D
daceman63
In Massachusetts!!!!!
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10708291&BRD=1710&PAG=461&dept_id=99784&rfi=6
Gary Sampson is sentenced to death
MARTIN FINUCANE Associated Press Writer
12/24/2003
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
BOSTON -- Gary Lee Sampson, a drifter who confessed to carjacking and killing two Massachusetts men during a weeklong crime spree, was condemned to die Tuesday by a federal jury in a state that has no death penalty and hasn’t executed anyone in more than half a century.
It is believed to be the first time anyone in Massachusetts has been sentenced to die under the federal death penalty law. Massachusetts abolished its state capital punishment statute in 1984; the last time a state court sentenced someone to die was in 1973.
Advertisement
Sampson, 44, sat motionless in U.S. District Court as the sentences were read for the carjacking murders of Philip McCloskey, 69, of Taunton, and Jonathan Rizzo, 19, of Kingston. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for 10 hours over three days after hearing six weeks of testimony.
US. District Judge Mark Wolf set a Jan. 29 hearing for imposition of the sentence. A prosecutors’ spokeswoman said that hearing would be simply a formality.
Sampson, a drifter who grew up in Abington, pleaded guilty in September to killing McCloskey and Rizzo several days apart in July 2001, after each man picked him up hitchhiking. He also confessed to killing a third man -- Robert "Eli" Whitney, 58, in Meredith, N.H. -- in the same week, and faces separate state charges in New Hampshire for that crime.
The families of Rizzo and McCloskey whispered in approval as the sentence was announced; family members wept and hugged each other as they left the courtroom.
"It’s been a very long, hard couple of years," said McCloskey’s son, Scott. "It’s not over, still, I feel like the boulder on my shoulder has been chipped down to a rock."
Sampson’s lawyer, David Ruhnke, said he would appeal.
"I respect the verdict, but I disagree with it. These are terrible crimes, the victims have suffered terribly," he said. "Those are very difficult circumstances for any jury to look beyond."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan praised the jurors for reaching a "fair" verdict under "intense emotional pressure."
"Gary Lee Sampson has robbed families and our communities of special and precious people," he said.
It was the second case in which federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty in Massachusetts. Kristen Gilbert, a nurse who was convicted in 2001 for killing four patients at a Northampton veterans hospital, was sentenced to life in prison.
Federal law was changed in 1994 to allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty when a murder is committed during a carjacking.
Death penalty opponents criticized the sentence, saying federal officials had ignored the will of Massachusetts voters. State lawmakers have repeatedly defeated attempts to reinstate the state death penalty.
The decision to try Sampson in federal court "was made by a handful of federal officials who have sought to impose the death penalty in states like Massachusetts that historically have declined to impose this punishment," said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, 124 defendants have been tried on capital charges, but only three have been executed, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. There are 24 currently on federal death row.
Dick Burr, a Houston attorney who has worked with the Federal Death Penalty Resource Council, which advises defendants in such cases, said it could be six or seven years before Sampson exhausts all his appeals.
Because Sampson pleaded guilty, the jury was never asked to decide whether he killed McCloskey and Rizzo. But the jury heard the murders described in graphic detail during the sentencing phase of the trial.
Prosecutors portrayed Sampson as a ruthless, calculating killer who preyed on Good Samaritans.
In his confession, Sampson told police that after McCloskey picked him up hitchhiking, he forced him at knifepoint to drive to a secluded area, where he tied him up with his belt and stabbed him 24 times.
Three days later, after Rizzo picked him up, he told the college student he was going to tie him up and leave him in the woods. Sampson said he sprayed Rizzo with bug repellent to make him believe he was trying to protect him from insects until help arrived.
He said he then stabbed Rizzo repeatedly and slit his throat as he sat on the ground, tied to a tree.
"It was premeditated," he told police. "I planned on killing him."
After the Whitney murder, Sampson’s rampage ended in Vermont where he allegedly carjacked another man who jumped out of the car as Sampson wielded a knife. Sampson surrendered to state police.
Sampson’s defense team depicted him as a troubled man who was abused as a child and was bipolar. One psychiatrist testified that Sampson knew what he was doing was wrong, but lacked the capacity to stop himself.
Sampson’s lawyers also focused on a phone call Sampson made to the FBI in Boston the day before he killed his first victim. Sampson said he made the call to try to turn himself in because he knew he was on the edge. At the time, he was wanted for five bank robberies in North Carolina. The call was accidentally disconnected by a clerk, and FBI agents never went to pick him up.
But prosecutors told the jury that Sampson had many opportunities to turn himself in, including just hours before he killed Rizzo, when he was escorted out of a state park by an environmental police officer.
Rizzo’s father, Michael, said the verdict was good news, but no reason to celebrate.
"We’re still talking about taking another person’s life here, which is something that’s a sober decision to be made," he said. "I think it’s the right decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s one that’s celebratory. Our son is still dead."
Later in the day, some members of both families gathered at Jonathan Rizzo’s gravesite in Kingston, placing sea glass on the headstone.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10708291&BRD=1710&PAG=461&dept_id=99784&rfi=6
Gary Sampson is sentenced to death
MARTIN FINUCANE Associated Press Writer
12/24/2003
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
BOSTON -- Gary Lee Sampson, a drifter who confessed to carjacking and killing two Massachusetts men during a weeklong crime spree, was condemned to die Tuesday by a federal jury in a state that has no death penalty and hasn’t executed anyone in more than half a century.
It is believed to be the first time anyone in Massachusetts has been sentenced to die under the federal death penalty law. Massachusetts abolished its state capital punishment statute in 1984; the last time a state court sentenced someone to die was in 1973.
Advertisement
Sampson, 44, sat motionless in U.S. District Court as the sentences were read for the carjacking murders of Philip McCloskey, 69, of Taunton, and Jonathan Rizzo, 19, of Kingston. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for 10 hours over three days after hearing six weeks of testimony.
US. District Judge Mark Wolf set a Jan. 29 hearing for imposition of the sentence. A prosecutors’ spokeswoman said that hearing would be simply a formality.
Sampson, a drifter who grew up in Abington, pleaded guilty in September to killing McCloskey and Rizzo several days apart in July 2001, after each man picked him up hitchhiking. He also confessed to killing a third man -- Robert "Eli" Whitney, 58, in Meredith, N.H. -- in the same week, and faces separate state charges in New Hampshire for that crime.
The families of Rizzo and McCloskey whispered in approval as the sentence was announced; family members wept and hugged each other as they left the courtroom.
"It’s been a very long, hard couple of years," said McCloskey’s son, Scott. "It’s not over, still, I feel like the boulder on my shoulder has been chipped down to a rock."
Sampson’s lawyer, David Ruhnke, said he would appeal.
"I respect the verdict, but I disagree with it. These are terrible crimes, the victims have suffered terribly," he said. "Those are very difficult circumstances for any jury to look beyond."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan praised the jurors for reaching a "fair" verdict under "intense emotional pressure."
"Gary Lee Sampson has robbed families and our communities of special and precious people," he said.
It was the second case in which federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty in Massachusetts. Kristen Gilbert, a nurse who was convicted in 2001 for killing four patients at a Northampton veterans hospital, was sentenced to life in prison.
Federal law was changed in 1994 to allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty when a murder is committed during a carjacking.
Death penalty opponents criticized the sentence, saying federal officials had ignored the will of Massachusetts voters. State lawmakers have repeatedly defeated attempts to reinstate the state death penalty.
The decision to try Sampson in federal court "was made by a handful of federal officials who have sought to impose the death penalty in states like Massachusetts that historically have declined to impose this punishment," said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, 124 defendants have been tried on capital charges, but only three have been executed, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. There are 24 currently on federal death row.
Dick Burr, a Houston attorney who has worked with the Federal Death Penalty Resource Council, which advises defendants in such cases, said it could be six or seven years before Sampson exhausts all his appeals.
Because Sampson pleaded guilty, the jury was never asked to decide whether he killed McCloskey and Rizzo. But the jury heard the murders described in graphic detail during the sentencing phase of the trial.
Prosecutors portrayed Sampson as a ruthless, calculating killer who preyed on Good Samaritans.
In his confession, Sampson told police that after McCloskey picked him up hitchhiking, he forced him at knifepoint to drive to a secluded area, where he tied him up with his belt and stabbed him 24 times.
Three days later, after Rizzo picked him up, he told the college student he was going to tie him up and leave him in the woods. Sampson said he sprayed Rizzo with bug repellent to make him believe he was trying to protect him from insects until help arrived.
He said he then stabbed Rizzo repeatedly and slit his throat as he sat on the ground, tied to a tree.
"It was premeditated," he told police. "I planned on killing him."
After the Whitney murder, Sampson’s rampage ended in Vermont where he allegedly carjacked another man who jumped out of the car as Sampson wielded a knife. Sampson surrendered to state police.
Sampson’s defense team depicted him as a troubled man who was abused as a child and was bipolar. One psychiatrist testified that Sampson knew what he was doing was wrong, but lacked the capacity to stop himself.
Sampson’s lawyers also focused on a phone call Sampson made to the FBI in Boston the day before he killed his first victim. Sampson said he made the call to try to turn himself in because he knew he was on the edge. At the time, he was wanted for five bank robberies in North Carolina. The call was accidentally disconnected by a clerk, and FBI agents never went to pick him up.
But prosecutors told the jury that Sampson had many opportunities to turn himself in, including just hours before he killed Rizzo, when he was escorted out of a state park by an environmental police officer.
Rizzo’s father, Michael, said the verdict was good news, but no reason to celebrate.
"We’re still talking about taking another person’s life here, which is something that’s a sober decision to be made," he said. "I think it’s the right decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s one that’s celebratory. Our son is still dead."
Later in the day, some members of both families gathered at Jonathan Rizzo’s gravesite in Kingston, placing sea glass on the headstone.
