Lee Mongerson Gilley and his defense attorney, Ed McClees, right, are shown in the 497th District Court at the Harris County Justice Center, 1201 Franklin, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. He is charged with capital murder in death of his wife, Christa Gilley.
Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer
Thousands of miles from a Harris County courtroom, accused killer Lee Gilley professed his innocence to a judge Monday as he appeared in an Italian court to plead for asylum, according to news reports.
Gilley, 39, who fled Houston last month with weeks to go until his capital murder trial, refused to waive his extradition back to Texas as his attorney, Dick DeGuerin, previously advised him to do.
READ MORE: Lee Gilley, accused in pregnant wife’s death, flees the U.S. ahead of trial
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“My wife is dead, and they wrongly blamed me,” Gilley said, according to NBC News. “That’s why I no longer have faith in the justice system. I am innocent.”
He acknowledged, however, fleeing the country to avoid going to trial in the October 2024 death of his wife, Christa Gilley. Authorities have not publicly said how Gilley fled Texas, but court records show he managed to secure a flight from Canada to Italy with faked Belgian documents after cutting off his ankle monitor on May 1.
His absence went unnoticed by local officials until May 4, when prosecutors learned from federal agents of his detention at an airport in Milan. Gilley had traveled under an alias as Lejeune Jean Luc Olivier, according to a federal court record.
“The only crime I committed was fleeing,” Gilley was reported as saying. “I fled to avoid being killed. I went to great lengths to escape and seek protection in Italy.”
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He chose Italy because of the country’s opposition to the death penalty, he explained in court. The comments — the first of his to be made public since his escape — followed a frantic inquiry by Harris County authorities to find out how Gilley escaped and what could happen next. It’s unknown when Gilley could return to Harris County to stand trial, but the judge has left open the possibility that the proceedings could be postponed until he returns.
By the time of Gilley’s escape, District Attorney Sean Teare’s office had not announced any plan to seek the death penalty against him at trial, which was scheduled to begin June 5 with jury selection. Prosecutors seldom seek the state’s harshest punishment, but when they do, they give enough warning for defense attorneys to research their client’s mental health, intellectual ability and upbringing to use at trial.
MORE COVERAGE: Lee Gilley seeks asylum in Italy weeks before his murder trial begins in wife’s death
Gilley has no known ties to Italy, his overseas attorney, Monica Grosso, said following his court appearance.
Last week, DeGuerin suggested the prosecution may have to formally announce to Italian officials that they won’t seek the death penalty against Gilley in order for his extradition to proceed. Italy, which abolished the death penalty in the 1990s, is among the countries that may not extradite someone if the death penalty is being considered in another jurisdiction.
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Grosso’s comments indicate Gilley’s extradition could be further complicated by the punishment range of the capital murder charge in Texas.
If a jury were to convict Gilley of capital murder without the death penalty as an option, he would automatically be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. That alternative punishment is deemed “noncompliant with European law,” Grosso argued, citing a recent European Convention on Human Rights ruling centered on Hungarian prisoners.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment about the next steps in Gilley’s case or its efforts to seek his return to the U.S., citing a gag order in Gilley’s case.
Judge Peyton Peebles ruled Friday to limit what Gilley’s attorneys and prosecutors can publicly say about his capital murder case following DeGuerin’s comments to several news outlets about the looming trial.
The order doesn’t prevent the parties from discussing legal procedures, scheduling or information from public sources, but attorneys typically use these orders to not discuss the case at all.
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The publicity prompted by Gilley’s arrest in Houston has followed him overseas. Several news outlets, including international publications in Italy and elsewhere, have published their own account of his escape to Europe.
Grosso warned the media exposure, even in Italy, could be harmful to her new client’s case.
“Trials should be held inside courtrooms, not in other venues,” she said in Italian.
Data Editor Caroline Ghisolfi contributed to this report.
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