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June 15, 2012

Unger hearing on hold

Convicted killer seeks new trial

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com

BEULAH — Convicted killer Mark Unger will have to wait a while longer to find out if he'll get a new trial.

A hearing to determine whether Unger deserves another trial began last month in Manistee County. Testimony took two days, but more witnesses are expected to be called before Circuit Judge James Batzer makes a decision.

Further testimony hasn't been scheduled, court officials said. Unger's attorney, F. Martin Tieber, said it likely won't take place until August at the earliest.

A Benzie County jury in 2006 convicted Unger of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of his estranged wife Florence Unger. Investigators said he killed her in 2003 as they vacationed at a resort area on Lower Herring Lake in southern Benzie County.

Unger's attorneys contend evidence that supported the first-degree conviction was flawed, and Batzer granted a hearing for them to make their case. It began in Manistee County because courtrooms there have teleconference abilities, and two doctors testified so far.

The Unger family lived in suburban Detroit and made a trip north to Watervale resort, where Florence's body was discovered floating at the edge of the lake. Mark told police the couple walked to a deck the night before, and he went back to their cottage to check on the children. Unger said his wife was gone when he returned, and he assumed she was visiting someone nearby.

But police believe he pushed her off a deck on a concrete surface, where she hit her head. He then dragged her, unconscious but still alive, into the water. Medical professionals at trial said she either drowned or died from the head injury.

Tieber called two neuropathologists to dispute testimony from a prosecution expert that Florence Unger was alive for more than an hour after she hit her head, a key piece of evidence used to point to premeditation. Tieber said their testimony was "very strong."

Unger was sentenced to life in prison. In 2008, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

The Michigan Attorney General's office — which originally prosecuted the case — declined comment.

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