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Woman not guilty of daughters murder
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/28 19:47
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| A woman whose 12-year-old daughter was killed after she allegedly locked the doors and set their house on fire has been found not guilty of murder and other charges because of insanity. Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl delivered the ruling Friday in the case against former independent gubernatorial candidate Tonya Fuller Balletta, 39, the Providence Journal reported Sunday. Balletta was allegedly resisting an arrest warrant on Oct. 29, 2004, when she locked herself in her Providence home, barricaded herself and her two daughters in a bedroom and set a mattress on fire. Balletta and one of her daughter, Marina, were taken out the bedroom windows by authorities, but the police could not get to the other child, Talia Balletta. The victim had second- and third-degree burns over half her body and died several weeks later. A Providence County Grand Jury indicted Balletta on eight counts, including one count each of murder, first degree arson and assault with the intent to commit murder, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of resisting arrest. Prosecutors said Balletta assaulted two State Police troopers and a Providence Police officer as she resisted arrest, waving a knife at two and a broken shard of glass at the other. Balletta showed signs of mental illness for at least a year before the fire, and "was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her behavior" because of her mental illness, psychiatrist Dr. Joseph V. Penn told the court during the trial. |
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Former Wilton Mayor Pleads Guilty To Drug Charge
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/18 14:27
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The former mayor of the eastern Iowa town of Wilton has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to deliver marijuana. Dick Summy was charged last September with distributing and manufacturing about 100 marijuana plants. He entered his plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Davenport, but the judge said he'll take a few days to decide whether to accept the plea. At issue is a law that prohibits someone from being prosecuted for the same crime twice.
The prosecutor is concerned that because Summy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, he could not be tried for conspiracy to manufacture. Summy's attorney said Summy believes he conspired to distribute marijuana but did not conspire to manufacture the drug.
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Pittsfield man guilty of murdering wife
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/18 13:28
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A Pittsfield man who stabbed his wife 58 times has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder. Seymour Townsend, 37, was convicted Thursday by a Berkshire Superior Court jury after 4½ hours of deliberations over two days. Townsend repeatedly stabbed Michelle Padgett Townsend, 27, in his Pittsfield apartment in the early hours of March 3, 2006, authorities said.
In a victim impact statement from Padgett Townsend’s mother, Donna Rinaldi, read by District Attorney David Capeless, the victim was described as a giving, loving woman who loved her four daughters. Townsend was the father of the youngest.
"There’s not a second that goes by that I don’t long for her," Rinaldi said. "She was my daughter, and she didn’t deserve to die like this, and I don’t deserve to live through my life like this.
Padgett Townsend’s sister, Brenda LeClair, said she remains bitter.
"Every day, I ask myself, ’Why didn’t he just walk away?’" she said. "I can never forgive him for this."
Padgett Townsend’s body was discovered three days after the stabbing covered in a white sheet and lying face down in the living room.
Pittsfield police and city firefighters had broken into the apartment after a Department of Social Services caseworker contacted them, worried because Padgett Townsend had missed a scheduled visit with her children that morning.
The state had removed the children from Padgett Townsend’s care. The couple was separated.
Townsend was apprehended in New York City three weeks after the slaying.
Defense attorney John Kaufman did not dispute that Townsend had killed his wife, but he claimed Townsend had "snapped" during an argument and was guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Townsend’s wife attacked him with a kitchen knife, and he killed her in the "heat of passion," Kaufman claimed in court. Voluntary manslaughter carries a 20-year sentence.
But the prosecution argued that the slaying was premeditated and done with extreme atrocity or cruelty. Padgett Townsend had likely been near death when her husband inflicted the last 11 stab wounds, Capeless said. |
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Man pleads guilty to 3 N.Y. murders
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/17 12:11
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| A man prosecutors suspect of preying on more than a dozen women as the "Bike Path Rapist" pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering three women since 1990, including two whose bodies were found on bike paths. Altemio Sanchez, 49, was arrested earlier this year after DNA evidence linked him to a series of rapes and killings in the Buffalo area. Judge Christopher Burns asked Sanchez about each of the three victims. "I strangled her," he said three times, weeping and barely audible. Sanchez's wife sobbed as he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in each death. He faces 75 years to life in prison at sentencing Aug. 2. "It is unimaginable to us that someone we have truly loved and respected for so many years could be capable of such violent acts," his wife, Kathleen Sanchez, and her family said in a statement. "We are sincerely sorry and filled with grief for your tragic losses." Sanchez admitted killing University at Buffalo student Linda Yalem, who was raped and strangled on a bike path near campus in 1990; Majane Mazur, who was found raped and strangled on a Buffalo street two years later; and Joan Diver, who was strangled along a bike path last fall. "The case against him in each of the three homicides was overwhelming," Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said after the pleas. Defense attorney Andrew LoTempio said Sanchez wanted to spare his family from a trial and decided to plead guilty after reviewing the DNA evidence against him. Clark said investigators have tied Sanchez to 8 or 9 rapes and suspect him in a dozen more dating back to the late 1970s. |
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Court rejects appeal in slayings of six Wis. hunters
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/16 15:03
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| A Minnesota truck driver sentenced to life in prison for murdering six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin after a confrontation over trespassing was not a victim of a racially biased court system as he claimed, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 3rd District Court of Appeals rejected Chai Soua Vang's request for a new "minority counsel" to represent him. "Our independent review of the record discloses no improper racial issues with regard to sentencing or otherwise for appeal," the three-judge panel said. The appeals court upheld Vang's convictions for six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, agreeing with his attorneys that there was no merit to an appeal. The fatal shootings occurred in November 2004 after a group of deer hunters in Sawyer County confronted Vang, 38, of St. Paul, Minn., over trespassing in a tree stand. Vang, a Hmong immigrant and experienced hunter, testified during his trial that he shot the six white hunters and wounded two more in self-defense, claiming one of them fired a shot in his direction after they shouted racial epithets and cursed at him. The two survivors testified that Vang had begun walking away from the confrontation when he turned and opened fire. Prosecutors convinced a jury that Vang reacted in an angry outburst, feeling disrespected by the hunters, and then tried to kill everyone so there would be no eyewitnesses. Vang, who came to the United States from Laos more than 20 years ago, was sentenced to six consecutive life terms plus 165 years in prison. He is being in kept in an undisclosed prison outside of Wisconsin, according to the state Department of Corrections.
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Casper woman pleads not guilty to murder charge
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/05/16 11:06
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| A Casper woman who allegedly told investigators that she killed her boyfriend "because his life was so bad" pleaded not guilty this morning (Tuesday morning) to a charge of first-degree murder. Dawn M. Rock could be sentenced to life in prison if she's convicted. The Casper Star-Tribune reported on its Web site that Natrona County District Attorney Michael Blonigen said in court this morning that he will not pursue the death penalty. According to court documents, the 34-year-old Rock told police she shot 36-year-old Kenneth Walkinshaw at their home in March after he complained about how bad his life was. Police say the couple had argued earlier, and that Rock said Walkinshaw had tried to choke her. |
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