Murder Antidepressants 25/04/1997 Florida Man Kills his Boss and An Attorney in Office Building Summary:

Paragraph 3 reads: "Records introduced in court depict Mora as an aggressor who quit his job and grew more threatening with the boss and his attorneys. At the time, Mora acknowledged, he was gulping handfuls of prescription painkillers and anti-depressants."

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DEFENDANT IN '94 DOUBLE SLAYING PORTRAYED AS ADDICT, CON MAN
The Palm Beach Post
April 25, 1997
Author: MATT REED
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

Julio Mora claimed he lived in constant terror of the people he eventually shot, the result of years of death threats from a former boss. His defense lawyer says Mora was insane in 1994 when he killed the boss and an attorney in a downtown office.

But the prosecutor in Mora's double-murder trial portrayed him Thursday as a con man who would say anything to get out of trouble.

Records introduced in court depict Mora as an aggressor who quit his job and grew more threatening with the boss and his attorneys. At the time, Mora acknowledged, he was gulping handfuls of prescription painkillers and anti-depressants.

"Why are you trying to deceive me? You are a liar!" Mora shouted at prosecutor Tim Donnelly, growing agitated on the witness stand. Before the shooting, Mora's ex-supervisor, Clarence Rudolph, obtained protective orders against Mora, the prosecutor pointed out.

Mora had sued Rudolph, 56, his former boss at the American Association of Retired Persons. After a deposition, he fatally shot Rudolph and Palm Beach County attorney Karen Marx, 30, who was four months pregnant. He critically wounded Rudolph's attorney, Maurice Hall, 47, of West Palm Beach.

If convicted of first-degree murder, and he faces two counts, Mora could be sent to the electric chair.

Mora claims Rudolph had spied on him, pumped poison gas into his apartment and stole his scientific secrets, including the genetic recipe for a new type of exotic pet.

Mora also claims Rudolph threatened him in a restroom before the deposition, so he was acting in self-defense when he drew his 9mm gun and fired.

But elements of Mora's story don't add up - even from a man supposedly suffering from paranoid delusions, the prosecutor says. For instance:

Mora, citing a back injury from a 1978 commercial jet crash, uses a cane and has appeared in court using a wheelchair. Mora was never in an airplane crash, although his seat did once collapse backward, Donnelly found. The IRS rejected Mora's 1979 write-off for $233,000 in casualty losses.

Mora, a Spanish immigrant, insists on being called "Dr. Mora" and smiled as he introduced himself to jurors as "Julio Mora, M.D., Ph.D." But Mora does not have medical degrees, something Donnelly pointed out on Mora's own resumes from the 1970s and 1980s. The Spanish universities he claims to have graduated from do not exist, Spanish diplomats say.

Mora told jurors that, despite a flurry of lawsuits he filed over the years, he "never sued for money." But Mora's 1994 lawsuit against Rudolph shows he sought $10 million in damages for alleged physical and emotional abuse.

Mora suggested he visited a Houston hospital for treatment in December 1993 and continued on to visit relatives in California. But car repair records show Mora spent the week in Las Vegas. And he could produce no maps that locate the California town of Rancho, where Mora said his relative lived.

Donnelly repeatedly confronted Mora with documents pointing out discrepancies in his story. Mora called nearly all of them "forgeries."

Mora's trial continues Monday.
Caption:
Julio Mora (mug)
Caption:
PHOTO (B&W)
Memo: Ran all editions.
Edition: FINAL
Section: LOCAL
Page: 3B
Index Terms: MURDER TRIAL SOUTH FL
Dateline: FORT LAUDERDALE
Record Number: PBP04250183

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DEFENDANT IN '94 DOUBLE SLAYING PORTRAYED AS ADDICT, CON MA