Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 24, 2006 4:42:43 GMT -5
Pirro supports death penalty after man's exoneration
by The Associated Press
ALBANY - Republican candidate for attorney general Jeanine Pirro said Wednesday she still supports reinstating the death penalty even as her successor as Westchester County district attorney announced the release of a 33-year-old inmate wrongly convicted 16 years ago of rape and murder.
On Wednesday, Jeffrey Deskovic, now 33, was released from prison after The Innocence Project legal aid group took up his case.
Deskovic was convicted in the 1989 rape and murder of Angela Correa, a 15-year-old Peekskill High School student.
The jury knew that DNA evidence did not point to Deskovic, but police said he had confessed that he hit Correa with a bottle and put his hand over her mouth and “may have left it there too long.”
His lawyer argued that the confession was coerced, but the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to from 15 years to life. He was turned down for parole last year.
Pirro had scheduled a news conference at the former World Trade center site in lower Manhattan on Wednesday to contrast her support for the death penalty against the view of her Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo. Like his father - former Gov. Mario Cuomo - Cuomo is a longtime opponent of capital punishment.
Pirro canceled the event because of scheduling problems, spokesman John Gallagher said.
Still, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which has endorsed Cuomo, objected to the use of ground zero, saying “it is simply inappropriate to use it as a backdrop for political campaigning.”
The more sophisticated DNA testing that cleared Deskovic was conducted after The Innocence Project took his case. Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore joined with the group in calling for his release.
While Pirro was not the district attorney at the time of his conviction, Deskovic said he wrote to Pirro in 1997 after reading that she supports overturning wrongful convictions with DNA evidence.
“I said, ‘You know, there is an old case in your files that you inherited from Carl A. Vergari which shows that a man in prison, me, is innocent.”'
Deskovic, in a long rant against many people, said he got back “a very rude letter, the gist of which is, ‘Mr. Deskovic, the DNA issue that you raise was considered by the jury which convicted you. ... There will be no prison interview.”'
Pirro's campaign said Deskovic had been convicted by a jury and that there was no new evidence in the case then to consider.
The Innocence Project took up the cause after Pirro left the district attorney's office.
“I think that the death penalty option must be available in the appropriate cases,” Pirro told The Associated Press. “New York prosecutors have been extraordinarily select in seeking the death penalty” and advances in DNA technology give prosecutors and police the ability to “make absolutely certain” defendants in capital cases are guilty.
Pirro also said “it is extremely important that prosecutors work with organizations like Innocence Project” to get to the truth in such cases.
“Based on this new evidence, Jeanine supports the DA's decision to join in the application to overturn the conviction,” Pirro spokesman John Gallagher said.
New York's death penalty law, reinstated in 1995, was overturned by the state highest court in 2004 and since then the Democratic majority in the state Assembly has refused to approve a new version.
www.auburnpub.com/articles/2006/09/21/news/state/state01.txt
by The Associated Press
ALBANY - Republican candidate for attorney general Jeanine Pirro said Wednesday she still supports reinstating the death penalty even as her successor as Westchester County district attorney announced the release of a 33-year-old inmate wrongly convicted 16 years ago of rape and murder.
On Wednesday, Jeffrey Deskovic, now 33, was released from prison after The Innocence Project legal aid group took up his case.
Deskovic was convicted in the 1989 rape and murder of Angela Correa, a 15-year-old Peekskill High School student.
The jury knew that DNA evidence did not point to Deskovic, but police said he had confessed that he hit Correa with a bottle and put his hand over her mouth and “may have left it there too long.”
His lawyer argued that the confession was coerced, but the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to from 15 years to life. He was turned down for parole last year.
Pirro had scheduled a news conference at the former World Trade center site in lower Manhattan on Wednesday to contrast her support for the death penalty against the view of her Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo. Like his father - former Gov. Mario Cuomo - Cuomo is a longtime opponent of capital punishment.
Pirro canceled the event because of scheduling problems, spokesman John Gallagher said.
Still, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which has endorsed Cuomo, objected to the use of ground zero, saying “it is simply inappropriate to use it as a backdrop for political campaigning.”
The more sophisticated DNA testing that cleared Deskovic was conducted after The Innocence Project took his case. Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore joined with the group in calling for his release.
While Pirro was not the district attorney at the time of his conviction, Deskovic said he wrote to Pirro in 1997 after reading that she supports overturning wrongful convictions with DNA evidence.
“I said, ‘You know, there is an old case in your files that you inherited from Carl A. Vergari which shows that a man in prison, me, is innocent.”'
Deskovic, in a long rant against many people, said he got back “a very rude letter, the gist of which is, ‘Mr. Deskovic, the DNA issue that you raise was considered by the jury which convicted you. ... There will be no prison interview.”'
Pirro's campaign said Deskovic had been convicted by a jury and that there was no new evidence in the case then to consider.
The Innocence Project took up the cause after Pirro left the district attorney's office.
“I think that the death penalty option must be available in the appropriate cases,” Pirro told The Associated Press. “New York prosecutors have been extraordinarily select in seeking the death penalty” and advances in DNA technology give prosecutors and police the ability to “make absolutely certain” defendants in capital cases are guilty.
Pirro also said “it is extremely important that prosecutors work with organizations like Innocence Project” to get to the truth in such cases.
“Based on this new evidence, Jeanine supports the DA's decision to join in the application to overturn the conviction,” Pirro spokesman John Gallagher said.
New York's death penalty law, reinstated in 1995, was overturned by the state highest court in 2004 and since then the Democratic majority in the state Assembly has refused to approve a new version.
www.auburnpub.com/articles/2006/09/21/news/state/state01.txt