[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----WIS., N.Y., N.J., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 27



WISCONSIN:

Case demonstrates need for death penalty


Just a little note about the recent suspect captured in Wisconsin. It's
(for) people like him that Wisconsin should have the death penalty. If
someone can take a life so easily and just go on with their life as if
nothing happened, I believe that there should be something in place other
then life in prison.

Michael Laabs -- Oshkosh

(source: Letter to the Editor, Oshkosh Northwestern)






NEW YORK----re: federal death penalty

Death penalty trial in 2003 killings of 2 NYPD detectives


A man on trial for the execution-style killings of 2 New York City police
detectives in March 2003 was motivated by greed and his desire to increase
his stature in a violent criminal gang, a federal prosecutor told jurors
Monday in her opening statement.

Ronell Wilson, 24, told a young gang member that he shot the officers
during a gun buy because he didn't care about anyone, prosecutor Colleen
Kavanagh said.

Wilson faces the death penalty if he is convicted of murdering Detectives
James Nemorin, 36, and Rodney Andrews, 34, who were shot in the head and
dumped on a Staten Island street after their sting operation aimed at
buying a Tec-9 submachine gun went awry.

Kavanagh told jurors that the officers "had one of the most dangerous jobs
you can have in the New York City Police Department ... pretending you are
a criminal so you can fit in with the criminals, a good guy being a bad
guy."

"While trying to get a gun, just one more gun, out of the hands of a
criminal, they were murdered by a member of the gang, Ronell Wilson,"
Kavanagh said.

Defense attorney Ephraim Savitt asked the jury to keep an open mind,
raising doubts about the witnesses Kavanagh said she planned to call,
including other gang members who have been named as co-conspirators.

Savitt questioned whether the testimony of those people would be reliable.
"It makes it a travesty when we have to rely on witnesses like this," he
said.

(source: Associated Press)






NEW JERSEY:

IN JERSEY, A BIT OF JUSTICE


It's a small measure of long-overdue jus tice: A New Jersey appeals court
has hit the Garden State's most notorious cop-killer, Thomas Trantino,
right where he might feel it.

In the wallet.

In a unanimous decision, an Appellate Division panel ruled that the
families of the 2 Lodi police officers that Trantino killed back in 1963 -
Det. Sgt. Peter Voto and rookie Officer Gary Tedesco - can sue him for
wrongful death based on a new law that lifted the statute of limitations
on civil suits in murder cases.

Originally sentenced to die for the execution-style slayings, Trantino
escaped a trip to the electric chair when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed
capital punishment in 1972.

Then, 4 years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered him turned loose,
saying Trantino deserved parole unless the state could show that he was
likely to kill someone else if freed - a daunting task.

In other words, Trantino is walking evidence that there's no such thing as
a guaranteed life sentence without parole - the favorite alternative
offered by death-penalty foes.

To be sure, the Voto and Tedesco families won't see much cash out of this
decision: Trantino has little money, even though he agreed last year to
pay each family $250,000.

But he has announced plans to sell his jailhouse paintings - left-wing
elites just love that stuff - and publish his autobiography in Japan. So
at least there's the prospect of his having to surrender some money to his
victims' survivors.

As for the law, which Trantino fought, we think it's a good idea - given
that there's no statute of limitations on 43 years of family grief.

(source: New York Post)






OHIO:

More defendants turning to Alford plea ---- Jury trial viewed as bigger
gamble


Ex-Columbus elementary schoolteacher Gary Stroup made an Alford plea after
15 charges of child molestation.

A former Columbus teacher accused of molesting students avoided a trial
without saying the word "guilty" and still faces a 10-year prison
sentence.

Gary Stroup, 42, made an "Alford plea."

He is among an increasing number of criminal defendants who concede the
state has enough evidence to convict them of something but dont want to
face a judge and jury. So they turn to the Alford plea.

The Alford plea allows a defendant to avoid a trial and back into a plea
agreement without admitting guilt.

The plea has been an option since 1970 and resulted from a U.S. Supreme
Court decision in a North Carolina case.

Stroup struck such a plea this month in Franklin County Common Pleas Court
when he faced 15 charges of child molestation. The 4th-grade teacher at
two Columbus schools was accused of sexual contact with 9 children in his
classrooms during a 5-year period.

He did not want to admit that he did it, but he and his defense attorney
decided to plead guilty to two charges in an Alford plea, named for
convicted North Carolina killer Henry Alford, who went to prison
professing his innocence in a plea rather than face capital punishment.

The Supreme Court said the plea resembled a "no contest" plea, in which a
defendant acknowledges the facts of a case but does not admit guilt. An
Alford plea is different in that it does not protect the defendant from
civil litigation.

More than a dozen central Ohio criminal cases in the past year have ended
with an Alford plea, according to Dispatch archives. They include:

 A murder suspects brother, who aided in the killing of an Oklahoma truck
driver during a robbery.

 A Delaware firefighter charged with rape after a New Years Eve party.

 A motorist involved in a "road-rage" fight.

 A former juvenile-detention guard accused of assaulting a female inmate.

 A former official with the Ohio Office of Consumers Counsel accused of
accepting gifts from utility lobbyists.

"Whenever you take your case to a jury, it is a gamble. Its all about
reducing your exposure to prison time," said Terry K. Sherman, Stroups
attorney. "The name of the game is minimizing your losses."

The Alford plea is an especially helpful defense tool in crimes against
children, because "the consequences are extreme and the evidence is
usually thin," Sherman said. "Youve got to weigh the penalties."

It also avoids the potential trauma to the victims of having to face the
defendants and recount the incidents in a public courtroom.

Stroup lost his job, gave up his teaching license and faces up to 10 years
in prison, all without uttering the word "guilty." He is expected to
protest the facts when he is sentenced Jan. 19. 13 other charges were
dismissed, each carrying a 5-year maximum sentence.

The Alford plea legally changes nothing at sentencing, which is why most
prosecutors dont fight such a plea.

"I usually look people in the eye and tell them Im going to treat them the
same as if they did it," said Judge Daniel T. Hogan of Franklin County
Common Pleas Court. "The bottom line to some of them is what their
sentence is. For some people, its a matter of principle."

(source: Columbus Dispatch)