Post by sclcookie on Jun 3, 2006 14:48:44 GMT -5
Death penalty off table for 2 suspects
2 reputed Dorchester gang members who had been slated for a federal trial
that carried a potential death sentence will now be tried in state court,
where they face a life prison sentence if convicted.
A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Darryl Green , 28, and Branden Morris,
24, of first-degree murder charges Thursday for the slaying of Terrell
Gethers, 23, of Dorchester, who was gunned down during Boston's Caribbean
Carnival in August 2001.
"We believe that the nature and quality of the evidence against these 2
defendants will allow us to prove the charge of murder and bring some
sense of justice, however small, to the family of Terrell Gethers," said
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley in a statement released
yesterday.
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan announced that Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales authorized the dismissal of the racketeering charges, which
carried the death penalty, in the wake of the state charges ``and in the
interests of justice."
Boston attorney Patricia Garin , who represents Morris, said, "This case
should never have been brought in federal court in the first place and
they never should have sought the death penalty."
Green's lawyer, Randy Gioia , said that Green's parents "went through
three years of a nightmare thinking their son might be executed."
The federal indictment, returned in 2002, alleged Green, Morris, and three
other men were part of a racketeering enterprise, the Esmond Street Crew,
that sold drugs and tried to eliminate members of the rival Franklin Hill
Giants. Green and Morris faced the death penalty because they were also
charged with murder.
In January, US District Judge Nancy Gertner acquitted two codefendants,
Jonathan Hart and Edward Washington , after a jury announced it was
deadlocked over the racketeering charge. Gertner said prosecutors failed
to prove there was a racketeering enterprise -- the charge that permitted
a federal prosecution for gang-related shootings in Boston.
In a statement, Sullivan said he stood by his decision to seek the death
penalty, but asked Conley to pursue state charges against Green and Morris
after Gertner acquitted the other defendants.
(source: Boston Globe)
2 reputed Dorchester gang members who had been slated for a federal trial
that carried a potential death sentence will now be tried in state court,
where they face a life prison sentence if convicted.
A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Darryl Green , 28, and Branden Morris,
24, of first-degree murder charges Thursday for the slaying of Terrell
Gethers, 23, of Dorchester, who was gunned down during Boston's Caribbean
Carnival in August 2001.
"We believe that the nature and quality of the evidence against these 2
defendants will allow us to prove the charge of murder and bring some
sense of justice, however small, to the family of Terrell Gethers," said
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley in a statement released
yesterday.
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan announced that Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales authorized the dismissal of the racketeering charges, which
carried the death penalty, in the wake of the state charges ``and in the
interests of justice."
Boston attorney Patricia Garin , who represents Morris, said, "This case
should never have been brought in federal court in the first place and
they never should have sought the death penalty."
Green's lawyer, Randy Gioia , said that Green's parents "went through
three years of a nightmare thinking their son might be executed."
The federal indictment, returned in 2002, alleged Green, Morris, and three
other men were part of a racketeering enterprise, the Esmond Street Crew,
that sold drugs and tried to eliminate members of the rival Franklin Hill
Giants. Green and Morris faced the death penalty because they were also
charged with murder.
In January, US District Judge Nancy Gertner acquitted two codefendants,
Jonathan Hart and Edward Washington , after a jury announced it was
deadlocked over the racketeering charge. Gertner said prosecutors failed
to prove there was a racketeering enterprise -- the charge that permitted
a federal prosecution for gang-related shootings in Boston.
In a statement, Sullivan said he stood by his decision to seek the death
penalty, but asked Conley to pursue state charges against Green and Morris
after Gertner acquitted the other defendants.
(source: Boston Globe)