' he
said.
Divorce papers for Grover Freeman and Katherine Freeman give no hint of
special problems, using the common phrase ``irretrievably broken'' to
describe the marriage. The couple divorced after 10 years of marriage.
They had one child, Westin Kimberly Freeman, now 13. In the divorce,
Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Dick Greco Jr. gave Katherine Freeman
primary custody of the child but granted Grover Freeman ``frequent and
liberal'' visitation rights.
Grover Freeman agreed to pay $1,456 a month in child support to pick up
the cost of private schooling through high school and five years of
college tuition.
The court also ordered him to pay temporary alimony, for 36 months, at
the rate of $2,500 a month. That alimony ended last year.
FRIEND AND NEIGHBOR Laurie Winkles said Katherine Freeman was prepared
for the payments to end and never mentioned financial troubles. Winkles
said she cannot understand what caused her normally happy and
outgoing friend to apparently snap. Katherine Freeman seemed to be
all right after the divorce and was moving on with her life, she said.
She had been dating someone until recently. ``Kathie bought a house
around the corner so Westie could be close to her dad,'' Winkles said.
The girl would often ride her bike between her father's house and her
mother's home.
``I think they all tried to do what was best for Westie,'' Winkles said.
Tuesday, Westin Freeman was at her mother's home with her grandmother
and other
family members. The family declined to comment. ``It's a tragedy,''
Winkles said. ``This little girl's life is going to be ruined from all
of this.''
Grover Freeman had the house built in 1982, before he married Katherine,
Winkles said. The then-bachelor put a sign in the front yard that said
the house was being built for Grover and Charlie Freeman. ``Charlie was
his dog,'' Winkles said. KATHERINE FREEMAN had seen violence in her
life.
In 1983, then Katherine King, she was dating jewelry store owner Ron
Heinlein when he was slain in March in his store where they both worked
on Dale Mabry Highway. Heinlein, 30, was shot once in the head at Gold
King Jewelers. The slaying is unsolved. In February 1984, Katherine
King was working in another jewelry store when a robber held her hostage
at knifepoint.
She hit the silent alarm at Kathie's Gold Line Jewelry on Busch
Boulevard, and a
standoff between the attacker and police ensued. The assailant cut her
neck, then held the knife on her as he left the store and made his way
across the parking lot. He tripped, and police opened fire. King had to
have 45 stitches to close the wound. Winkles said Katherine never
talked about the attack and only mentioned in passing that a former
boyfriend had been slain. Tuesday afternoon, Pinellas County sheriff's
deputies served a Hillsborough County warrant charging Freeman with
first-degree murder, armed burglary and aggravated battery.
An attorney hired by Katherine Freeman would not let detectives
interview her
Tuesday, Reder said. The slaying was the second deadly shooting in four
days in Carrollwood. Earl J. Hinson, 21, and Harold Wolf, 27, are
charged with killing a Windy City Pizza deliveryman Friday night after
allegedly luring him to a home on Wolcott Drive. Killed was Eduardo
Natal.
Hinson and Wolf are also charged in the shooting Saturday of Michael
Robie,
co-owner of the Loop Pizza Grill, 13114 N. Dale Mabry Highway, and the
attempted shooting of a 16-year-old employee. Robie was in serious
condition Tuesday night at St. Joseph's Hospital.
Tribune researcher Lyssa Oberkreser contributed to this report.
PattyC4303
>Freeman's most famous case was the defense of Rolando Sanchez, who
>amputated the wrong foot of a patient at University Community Hospital
>in 1995. Sanchez received a six-month license suspension, a $10,000
>fine and probation.
THIS story fascinates me more with each update. Thanks for posting more.
I work a lot with attorneys on both sides involved in malpractice cases.
Trying to imagine the bummer that THIS malpractice case is the defense
attorneys most famous case. As in, not much room for mounting a "defense."
(I'd like to know is what the settlement to the plaintiff was on such a
case...)
So what did happen to make this ex-wife freak?
PattyC<---always sad to see the kids have to deal with losing both parents in
such bizarre cases