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Thread: Christopher DiMeo Gets Life Sentence in 2005 CT Double Murders

  1. #31
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    Jury to begin deciding DiMeo's fate: dead or alive

    BRIDGEPORT -- The evidence is over.

    A Superior Court jury of six men and six women will begin to decide Monday whether Christopher DiMeo should get the death penalty for the Feb. 2, 2005 murders of Fairfield jewelers Tim and Kim Donnelly.

    It took the same jury only four hours to decide the 29-year-old DiMeo was guilty of the crime. It's expected to take them a lot longer to decide whether he should live or die.

    Both prosecutors and defense lawyers rested their respective cases late Wednesday afternoon.

    The final witness was Yale University forensic psychiatrist Dr. Paul Amble, who had been hired recently by the prosecution to evaluate DiMeo.

    Yale psychiatrist Dr. Howard Zonana had earlier testified for the defense that because of his extensive heroin use and poor upbringing DiMeo had no control of his actions when he fatally shot the Donnellys in their Post Road store.

    Under questioning by Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Corradino, Amble testified he agreed with just about everything Zonana had found with the exception of his final conclusion.

    "This explanation is no more likely than many other possibilities, including the explanation that prior to entering the store he intended to shoot to death anyone who would attempt to thwart his plan including someone trying to grab his gun or attempting to dial 911," he said.

    Last week Amble interviewed DiMeo for several hours. And although DiMeo told police he had blacked out during the crime he told the psychiatrist he recalled what happened.

    "He recalls that both Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly screamed loudly and were moving their hands," Amble related. DiMeo told the psychiatrist: "I remember shooting him (Tim Donnelly) there was no accident¦ when I shot him I intended to shoot him, it's a thing that happened real fast. I panicked."

    Amble continued that DiMeo recalled shooting Kim Donnelly but not specifically each shot. And he said DiMeo scoffed when he opined that DiMeo may have killed Kim Donnelly because she was a potential witness against him, pointing out that he hadn't killed William Burke who saw him inside the Donnelly store after the murders.

    Under cross examination by DiMeo's lawyer, Michael Courtney, agreed that DiMeo had been very cooperative during the interview but he added he believes DiMeo was keeping information from him.

    "He understood how much he needed to give me," Amble said. The witness did agreed with Courtney that DiMeo expressed remorse for his actions.

    "I think Mr. DiMeo, if he had to do it again wouldn't do it. He talks about how horrible it was for the people who died."

    The jury will reconvene Monday morning to hear final arguments from the lawyers and the instruction on the law from Judge Robert Devlin before beginning its deliberations.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/default/articl...#ixzz1HSe3XKtj

  2. #32
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    Jury begins death penalty deliberations in DiMeo case

    For Christopher DiMeo, death is not an easy process.

    Although a 12-member Superior Court jury found him guilty of killing Fairfield jewelers Kim and Tim Donnelly, the death penalty is far from guaranteed.

    On Monday, the jury will begin deliberating whether the 29-year-old DiMeo should get death or life in prison without the possibility of release. But before they go into the deliberation room, Judge Robert Devlin will hand them a multi-page verdict form they must fill out and hand back when they have arrived at their decision.

    This form, which was not immediately available to the public, lists several multiple-choice questions, according to court sources. Answering even one question yes or no will decide whether DiMeo lives, dies or has to start over again.

    In the case of Trumbull resident Richard Roszkowski, found guilty of the 2006 murders of a city woman, her 9-year-old daughter and a Milford landscaper, jurors said later they meant for Roszkowski to get the death penalty. But they answered one of the questions on the verdict form incorrectly, and as a result a new jury must be impaneled to decide Roszkowski's penalty.

    In this case, the jury must first determine if prosecutors have proved the existence of one of two so-called aggravating factors: one, that DiMeo killed the Donnellys during a robbery and had previously been convicted of robbery; and two, that DiMeo inflicted extreme suffering or torture on Kim Donnelly beyond what was necessary for a slaying.

    If the jury answers yes to either of these statements, it gets to go to step two. A "no" answer means life for DiMeo.

    In step two, the jury is asked to decide if DiMeo's lawyers have proven that at the time DiMeo killed the Donnellys, his mental capacity was significantly impaired -- but not so much that it would have been a defense to the crime. Answer yes, and DiMeo gets life. No, and the jury goes on to step three.

    Step three is the wide-open world of mitigation. In this step, the jury can consider anything about DiMeo -- including his appearance in court -- in deciding whether or not he should get the death penalty. If they find none, then it's the death penalty. But if they do find something, no matter how minor, the jury then goes to step four.

    Step four -- the weighing -- means the jury must weigh the aggravating factor determined in step one against any mitigating factor from step three. If the aggravating factor tips the scale, it's the death penalty.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/default/articl...#ixzz1HqJpmTmS

  3. #33
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    Christopher DiMeo didn't cry during the prosecutor's summation Monday.

    He sat looking down at the defense table, but shed not a single tear. Those apparently were reserved for his own lawyer's final argument.

    DiMeo's eyes welled with tears as Public Defender Michael Courtney told the 12 jurors that he was not going to claim his client is a victim in this case.

    Then Courtney launched into a number of reasons why the jury shouldn't give DiMeo the death penalty for killing Fairfield jewelers Kim and Tim Donnelly.

    The Superior Court jury that found DiMeo guilty of fatally shooting the Donnellys on Feb. 2, 2005, in their Post Road store is now deciding whether he should get the death penalty for the crime.

    In a summation that lasted about 40 minutes, Courtney told the jury that what DiMeo did to the Donnellys is not on the same level as the crime committed by Cheshire home invader Steven Hayes, who was recently sentenced to death.

    He argued DiMeo had made some bad choices based on his addiction to heroin and having a mother who treated him more like a brother than a son. He argued that DiMeo had no control of his actions when he killed the Donnellys because of what heroin did to his brain.

    "Can any of you say that his brain is the same as yours and mine?" Courtney asked the jurors.

    Standing next to his crying client he continued: "Chris DiMeo's life can still have meaning and value. He has value as a human being. Consider if you want to walk out of here saying you voted for death."

    In his rebuttal Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Corradino did not mince words, accusing the crying DiMeo of "crocodile tears."

    "Kim screamed at some point. Her husband, the man she met in high school, the man she married at 20, the man with whom she raised a family, the man who was her best friend, had been shot four times just a few feet away from her," he continued. "It does not take doctors with power points and plastic models to tell you that gunshots hurt. We do know that five bullets tore into her body, but we do know that she was conscious for at least a few moments while those bullets tore into her."

    Corradino usually ends his summation with a quote from a historical figure. The defense lawyers knew it was coming, and they tried to stop it this time.

    The 1959 quote from Martin Luther King Jr. had barely gotten out of Corradino's lips, "Man is man because he is free to operate..." when Courtney was on his feet objecting.

    But Corradino continued: "In your verdict you will take the measure of this man. ... He was free to avoid killing that couple; he was free to deliberate, to make decisions and to choose between alternatives. He chose his own destiny. Six years ago he chose your verdict. He chose death."

    The jury begins its deliberations Tuesday morning.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/default/articl...#ixzz1HxPzLU4P

  4. #34
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    DiMeo jury asks about victim's suffering

    In its first full day of deliberations on whether Christopher DiMeo should get the death penalty for the killing of Kim and Tim Donnelly, the jury had a question for the judge. Is there a limit to the amount of time Kim Donnelly suffered?

    Answer: No, as long as she was conscious, Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin told them.

    The question was of import because in order to find for the death penalty the jury must agree that the state proved one of two so-called aggravating factors. First, that DiMeo had a previous conviction for a similar crime -- the attempted robbery of a New York Best Buy in 2001 -- and second, he inflicted extreme physical or psychological pain, suffering or torture on a victim.

    The 29-year-old DiMeo was found guilty of fatally shooting the Donnellys in their Post Road jewelry store on Feb. 2, 2005.

    Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Corradino had argued before the jury that Kim Donnelly suffered psychologically when she first witnessed DiMeo shoot her husband of 20 years four times, knowing she was going to be next. He said she suffered physical pain as DiMeo fired the five shots at close range into her chest and back.

    However, the defense lawyer, Michael Courtney, argued that the shots into the couple only took seconds and therefore there would not have been time for Kim Donnelly to suffer.

    The jurors had asked Devlin that if they found the first aggravating factor do they have to find the second before moving on with the verdict process.

    Devlin told them no, in this case one is enough.

    After deciding an aggravating factor was proven the jury then must decide whether the defense proved a statutory mitigating factor that would override the aggravating factor -- that DiMeo was significantly mentally impaired when he killed the couple. If they find the defense has proved that factor DiMeo can't get the death penalty.

    Deliberations will continue Wednesday.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/default/articl...#ixzz1I24Bpa2z

  5. #35
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    Lawyer seeks repeal of DiMeo NY sentence

    Even as a Superior Court jury here continues to deliberate Christopher DiMeo's fate, a New York lawyer Wednesday said he is seeking an appeal in his state to block a death sentence for DiMeo.

    Bruce Barket said, working in conjunction with DiMeo's public defenders, he is asking the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to throw out DiMeo's 2001 attempted robbery conviction there.

    That conviction, for an attempted robbery of a Westbury, L.I., Best Buy store, is being used by prosecutors here as an aggravating factor for DiMeo to get the death penalty for the Feb. 2, 2005 murders of Tim and Kim Donnelly.

    "Whether he should or should not get the death penalty should not turn on seven video games he (DiMeo) stole in 2001," Barket said.

    He said he filed an application with the appellate court to hear the appeal of the 2001 conviction and expects to get a response by June.

    Although DiMeo pleaded guilty in the New York case Barket said the appeal contends that DiMeo's lawyer at the time did not do a thorough enough investigation of the case.

    "The attempted robbery was nothing but a glorified shoplifting," he said.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/default/articl...#ixzz1I77rPOXe

  6. #36
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    I don't think the jurors heard about the New York murder. Judging by that and the complicated verdict process that Conneticut has, I think that Mr DiMeo will wind up getting life. Having said that, you can never really predict whats going to happen when it comes down to capital cases.

  7. #37
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    DiMeo's self felt guilt will kill him long before the state does. This case was highly publicized prior to trial. This case is being tried on the curt tails of Hayes and prior to Komisarjevsky ...BOTH DESERVE DUE PUNISHMENT.

    DiMeo's demeanor from arrest to trial has shown nothing but remorse. This is a hard case to predict. CT is a small state, I would hate to be on this jury with such a large charge. It could decide the fate of the death penalty in the state of Connecticut.

  8. #38
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    I think the fact he was also addicted to heroin at the time will play a large part in the jury desicion. This crime was not close to the brutality on display in the cheshire murders so im not sure how much of an effect it will have.

    I think that even with the komisarjevsky case, the death penalty will no longer exist in conneticut by the end of the year. The komisarvesky case will only determine how big a margin the bill passes.

    Being honest, the death penalty in conneticut is already dead. No one is being executed or appears within 20 years of that fate. If im right two of them who have been there for the best part of the decade have only just filed their direct appeals.
    The only question is when is conneticut going to bury it.

  9. #39
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    Life in prison.

    That is the verdict from a jury today deciding the fate of Christopher DiMeo in the deaths of Fairfield jewelers Kim and Tim Donnelly. The jury found one aggrieving factor but found it did not outweigh mitigating factors

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/J...#ixzz1IHzLuLsN


    HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut jury has spared a New York man from the death penalty for fatally shooting a couple during a robbery attempt at their Fairfield jewelry shop.

    The Bridgeport Superior Court jury decided Friday that Christopher DiMeo should spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole. DiMeo was convicted in February of killing jewelers Kim and Tim Donnelly in 2005.

    Lawyers for the former Queens, N.Y., man said he didn't deserve the death penalty. But prosecutor Joseph Corradino argued that Kim Donnelly saw her husband killed in front of her and felt the terror of her own impending death.

    DiMeo is already serving a life prison sentence in New York for killing Long Island jewelry store owner Thomas Renison in 2004.

    http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/vi...wel-Robberies/

  10. #40
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    I was right.

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