Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 20, 2006 15:10:44 GMT -5
Dandridge's plea deal disappoints victims' family members, detectives
Ray Dandridge will die in prison for what he did.
For some family members of the people he killed, it is not enough.
"I feel he should have died," said Daisy Adams, the sister of Mary Tucker,
who was slain Jan. 6 in her East Broad Rock Road home along with her
daughter, Ashley Baskerville, and Tucker's husband, Percyell Tucker.
"I don't feel he should wake up every day and breathe."
Adams spoke outside the John Marshall Courts Building yesterday afternoon
after hearing Dandridge enter a guilty plea to the slayings in exchange
for 3 sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole or
appeal.
She was among a dozen or so relatives of the Tuckers who sat through the
capital-murder trial of Dandridge, 29, for the past 2 days. Had Dandridge
been convicted of capital murder by a jury, the panel could have
considered giving him the death penalty.
"He showed no remorse. Nothing," Adams continued. "It was just like he
didn't care. He gets to breathe every day, and my sister's gone."
The disappointment was not limited to family members. Prosecutors and the
teams of Richmond and Philadelphia homicide detectives who cracked the
case wanted the death penalty for Dandridge.
But doubt raised by Dandridge's defense team during the trial over exactly
whose actions, and what instrument, caused the suffocation deaths of the
Tuckers and Baskerville prompted prosecutors to negotiate a plea.
The doubt raised concerns that Circuit Judge Richard D. Taylor Jr. would
allow the jury to consider a first-degree murder conviction as an
alternative to capital murder. People convicted of first-degree murder can
face 20 years to life in prison.
Even if prosecutors had been able to win a capital-murder conviction,
getting a jury to return a sentence of death -- as opposed to life without
parole -- could have been difficult.
Defense and prosecuting attorneys acknowledged mitigating factors in the
background of Dandridge -- a high school dropout with a borderline IQ.
Evidence in the Harvey and Tucker/Baskerville slayings suggested he was
more of a follower in Richmond's New Year's week carnage to the homicidal
lead of his uncle, Ricky Javon Gray.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Baskerville and Tucker families,"
said Richmond homicide detective Sgt. Martin A. Kochell.
"We hope they can have closure and begin to heal."
Kochell called Dandridge a monster. "There's nothing good about him. And
he's going to be with people who are exactly like him."
Mary Tucker's other sister, Joanne Barnes, was also hoping Dandridge's
case would have gone to the jury and resulted in a conviction, with the
death penalty as punishment. But she said yesterday that she could be
content with the negotiated plea agreement that will keep him behind bars
for the rest of his life.
"I was happy when he said he was guilty, very pleased with that," she said
outside the courthouse.
"I think he got what he deserved. At least I know he won't get out."
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Ray Dandridge will die in prison for what he did.
For some family members of the people he killed, it is not enough.
"I feel he should have died," said Daisy Adams, the sister of Mary Tucker,
who was slain Jan. 6 in her East Broad Rock Road home along with her
daughter, Ashley Baskerville, and Tucker's husband, Percyell Tucker.
"I don't feel he should wake up every day and breathe."
Adams spoke outside the John Marshall Courts Building yesterday afternoon
after hearing Dandridge enter a guilty plea to the slayings in exchange
for 3 sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole or
appeal.
She was among a dozen or so relatives of the Tuckers who sat through the
capital-murder trial of Dandridge, 29, for the past 2 days. Had Dandridge
been convicted of capital murder by a jury, the panel could have
considered giving him the death penalty.
"He showed no remorse. Nothing," Adams continued. "It was just like he
didn't care. He gets to breathe every day, and my sister's gone."
The disappointment was not limited to family members. Prosecutors and the
teams of Richmond and Philadelphia homicide detectives who cracked the
case wanted the death penalty for Dandridge.
But doubt raised by Dandridge's defense team during the trial over exactly
whose actions, and what instrument, caused the suffocation deaths of the
Tuckers and Baskerville prompted prosecutors to negotiate a plea.
The doubt raised concerns that Circuit Judge Richard D. Taylor Jr. would
allow the jury to consider a first-degree murder conviction as an
alternative to capital murder. People convicted of first-degree murder can
face 20 years to life in prison.
Even if prosecutors had been able to win a capital-murder conviction,
getting a jury to return a sentence of death -- as opposed to life without
parole -- could have been difficult.
Defense and prosecuting attorneys acknowledged mitigating factors in the
background of Dandridge -- a high school dropout with a borderline IQ.
Evidence in the Harvey and Tucker/Baskerville slayings suggested he was
more of a follower in Richmond's New Year's week carnage to the homicidal
lead of his uncle, Ricky Javon Gray.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Baskerville and Tucker families,"
said Richmond homicide detective Sgt. Martin A. Kochell.
"We hope they can have closure and begin to heal."
Kochell called Dandridge a monster. "There's nothing good about him. And
he's going to be with people who are exactly like him."
Mary Tucker's other sister, Joanne Barnes, was also hoping Dandridge's
case would have gone to the jury and resulted in a conviction, with the
death penalty as punishment. But she said yesterday that she could be
content with the negotiated plea agreement that will keep him behind bars
for the rest of his life.
"I was happy when he said he was guilty, very pleased with that," she said
outside the courthouse.
"I think he got what he deserved. At least I know he won't get out."
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)