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Thread: Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino Facing Death Penalty in 2016 MO Slaying of Randy Nordman Found Dead in his Cell

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death penalty sought in murder in New Florence, Mo.

    MONTGOMERY CITY, Mo. • Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino faces the death penalty for allegedly killing a Missouri man while fleeing a multiple-murder scene near Kansas City.

    Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Carroz on Friday filed court papers explaining his decision to seek capital punishment. Serrano-Vitorino, 40, of Kansas City, Kan., is charged with first-degree murder in the killing on March 8 of Randy J.

    Nordman of New Florence, Mo., south of Montgomery City.

    Nordman, 49, was killed at his home near Interstate 70. Serrano-Vitorino also faces four first-murder charges in the shooting deaths of four men the night before in Kansas City, Kan. Police said they found the suspect's pickup truck on I-70 about four miles west of Nordman's home.

    Serrano-Vitorino was arrested after a 17-hour manhunt. On May 12, Associate Circuit Judge Kelly C. Broniec ruled in a preliminary hearing that evidence is sufficient for Serrano-Vitorino to stand trial.

    In that hearing, investigators linked an assault rifle they seized from Serrano-Vitorino with the bullet that killed Nordman. The suspect is being held in the Montgomery County Jail and is expected to enter a plea of not guilty June 1.

    Carroz' petition outlines "aggravators" that could justify execution rather than life without parole for first-degree murder, the only other option in state law. Carroz cites the four murders in Kansas, a burglary allegedly underway at Nordman's home and Serrano-Vitorino's illegal presence as a deported Mexican citizen.

    He was deported in 2004 after having been convicted in California of a felony threat to commit harm. Investigators do not know when he reentered the United States.

    Don Catlett, Serrano-Vitorino's public defender, said he was aware of the filing and had no comment.

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/s...cfebc892d.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
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    Man charged in 2-state rampage pleads not guilty in Missouri

    MONTGOMERY CITY (AP) — A Mexican national charged with five shooting deaths pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of a Missouri man.

    KRCG-TV reported Pablo Serrano-Vitorino entered the plea Wednesday during a brief arraignment in Montgomery County Court.

    Prosecutors allege Serrano-Vitorino shot four men to death in Kansas City, Kan., March 7 and then fled to Missouri. They allege he shot and killed Randy Nordman the next day during a confrontation in Nordman’s garage in New Florence.

    Montgomery County Prosecutor Nathan Carroz has said he will seek the death penalty for Serrano-Vitorino in Nordman’s death.

    Serrano-Vitorino’s next court appearance is scheduled Aug. 3.

    He also is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Kansas.

    Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty in Kansas.

    http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...019030849.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
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    Man accused of killing 5 in Kansas, Missouri to get new judge in Missouri murder trial

    A 40-year-old man accused of killing a Missouri man and four Kansas residents earlier this year will get a new judge in his Missouri trial.

    Pablo Serrano-Vitorino has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the March 8 shooting death of Randy Nordman in New Florence. Missouri prosecutors have announced plans to seek the death penalty in the case.

    Serrano-Vitorino also is charged in Kansas with killing a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbor and three other men at the neighbor’s home on March 7.

    KOMU reports (http://j.mp/2atf30t) that at a hearing Wednesday, a Montgomery County judge granted Serrano-Vitorino’s request for a new judge.

    Serrano-Vitorino also asked for a change of venue, but that request will be taken up by the new judge, who has not been assigned yet.

    http://cjonline.com/news/2016-08-03/...-murder-trial#
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  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Murder case from Montgomery County moved to St. Louis

    By Tim O'Neil
    St. Louis Dispatch

    MONTGOMERY CITY, Mo. - The murder case against Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, who is accused of killing a man near Interstate 70 while fleeing a multiple-murder scene in Kansas, has been moved to St. Louis.

    Serrano-Vitorino, 40, is accused of fatally shooting Randy J. Nordman, 49, of New Florence, Mo., during a struggle in the victim’s garage on March 8. At the time, Serrano-Vitorino was wanted for questioning in the murders of four of his neighbors in Kansas City, Kan., the night before.

    New Florence is at I-70 and Missouri Highway 19, about 70 miles west of St. Louis. Officers found Serrano-Vitorino’s abandoned pickup on the interstate shoulder and arrested him after a 17-hour manhunt.

    He is a Mexican who had been deported from California in 2004 after a felony conviction there and re-entered the United States illegally some time afterward.

    As his case unfolded in the Montgomery County Courthouse, Serrano-Vitorino asked for a new judge and a change of venue, or location. The Missouri Supreme Court assigned the case to St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer, who on Wednesday moved it to his courtroom downtown.

    Serrano-Vitorino also faces four charges of murder in Kansas City, Kan., but prosecutors there are letting Missouri handle its case first. Ohmer did not set a date for the next hearing. Serrano-Vitorino remains in the Montgomery County Jail.

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...1de965c31.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Widow of Missouri man allegedly slain by man in country illegally to testify before Senate committee


    By Chuck Raasch
    St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    WASHINGTON • The widow of a Missouri man allegedly killed by a Mexican in this country illegally will testify Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

    Julie Nordman, currently of Wentzville, will be among witnesses testifying about crimes committed by people in the country illegally. Her husband, Randy, was killed March 8, 2016, while she hid in the attic of their home near New Florence.

    Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino,
    who had returned to the United States illegally after being deported in 2004, faces first-degree murder, armed criminal action and burglary charges in Nordman’s death. The case was moved to St. Louis last year.

    Serrano-Vitorino also faces murder charges in Kansas, where he allegedly shot and killed four men in a neighbor’s home.

    The killing spree received nationwide attention last year in the ongoing debate over legal and illegal immigration.

    Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee that will host Nordland. On Tuesday, McCaskill criticized the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency for refusing to send officials to testify at the same hearing. Questions have been raised about why Serrano-Vitorino, who had several brushes with the law before allegedly going on the shooting spree, was not deported after those arrests.

    McCaskill told reporters that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., had not shown much interest in calling ICE and Homeland Security officials before the committee.

    “It would be helpful if we could get some witnesses on homeland security in front of our committee,” McCaskill said.

    “The chairman has declined to do so at this point, and I will continue to put pressure on him,” McCaskill said.

    A spokeswoman for Johnson said the intention of the Thursday hearing was to focus on the impact of crime by people in the country illegally. She said that it’s possible future hearings would focus on federal officials in charge of immigration enforcement.

    ICE officials did not immediately respond.

    McCaskill said that “there are real questions that ICE needs to answer” such as “why they didn’t respond when they were contacted when this man was arrested, prior to going on this murderous spree that took this woman’s husband?

    “I am certainly glad that this story is going to be told because we need to be prioritizing and getting criminals out of our country, here illegally,” McCaskill said of Julie Nordman's testimony. “Certainly that is something we all support. But we can’t fix it if we can’t talk to the people who are in charge of the law.”

    Nordman told the Post-Dispatch
    of the terrifying incident in which, barefoot and in a bathrobe, she prayed from her attic that her husband would be okay. She called 911, but by the time authorities came and arrested Serrano-Vitorino nearby, Randy Nordman was dead.

    McCaskill spent last week touring the Mexican border and meeting with federal officers charged with keeping out illegal immigration.

    McCaskill said there are gaps in existing walls to allow landowners along the border to access rich farmland along the Rio Grande River. Those gaps are the subject of ongoing litigation, she said, and present a particular problem in eminent domain and other legal issues.

    “I can imagine what Missouri farmers would do if we tried to basically block their access to some of the most valuable farmland in our state, which lies along our rivers,” McCaskill said. “The same is true along the Rio Grande. There are thousands of acres of privately held land that is involved here, and there is a fight about whether or not the government should have access to it.”

    She also said that building a wall spanning the border that President Donald Trump advocates would result in “a lot of government taking of land. And I know that is very, very controversial when the government starts taking land."

    McCaskill also said the Trump administration has provided no cost-benefit analysis of “how effective (a wall) is going to be, how efficient it is going to be.

    “It may very well be that some wall and other form of assistance is the right prescription for this particular problem,” McCaskill said.

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...ef42d4170.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #16
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    Lawsuit: ICE negligent in case of man charged in 5 killings


    By Chris Oberholtz
    KCTV Kansas City

    KANSAS CITY, KS (AP) - Federal immigration authorities twice missed chances to detain a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally before he allegedly killed four men in Kansas and one in Missouri, according to a lawsuit filed by relatives of two of his victims.

    The lawsuit filed in Kansas City, KS says Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials didn't follow proper procedures, resulting in Pablo Serrano-Vitorino being released from jail twice before March 7, 2016, when authorities say he shot four men in Kansas City, Kansas. He is accused of fatally shooting another man in Montgomery County, Missouri, later the same day, before his arrest.

    The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the widow and two children of Clint Harter, one of the four Kansas men killed, and the widow of Randy Nordman, his victim in Missouri, The Kansas City Star reported.

    Serrano-Vitorino was deported after he was convicted of a felony in 2003. The lawsuit contends U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had chances to detain Serrano-Vitorino for illegally re-entering the country when he was arrested in 2014 and 2015.

    Wyandotte County officials notified ICE in 2014 that Serrano-Vitorino was in jail for domestic battery, but he was released when the agency didn't send an agent to interview him, according to the lawsuit. He was pulled over by

    Overland Park police for traffic violations in 2015. The lawsuit says ICE prepared paperwork to have him detained but it was sent to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, which did not have Serrano-Vitorino in custody. Overland Park officials, unaware of the paperwork, released him.

    "Clint and Randy's deaths are the direct and proximate result of the failure of ICE officials, officers and/or agents to carry out their required duties, which failure provided the means for a convicted felon who was illegally in the country, but in custody, to be released and kill Clint and Randy and three other victims," according to the lawsuit.

    ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said Monday that the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

    The families are seeking unspecified damages.

    Serrano-Vitorino is jailed in St. Louis awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge in Nordman's death. He also is charged with first-degree murder in Wyandotte County in the deaths of Harter, his brother Austin Harter, Mike Capps and Jeremy Waters.

    Serrano-Vitorina has pleaded not guilty. Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    http://www.kctv5.com/story/35848618/...-in-5-killings
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #17
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Serrano defense calls for state to pay for travel, research in Mexico

    By Louis Geisler
    ABC17News.com

    ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Defense attorneys want Montgomery County to pay for someone to research their client's life in Mexico.

    Attorneys for Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, a Mexican national accused of killing Randy Nordman near New Florence last year, filed the motion in St. Louis City circuit court on Wednesday. The motion asks the court to require Montgomery County to foot the bill of at least $59,000 on a mitigation specialist to travel to Mexico and research Serrano's upbringing there ahead of his trial.

    Serrano, an undocumented immigrant, faces the death penalty for allegedly shooting Nordman at Nordman's home on March 8, 2016. Law enforcement say that Serrano was on the run from a quadruple killing in Kansas City, Kansas earlier that week. Serrano faces a lengthy trial scheduled in October 2018 to take place in St. Louis.

    A mitigation specialists research the background of a person facing the death penalty for juries to consider. The American Bar Association tasks these investigators to interview people "in a culturally competent manner" to help defense attorneys.

    The motion claims the Missouri State Public Defender's office rejected their request to pay for a mitigation investigator. That amount of money would hurt the office's ability to help other clients, the motion said. The team requires a specialist fluent in Spanish and knowledgeable of Mexican culture. The only person outside the office that was willing to give a quote so far is Kristina Bishop, the motion said, and would cost $59,000 for travel and work.

    Serrano needs the work done to ensure a fair trial, the attorneys wrote. Records sought include family medical histories and the environment in which Serrano was raised. From his birth to 17, the motion said, Serrano spent time in places like Juarez, Chihuahua, Durango and Zacatecas.

    "Without access to evidence regarding Pablo's mental health, medical, and social histories available only in Mexico, as well as character evidence available only through his family and friends who only speak Spanish, the jury will be deprived of mitigating evidence that is constitutionally required to consider," the motion said.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/defens...case/641554922
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #18
    Senior Member Member ted75601's Avatar
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    I'll do it for half the quoted price. I can make up irrelevant stuff as well as anyone. IMO this "mitigating evidence" is nonsense. Do the crime, do the time (or death penalty if appropriate). Nobody takes into account mitigating factors in the victim's life. IMO it's just another way for lawyers to waste time and increase their fees.

  9. #19
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    UPDATE: Judge orders prosecutors pay for some of man's defense work

    By Lucas Geisler
    ABC17News.com

    ST. LOUIS, Mo. - UPDATE, 4:11 p.m.: Judge Steven Ohmer ordered the state pay $40,000 for Serrano's mitigation research. The public defender system will pay for the other $19,000.

    Ohmer did not specify how the Attorney General's Office or Montgomery County would split the cost, if the two public agencies would split it at all.

    The St. Louis judge called the situation a unique one when announcing his decision Friday afternoon. The public defender's system argued that budget shortcomings from the state legislature kept them from being able to pay a private mitigation researcher for the work. Ohmer said he was not sure if next year's state budget would prove any different for the system.

    "In order to have a fair trial, this needs to happen," Ohmer said.

    Greg Mermelstein testified that the office had spoken to five different mitigation specialists for the Serrano case. Only one of them, Kristina Bishop, provided a full quote of $59,000 for her work, which the public defender's system needs to approve an expenditure, Mermelstein said.

    ORIGINAL: Attorneys for an undocumented immigrant accused of murder in mid-Missouri want prosecutors to pay for some defense work.

    The defense team for Pablo Serrano-Vitorino appeared in court on Friday in St. Louis to discuss the issue with Judge Steven Ohmer. Public defender Don Catlett and Heather Vodnansky say the work, called "mitigation research," must be done to ensure Serrano has a fair trial.

    Law enforcement believes Serrano killed Randy Nordman in March 2016 at Nordman's Montgomery County home. Authorities in Kansas were looking for Serrano at the time for a quadruple homicide days earlier.

    Greg Mermelstein, head of the public defender's capital cases, testified on Friday that the work is crucial in death penalty defenses. He rejected Catlett and Vodnansky's request to hire a private researcher for $59,000 due to the lack of funds in the public defender's office. The system does have in-house mitigation researchers, but Mermelstein and director Michael Barrett said they were concerned about the safety of their researches traveling to Mexico.

    Mitigation research, according to Mermelstein, involves interviewing people that know the person accused of the crime. Those interviews can yield information about past trauma, family histories of mental health or substance abuse problems or environmental factors that shaped the way the person grew up. The outcome, Mermelstein said, is presented to a jury in deciding whether or not there is a punishment more appropriate, and less, than death.

    Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner questioned the need for such work.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/top-st...work/681971307

  10. #20
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Pablo Serrano files motion to preclude death penalty

    By Elizabeth Duesenberg
    ABC17News.com

    ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Pablo Serrano's lawyers filed a motion to preclude the death penalty as a sentencing option in his case.

    ABC 17 previously reported Serrano is facing the death penalty after he was charged with murder in Montgomery County.

    According to the motion, a lot of the mitigation work has to be done in Mexico where Serrano was born. A mitigation specialist has been chosen and is willing to travel the Mexico to do the work.

    The specialist's total cost estimate was $59,000 and the court ruled for the State of Missouri to pay $40,000 of it. However, the state has refused to pay the amount.

    Court documents state that the delays in th process of litigating and obtaining funding often mean that the requested services arrive too late for counsel to make effective use of the services. Delays also mean that evidence may be lost.

    Serrano's attorneys believe that if he is forced to proceed to a death penalty trial without a thorough mitigation investigation, the judge will be precluded from considering aspects of his character and have access to necessary records.

    The attorney's said, "Without access to evidence regarding Pablo's mental health, medical, and social histories available only in Mexico, as well as character evidence available only through his family and friends who only speak Spanish, the jury will be deprived of mitigating evidence that it is constitutionally required to consider."

    Because of the state's refusal to pay for the specialist's travels, Serrano's lawyers are issuing an order to preclude the death penalty as a sentencing option.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/pablo-...alty/714010162
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