Feb. 4 CONNECTICUT: Authorities arrest suspect in deadly jewelry store robberies In Alantic City, N.J., a man suspected of killing 3 jewelers during a robbery spree in New York and Connecticut was captured Friday, holed up with his girlfriend in a $39-a-night motel room a block from police headquarters. Christopher DiMeo, 23, surrendered peacefully after heavily armed officers from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies surrounded the Ascot Motel, where DiMeo and his girlfriend had checked in Thursday. Police evacuated the dingy 80-unit motel before a city police negotiator reached DiMeo by phone. After about an hour of talks, an unarmed DiMeo - convinced there was no way out - surrendered, according to Maj. John Hunt of the New Jersey State Police. "He was very calm," Hunt said. DiMeo is suspected in the Wednesday slayings of jewelry store owner Timothy Donnelly and his wife Kimberly Ann Donnelly in Fairfield, Conn. DiMeo is also suspected of killing Thomas Renison and stealing about $100,000 worth of jewelry on Dec. 21 in Glen Head, N.Y. He is also suspected of two other jewelry store robberies, in Westbury on Dec. 5 and in Nanuet on Jan. 26. He allegedly stole nearly $200,000 worth of rings. Police tracked DiMeo to Atlantic City, where he had apparently arrived on a bus Thursday. A "BOLO" - police lingo for "be on lookout" - alert was issued to casinos and local police by the state police casino unit. The alert said DiMeo was a known heroin addict and gambler who should be considered "extremely dangerous." DiMeo's girlfriend, identified by Ascot Motel workers as Nicole Pearce, had paid for the night in Room 203 when the couple checked in Thursday morning, according to a front desk worker named Jeff, who refused to give his last name. "She came down and was going to pay for another night but someone from the Marshals Service knew she was involved and they took her outside and searched her and took her away," he said. DiMeo never entered the motel office, according to general manager Betty Gatewood. The motel is across the street from the Tropicana Casino and Resort and is one block from the city's Public Safety Building, where New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey was huddling with Atlantic City school officials and representatives of local police and state police on Friday about a recent wave of violence in the city. "Talk about bad timing on his part," Harvey said later. "He's got the top law enforcement people from the county and the state literally one block away from where he's holed up." Hunt said there was no evidence DiMeo committed any crimes in Atlantic City. He was being held on a parole violation from New York state, but is suspected in 4 robberies and 3 homicides, Hunt said. In Fairfield, Conn., police said DiMeo would likely be charged with the Connecticut shootings. DeMio hasn't yet been charged by Fairfield police, although Fairfield Police Chief Joseph Sambrook said he hoped to have a warrant issued on Saturday. If ballistics from DeMio's gun match the Connecticut shooting, "I would think it would be a capital felony case" making it eligible for a death sentence if DeMio is convicted. "We are thrilled with the job all the police did - New York, Connecticut and New Jersey," said Mike Donnelly, brother of murder victim Timothy Donnelly. Flowers were left Friday in front of the Donnelly store. "Goodbye Tim and Kimberly" was written with a heart on a sidewalk sign nearby. The couple had been selling jewelry for more than 2 decades, with a large offering of Celtic items. "They always talked about one of these days they're going to make it to Ireland," friend Maria Regan said. Back in Atlantic City, police searched the motel room after the arrest, hoping to find the weapon or weapons used in the shootings. Officers at the scene wouldn't say what they found. DiMeo, who walked out of the room with his hands up, was hustled into a waiting sedan and taken to the Atlantic County Jail, where he was still being processed late Friday. He is expected to be arraigned Monday in state Superior Court, but an exact time had not been set, according to Ramona Howze, criminal division manager. The siege preceding the arrest shut down a three-block section of Pacific Avenue and cut off gamblers - or anyone else - from entering the Tropicana for hours. In addition to more than a dozen Atlantic City Police Department vehicles and about 6 state police SUVs, an armored state police vehicle with "Homeland Security" emblazoned on the sides screeched up to the scene. Officers in riot gear, with M-16 rifles slung over their shoulders, could be seen assembling outside the motel before the arrest. Police called occupants of the Ascot Motel and told them what was happening, telling them to stay put. Then police went room by room and escorted the guests out, Hunt said. (source: Associated Press) NEW JERSEY: Death penalty foes challenge changes in capital punishment protocol Dozens of death penalty opponents, including family members of murder victims, pressed their cause Friday at a hearing on proposed changes to New Jersey's procedures for carrying out executions. The nearly three-hour hearing before an administrative law judge drew an overflow crowd of about 100. About half of them spoke, calling for the state to do away with capital punishment or to open the process to wider public scrutiny, which they said would reveal its cruel nature. "Death is different than any other punishment. The New Jersey Department of Corrections would like us to believe it is a simple process," said Celeste Fitzgerald of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963. There are 13 inmates on death row, all with appeals pending in state or federal courts. Friday's hearing resulted from court challenges brought against the state's 1982 capital punishment statute. A year ago, an appellate court imposed a moratorium on carrying out any capital sentences until the Department of Corrections addressed the issues of having a medical team on standby should a stay be granted after a lethal injection has begun. Also, the department was directed to address rules that put limits on media access and barred inmates from making public statements in the 72 hours before an execution. Under the proposed protocol changes, the medical team and equipment would be on hand, and media access to condemned inmates would end three hours prior to their being administered a sedative, a step that would generally take place 1 to 3 hours before an execution. The hearing was limited to those narrow issues, a point Ronald Bollheimer, the DOC's supervisor for legal and legislative affairs, often reiterated to the crowd. Written comment on the changes will be accepted until Feb. 14. Afterward, the corrections department will review the comments and questions and publish its response in the State Register, at which time the amended protocol would go into effect. Kevin Walsh, an attorney with Fitzgerald's organization, called the department's revisions "symbolic" changes that fall short of the court's mandates, which he said also include explaining the reasons for limits on witnessing executions. "They've done so little to comply we could talk for 2 hours on what they've failed to do," he said. Some speakers urged the corrections department to open up the pre-execution process to show such details as a condemned inmate's final walk and the insertion of needles used to administer the lethal drugs. Others offered a variety of reasons opposing executions. Bill Babbitt said his brother was executed in California, despite suffering from a number of mental illnesses. Kirk Bloodsworth said he spent two of his nearly nine years in prison in Maryland on death row before DNA evidence exonerated him. Eddie Hicks, a retired Atlantic City firefighter whose daughter was murdered in North Carolina, said capital punishment does not offer victims' families closure. The process "prolongs our connection to the killer of our loved ones," he said. (source: Associated Pres) OHIO: Accused slayer could face death penalty James Earl Trimble could face the death penalty if convicted in three slayings in Brimfield Township. Trimble, 44, has been indicted on 3 counts of aggravated murder in the deaths Jan. 21 of his girlfriend, Renee Bauer, 42; her son, Dakota, 7; and Kent State student Sarah Positano, 22, whom he allegedly held captive in her Ranfield Road home until police captured Trimble the morning of Jan. 22. The indictments, handed up by the Portage County grand jury Thursday, become public when they were filed in court today. Each count carries a death penalty specification. In addition, he faces charges of kidnapping and aggravated burglary in connection with the Positano incident. Trimble also faces 2 more kidnapping counts and 2 counts of felonious assault. He allegedly appeared at the Ranfield Road home of Steven R. Reichard and held up him and his mother, Lois Scott. Police allege that incident happened between the time he shot the Bauers and held Positano captive. The mother and son said they were able to talk Trimble out of killing them. Trimble also faces a charge that he had 21 guns, which he wasn't allowed to have because he is a convicted felon. Among the weapons listed in the indictment are 3 M-1 rifles, the AR-15 police allege he used during the spree, a .44 Magnum, an Uzi, an AK-47 knockoff rifle and several handguns. Trimble was indicted on 12 counts of attempted murder last week for allegedly shooting at 12 police officers during the incident. In court Thursday, Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow issued a gag order. It says that no attorney can "provide any further information outside of the court proceeding which may in any way influence any pretrial publicity in this respective matter." Portage County Prosecutor Victor V. Vigluicci and other officials have refused to release several public records in connection. Vigluicci said he didn't want to taint the jury pool. (source: Akron Beacon Journal) ALABAMA: Magistrate rejects Rudolph bid to dismiss death penalty in trial A magistrate recommended Friday that federal death penalty charges be allowed against serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph, rejecting defense claims the law is unconstitutional and unfair. In a 70-page report, U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam recommended that a district judge let Rudolph stand trial on capital charges in a 1998 bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and critically injured a nurse outside a Birmingham abortion clinic. Putnam sided with prosecutors in denying Rudolph's arguments, which included a claim that very few people who could receive a federal death sentence are actually ever executed. The disparity means the law is "arbitrary," making it unconstitutional, the defense argued. The judge called the Rudolph arguments "irrational." "Presumably, if more defendants actually met their fate, the defendant would be more satisfied with the statute's constitutionality," he wrote. "The absurdity of the argument is apparent." Putnam's report goes to U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith for a final decision, but the defense could appeal the recommendation to a higher court. Jailed without bond, Rudolph is awaiting trial on federal charges of using explosives in a crime. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft authorized prosecutors in Alabama to seek the death penalty against Rudolph after his captured in 2003. Rudolph also is charged in the bombing that killed a woman during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and in a series of bombings in Atlanta in 1997. Authorities could also seek the death penalty in those cases. (source: Associated Press)
