ShareThisDespite a confession broadcast around the world, the public defender representing Mesac Damas said that he plans to file a "not guilty" plea on behalf of his client, who is accused of murdering his wife and five children.
Collier County Deputy Public Defender Mike Orlando also said he had concerns about Damas' mental state.
Filing a not-guilty plea is standard procedure in most criminal cases because it gives defense attorneys ample time to review a case, ensure the arrest and confession -- if there is one -- was gained legally, and conduct their own investigation.
Investigators from the Public Defender's Office met with Damas, a cook at a Naples restaurant, for the first time Wednesday afternoon. The suspect was booked into the jail at 3:35 a.m. after being extradited Tuesday night from Haiti, where he allegedly had been in hiding since Friday.
An arrest warrant charging Damas with six counts of premeditated first-degree murder alleges that Damas slit the throats of his wife, Guerline Damas, 32, and five children -- Meshack, 9; Marven, 6; Maven, 5; Megan, 3; and Morgan, 11 months -- and stabbed each of them.
The warrant says the crime was committed Thursday or Friday last week.
Damas confessed to a Naples Daily News reporter in Haiti on Tuesday that he'd killed his family and wanted to die and go to heaven. He appears to have blamed his actions on the devil.
Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said the video, which was broadcast worldwide, would have little effect on his department's investigation.
"Any suspect in any case can make a statement either supporting or not supporting their involvement," Rambosk said. "We have a much different burden of proof that we have to proceed with. We're continuing to prepare a thorough investigation."
In Haiti, relatives said Damas was a polite house guest, if one with a puzzling background. When he arrived at the modest home rented by his cousin in Port-au-Prince's Clercine District, he spoke cryptically about his background.
He loved his family, he told the homeowner, but he had done something bad in his home. His children were not well, he offered. He read the Bible feverishly.
Both his hands were scratched, and the fingers on one were marked by deeper cuts.
"He kept saying he had to go back to Miami because he was in a fight with his wife," recalled the homeowner, Fadia Morency, in Creole.
As Damas spoke to Morency, the bodies of his wife and five children lay in their Naples home. Their throats were cut.
On Tuesday, Damas publicly confessed to the killings to the Naples Daily News, blaming evil spirits and the devil.
He said he had since found Jesus Christ and wants to die so he can go to heaven.
When police burst into the home on Monday, he held his hands above his head, a small black Bible in one, a bag containing his passport and medication in the other.
"He looked like he was about to leave, because he just put his suit on," said police inspector Livenston Gauthier, the officer in charge of the scene.
Morency's account that Damas arrived in Haiti on Friday is disputed by Damas' two cousins, Marise Paul -- who rents at the home -- and Daniel Antoine, her brother.
Antoine, 26, said Damas never contacted them or came to the house until Sunday, and that he only told them he had been in a fight with his wife that left her unconscious in the floor.
"When he got here on Sunday, the only thing he said was (he) had trouble with his wife, so he punched her and then poured some water on her head," Antoine said in French. "He said 'The children are home. I left them in the house'."
Damas spent much of his time in the house, sleeping, Morency said. He had a good appetite, and he often read from his Bible and a hymn book.
They spoke at length twice. Once, he began to tell her about his children but stopped short. He told her he had done something bad at home and needed to return to Miami. He asked her to go with him.
She considered it.
"Well, I found him strange, very strange," Morency said. "But I found him kind of nice, as well."
Shortly after their conversation, and after Damas had dressed in his suit, someone began banging loudly at the iron gate outside the home.
Officers with the Haitian National Police quickly entered, some of them scaling the wall outside the property to get inside, said Jean-Baptiste.
Morency recalled that Damas was kneeling against a bed and praying. Gauthier, the police inspector, said when he entered the home he saw Damas standing with his hands over his head, a Bible in one of them.
"He was going to explain something bad that happened to the children but decided not to," she said.
View videos: http://www.naplesnews.com/videos/damas-killings/
(The reporters work for the Naples Daily News newspaper in Florida.)
