Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:39:05 GMT -5
NEW YORK: re----federal death penalty case
Some Charges to Be Dropped in Killing of 2 Undercover Detectives in S.I.
A federal prosecutor said yesterday that the government would be dropping
some charges in the case of a man who faces the death penalty at his trial
on charges that he killed 2 undercover police detectives during a gun deal
in Staten Island.
The statements by the prosecutor, made during a hearing in Federal
District Court in Brooklyn, came about a month after the government
disclosed that a central witness in the case against the defendant, Ronell
Wilson, 24, had changed parts of his story.
The prosecutor, Colleen Kavanagh, an assistant United States attorney, did
not say which charges in the current 29-count indictment would be
withdrawn from an amended indictment that is expected to be unsealed today
in the killings, which occurred on March 10, 2003.
But after the hearing, one of Mr. Wilson's defense lawyers, Ephraim
Savitt, said that he believed they would be 2 counts of obstruction of
justice murder, a charge that accuses Mr. Wilson of killing the
detectives, James V. Nemorin and Rodney J. Andrews, knowing they were
police officers.
Those charges carry a maximum penalty of death, as do five other counts in
the indictment.
The witness who changed his story, Omar Green, initially told the
authorities that he and Mr. Wilson knew that the two men were police
officers when Mr. Wilson shot them in the back of the head at point-blank
range in a car in Staten Island.
The detectives were intending to buy a gun from Mr. Green as part of an
undercover investigation. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Wilson and
several other men had set up a fake gun deal with the detectives as part
of a plan to rob them.
Four other people have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case.
State charges are pending against several others, who are cooperating with
prosecutors.
Jury selection was originally scheduled to begin on Sept 11. But after the
disclosure that Mr. Green had changed his story, the judge in the case,
Nicholas G. Garaufis, postponed it for 2 weeks - until Monday - in a move
that cleared the way for possible plea negotiations.
The talks never got off the ground, however, and jury selection is
expected to begin on Monday. The trial will probably not start until mid-
or late October.
Mr. Savitt said it was unclear how the reduction in charges would affect
the case.
"The announcement that they're reducing the charges is brand new," Mr.
Savitt said outside the courtroom when asked whether the defense team
would seek to ask the United States attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales,
to reconsider pursuing the death penalty for whatever death-eligible
charges remained in the new indictment. "So how it impacts the case, if at
all, is something we have to study and analyze."
(source: New York Times)
Some Charges to Be Dropped in Killing of 2 Undercover Detectives in S.I.
A federal prosecutor said yesterday that the government would be dropping
some charges in the case of a man who faces the death penalty at his trial
on charges that he killed 2 undercover police detectives during a gun deal
in Staten Island.
The statements by the prosecutor, made during a hearing in Federal
District Court in Brooklyn, came about a month after the government
disclosed that a central witness in the case against the defendant, Ronell
Wilson, 24, had changed parts of his story.
The prosecutor, Colleen Kavanagh, an assistant United States attorney, did
not say which charges in the current 29-count indictment would be
withdrawn from an amended indictment that is expected to be unsealed today
in the killings, which occurred on March 10, 2003.
But after the hearing, one of Mr. Wilson's defense lawyers, Ephraim
Savitt, said that he believed they would be 2 counts of obstruction of
justice murder, a charge that accuses Mr. Wilson of killing the
detectives, James V. Nemorin and Rodney J. Andrews, knowing they were
police officers.
Those charges carry a maximum penalty of death, as do five other counts in
the indictment.
The witness who changed his story, Omar Green, initially told the
authorities that he and Mr. Wilson knew that the two men were police
officers when Mr. Wilson shot them in the back of the head at point-blank
range in a car in Staten Island.
The detectives were intending to buy a gun from Mr. Green as part of an
undercover investigation. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Wilson and
several other men had set up a fake gun deal with the detectives as part
of a plan to rob them.
Four other people have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case.
State charges are pending against several others, who are cooperating with
prosecutors.
Jury selection was originally scheduled to begin on Sept 11. But after the
disclosure that Mr. Green had changed his story, the judge in the case,
Nicholas G. Garaufis, postponed it for 2 weeks - until Monday - in a move
that cleared the way for possible plea negotiations.
The talks never got off the ground, however, and jury selection is
expected to begin on Monday. The trial will probably not start until mid-
or late October.
Mr. Savitt said it was unclear how the reduction in charges would affect
the case.
"The announcement that they're reducing the charges is brand new," Mr.
Savitt said outside the courtroom when asked whether the defense team
would seek to ask the United States attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales,
to reconsider pursuing the death penalty for whatever death-eligible
charges remained in the new indictment. "So how it impacts the case, if at
all, is something we have to study and analyze."
(source: New York Times)