wheelgun
NES Member
Anyone see this? I figure the outcome would be the same or worse in Massachusetts.
http://www.projo.com/news/courts/content/GIANQUITTI_TRIAL_2_04-02-09_RUDTKAN_v11.3a187b3.html
PROVIDENCE — A Superior Court jury on Wednesday, after deliberating 5½ hours, convicted Nicholas Gianquitti, of Cranston, of second-degree murder for the shooting of his next-door neighbor during an argument over a stray tennis ball last year.
In reaching the verdict, the jury found that Gianquitti’s intent to kill James A. Pagano, 44, existed “momentarily or fleetingly,” and that he used a firearm during a crime of violence, resulting in Pagano’s death. The penalty for second-degree murder ranges from 10 years to life, while the firearms charge carries a mandatory, consecutive life sentence. No post-trial court dates have been scheduled.
In his charge to the jury on Tuesday, Judge Robert D. Krause said they should consider whether Gianquitti was guilty of murder in the first or second degree or of manslaughter.
Pagano family members mouthed the words “thank you” as the jurors filed out of the courtroom Wednesday. To their left, Jennifer Gianquitti, the defendant’s wife, doubled over in her chair, one hand clasped by a woman to her right, the other holding a tissue to her eyes. Her daughter, Britney, sat in an adjoining chair, her face tear-stained.
Nicholas Gianquitti, 40, looked straight ahead until court adjourned and court officers shackled his hands and legs before ushering him out of the courtroom in the Licht Judicial Complex and back to the Adult Correctional Institutions where he has been held since the shooting.
“[Gianquitti] is devastated by this verdict,” defense attorney Mark Dana said in a statement. “His wife and daughter are crushed as well. We felt that we had a strong self defense case in that [Gianquitti] was assaulted in his home. We understand the case could have gone in either direction and we respect the jury process. We will await the court’s ruling on our post-trial motions [for a new trial] before making any determinations regarding taking an appeal.”
Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said his office looks forward to “advocating for the last measure of justice” at Gianquitti’s sentencing and offered his sympathy to the family and friends of Pagano, who was a lieutenant in the Cranston Fire Department.
Special Assistant Attorney General William Ferland, who tried the case, said the verdict was warranted. “His actions were so disproportionate and unnecessary,” Ferland said. “This death was senseless and we tried to bring that out. We’re talking about a tennis ball and a kid’s birthday party. It never ever needed to go where it went.”
On May 18, 2008, some children in the Pagano family were playing baseball on Daisy Court — the cul de sac where the Pagano and Gianquitti houses sit side-by-side — while their parents, aunts and uncles were inside chatting and eating as part of a birthday celebration for one of the Pagano children. During the game, one of the children hit a ball that wedged between the spoiler and trunk lid of a car in the Gianquitti driveway. When the boy went to retrieve the ball, Gianquitti met him at the car, and gave him an expletive-laced order to move the game elsewhere, according to prosecution testimony.
Gianquitti briefly worked as a Providence police officer, but began receiving a disability pension from the city in 1993 after he injured his knee while chasing a suspect. Since then, he has been a stay-at-home father.
After the tennis ball encounter, the children went back to the Pagano home and told Adriana M. Pagano what happened. Her husband, James, was within earshot. He walked silently out the door to the Gianquitti house, witnesses testified. Adriana Pagano asked her father-in-law, Anthony Pagano, to follow James.
The walk across the yard to Gianquitti’s front door was short. James Pagano’s knocks were hard and swift and initially went unanswered, according to testimony. Pagano turned to walk away, yelling up to his neighbor that it was “a good thing” he didn’t answer.
That’s when Gianquitti opened the door, a .380 caliber semiautomatic in the holster strapped to his hip. Inside, according to testimony, Gianquitti had been cleaning. He maintained in testimony that he always wore his weapon when he went out, as he had earlier that day for an air filter, and just hadn’t taken it off. Prosecutors suggested that he put the gun on when he heard Pagano knocking.
Don’t swear at my kids, witnesses said Pagano told Gianquitti repeatedly, then turned to leave.
Anthony Pagano said Gianquitti shouted an expletive and gave an obscene hand gesture. Gianquitti testified that he spat on James Pagano’s shirt.
James Pagano swung, giving Gianquitti a glancing blow to the cheek. The momentum of the punch propelled Pagano forward and knocked Gianquitti backward down several stairs to the basement, according to testimony.
Gianquitti maintained in testimony that Pagano was barreling toward him and that he feared for his life. He pulled the gun and fired, hitting Pagano in the lower back; he would die within an hour.
Right after the shot, Pagano ran and Gianquitti fired again, but missed. Pagano ran past his father, down the Gianquitti steps and crouched behind the same car where the tennis ball hit just minutes earlier. Gianquitti chased after him, gun still drawn, and found him crumpled behind the car. By then, the Pagano family members who had been watching the scene unfold were rushing over to aid Pagano.
In the courtroom Wednesday, Pagano family members hugged, cried and celebrated the jury’s verdict. The outpouring spread into the hallways, and onto the courthouse steps as they addressed a throng of media reporters.
“We’re extremely happy,” said Anthony Pagano, as family members, Cranston firefighters and the prosecutors stood behind him. “This decision is what we wanted. … We’re glad the jury was able to read through the fabricated story that he made up. He gets what he deserved. We wish no malice toward his family. They didn’t pull the trigger.”
http://www.projo.com/news/courts/content/GIANQUITTI_TRIAL_2_04-02-09_RUDTKAN_v11.3a187b3.html
PROVIDENCE — A Superior Court jury on Wednesday, after deliberating 5½ hours, convicted Nicholas Gianquitti, of Cranston, of second-degree murder for the shooting of his next-door neighbor during an argument over a stray tennis ball last year.
In reaching the verdict, the jury found that Gianquitti’s intent to kill James A. Pagano, 44, existed “momentarily or fleetingly,” and that he used a firearm during a crime of violence, resulting in Pagano’s death. The penalty for second-degree murder ranges from 10 years to life, while the firearms charge carries a mandatory, consecutive life sentence. No post-trial court dates have been scheduled.
In his charge to the jury on Tuesday, Judge Robert D. Krause said they should consider whether Gianquitti was guilty of murder in the first or second degree or of manslaughter.
Pagano family members mouthed the words “thank you” as the jurors filed out of the courtroom Wednesday. To their left, Jennifer Gianquitti, the defendant’s wife, doubled over in her chair, one hand clasped by a woman to her right, the other holding a tissue to her eyes. Her daughter, Britney, sat in an adjoining chair, her face tear-stained.
Nicholas Gianquitti, 40, looked straight ahead until court adjourned and court officers shackled his hands and legs before ushering him out of the courtroom in the Licht Judicial Complex and back to the Adult Correctional Institutions where he has been held since the shooting.
“[Gianquitti] is devastated by this verdict,” defense attorney Mark Dana said in a statement. “His wife and daughter are crushed as well. We felt that we had a strong self defense case in that [Gianquitti] was assaulted in his home. We understand the case could have gone in either direction and we respect the jury process. We will await the court’s ruling on our post-trial motions [for a new trial] before making any determinations regarding taking an appeal.”
Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said his office looks forward to “advocating for the last measure of justice” at Gianquitti’s sentencing and offered his sympathy to the family and friends of Pagano, who was a lieutenant in the Cranston Fire Department.
Special Assistant Attorney General William Ferland, who tried the case, said the verdict was warranted. “His actions were so disproportionate and unnecessary,” Ferland said. “This death was senseless and we tried to bring that out. We’re talking about a tennis ball and a kid’s birthday party. It never ever needed to go where it went.”
On May 18, 2008, some children in the Pagano family were playing baseball on Daisy Court — the cul de sac where the Pagano and Gianquitti houses sit side-by-side — while their parents, aunts and uncles were inside chatting and eating as part of a birthday celebration for one of the Pagano children. During the game, one of the children hit a ball that wedged between the spoiler and trunk lid of a car in the Gianquitti driveway. When the boy went to retrieve the ball, Gianquitti met him at the car, and gave him an expletive-laced order to move the game elsewhere, according to prosecution testimony.
Gianquitti briefly worked as a Providence police officer, but began receiving a disability pension from the city in 1993 after he injured his knee while chasing a suspect. Since then, he has been a stay-at-home father.
After the tennis ball encounter, the children went back to the Pagano home and told Adriana M. Pagano what happened. Her husband, James, was within earshot. He walked silently out the door to the Gianquitti house, witnesses testified. Adriana Pagano asked her father-in-law, Anthony Pagano, to follow James.
The walk across the yard to Gianquitti’s front door was short. James Pagano’s knocks were hard and swift and initially went unanswered, according to testimony. Pagano turned to walk away, yelling up to his neighbor that it was “a good thing” he didn’t answer.
That’s when Gianquitti opened the door, a .380 caliber semiautomatic in the holster strapped to his hip. Inside, according to testimony, Gianquitti had been cleaning. He maintained in testimony that he always wore his weapon when he went out, as he had earlier that day for an air filter, and just hadn’t taken it off. Prosecutors suggested that he put the gun on when he heard Pagano knocking.
Don’t swear at my kids, witnesses said Pagano told Gianquitti repeatedly, then turned to leave.
Anthony Pagano said Gianquitti shouted an expletive and gave an obscene hand gesture. Gianquitti testified that he spat on James Pagano’s shirt.
James Pagano swung, giving Gianquitti a glancing blow to the cheek. The momentum of the punch propelled Pagano forward and knocked Gianquitti backward down several stairs to the basement, according to testimony.
Gianquitti maintained in testimony that Pagano was barreling toward him and that he feared for his life. He pulled the gun and fired, hitting Pagano in the lower back; he would die within an hour.
Right after the shot, Pagano ran and Gianquitti fired again, but missed. Pagano ran past his father, down the Gianquitti steps and crouched behind the same car where the tennis ball hit just minutes earlier. Gianquitti chased after him, gun still drawn, and found him crumpled behind the car. By then, the Pagano family members who had been watching the scene unfold were rushing over to aid Pagano.
In the courtroom Wednesday, Pagano family members hugged, cried and celebrated the jury’s verdict. The outpouring spread into the hallways, and onto the courthouse steps as they addressed a throng of media reporters.
“We’re extremely happy,” said Anthony Pagano, as family members, Cranston firefighters and the prosecutors stood behind him. “This decision is what we wanted. … We’re glad the jury was able to read through the fabricated story that he made up. He gets what he deserved. We wish no malice toward his family. They didn’t pull the trigger.”
![[angry]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/008.gif "Angry [angry]")
