Prosecutor: Hit men hired to end custody fight

By Bo Rosser
Court TV

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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (COURT TV) -- A bitter custody battle left a mother of three paralyzed and breathing through a ventilator after her ex-husband hired four hit men to kill her, prosecutors say.

Ronald Samuels, 58, is accused of paying four men up to $25,000 to kill his ex-wife, Heather Grossman, on October 14, 1997.

He is charged with attempted first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Police say Grossman and her second husband, John Grossman, were driving to lunch in Boca Raton, Florida, when a bullet pierced a window and partially severed her spine. The wound left her a quadriplegic, and she now requires 24-hour care.

A second shot grazed John Grossman's chin. He told police that as he pulled away from the attacker's car, his wife's body slumped onto the center console.

Several witnesses identified the hit men's vehicle as a green Ford Thunderbird, which pulled up beside the Grossman's car at a stop light. The gunman poked his rifle out a back seat window and fired two shots before speeding away.

Police later traced the vehicle to Hugh Estess. The defendant and Estess had worked at the same insurance company in the 1970s.

Estess, who had an expensive crack habit, hired a drug dealer named Willie "T" Span to help in the assassination, according to prosecutors. But, they claim, neither man pulled the trigger.

After Samuels paid Estess thousands in cash for the hit, he spent most of it on crack and prostitutes, according to police reports.

Police believe Estess recruited another man, Eddie Lee "Slim" Stafford, to drive the car and Roger Runyon, who sometimes worked for Stafford, to shoot the Grossmans.

Geoffrey Pollock, a fifth man involved in the incident, may also testify. Pollock acted as an alibi for Samuels. According to police, he was with the defendant when news reached him that his ex-wife had been shot.

Four of the five men, who are expected to testify for the state, received immunity in exchange for their testimony.

Heather Grossman is also expected to take the stand. The 40-year-old mother flew from her home in Arizona to testify. Two nurses accompanied her to court on Friday, which was the ninth anniversary of the shooting.

The defense denies Samuels arranged the murder attempt.

Instead, defense attorney Edward Reagan said he is a victim of John Grossman's family's power. Grossman, who is now dead, was a son of the billionaire owner of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Grossman family wanted someone to be responsible and they chose Samuels, according to Reagan.

Despite the lengthy gap between the attack and the trial, jurors won't hear why the case has languished for so long.

Shortly before Samuels was indicted in 1998, he fled to Mexico. But life wasn't any better for him there. The former car dealer was convicted of drug trafficking after he was arrested with approximately 13 pounds of cocaine. He spent nearly six years in a Mexican prison before being extradited to the United States.

Judge Lucy Chernow Brown refused to allow the drug conviction to play any role in the trial.

However, jurors will hear about how the defendant and victim's relationship soured. Samuels, who made his fortune selling Toyotas in Pensacola, had over a million dollars in the bank but refused to pay the required $3,000 a month in child support for his three children, according to the prosecution.

Samuels even accused John Grossman and his mother-in-law of child abuse. No charges were ever filed and Samuels lost visitation rights during the three-year custody battle.

Shortly before the shooting, Samuels was ordered to pay his overdue child support or go to jail, according to the prosecution. Once Heather Grossman was incapacitated, he paid the $10,000 he owed and took emergency custody of the three kids.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

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