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Thread: Albert Perez - Pennsylvania Death Row

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    Albert Perez - Pennsylvania Death Row


    Duceliz Diaz-Santiago and her daughter Kayla






    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death in Berks County on May 27, 2009 for killing 22-year-old Duceliz Diaz-Santiago and her daughter Kayla on January 15, 2007. Perez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder on May 19. Prosecutors say he hanged Diaz-Santiago and her daughter in an apartment in Bernville, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

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    May 27, 2009

    Pennsylvania Man gets death sentence

    An eastern Pennsylvania man has received the death penalty for the January 2007 slayings of his ex-girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter.

    A Berks County jury deliberated for two hours before sentencing 28-year-old Albert Perez to death on Wednesday for killing 22-year-old Duceliz Diaz-Santiago and her daughter Kayla on Jan. 15, 2007.

    Perez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder on May 19. Prosecutors say he hanged Diaz-Santiago and her daughter in an apartment in Bernville, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

    Investigators say Perez tried to cover up the killings by making the deaths appear to be a murder-suicide. Prosecutors say he fabricated a suicide note to try to pin the deaths on Duceliz Diaz-Santiago.

    http://www.whptv.com/news/state/stor...death-sentence

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    July 27, 2010

    A 29-year-old convicted killer testified Monday in Berks County Court that his trial attorney failed to provide expert and character witnesses to help him during his May 2009 trial.

    Albert Perez's new lawyer, Eric Winter of Reading, asked Judge Linda K.M. Ludgate for a new trial and to overturn the death penalty.

    Winter argued that Perez's trial attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kevin Beals, who died last July, was ineffective.

    Perez, formerly of the 300 block of Chestnut Street, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the Jan. 15, 2007, hangings of Duceliz Diaz-Santiago, 22, and her daughter, Kayla, 5, in their Bernville apartment.

    Perez testified he would have preferred to have had a forensic pathologist and psychiatrist testify during his trial.

    Perez said he offered Beals the names of several character witnesses, but Beals did not call them to testify.

    Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Adrian Shchuka, Perez said Beals presented some testimony to help him.

    Shchuka questioned why it was necessary to call experts when Perez admitted to police that he killed Diaz-Santiago.

    Winter then called two experts to testify for Perez.

    Dr. Timothy J. Michals, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that a report provided during Perez's trial for the prosecution was incomplete.

    During the trial, prosecutors called Dr. John O'Brien, a Philadelphia forensic psychiatrist, to refute Perez's statement to police that he killed Diaz-Santiago because Diaz-Santiago killed her daughter.

    O'Brien said he had concluded a mother would not kill a daughter.

    Dr. Jonathan Briskin, a Philadelphia forensic pathologist, said Monday that he reviewed the medical reports of Diaz-Santiago and Kayla.

    Briskin testified that compression around the neck could cause death in less than one minute.

    Dr. Isidore Mihalikis, medical examiner in Warren County, N.J., testified during the trial that it was not possible for Diaz-Santiago to have killed Kayla in less than one minute.

    Perez told police he had gone outside to smoke for a minute when Diaz-Santiago ran out to tell him that she had killed her daughter. Perez said he then killed Diaz-Santiago.

    According to court records:

    In a May 2008 statement Perez admitted killing Diaz-Santiago, but said he did so because she had hanged her daughter.

    Perez hanged Diaz-Santiago with a cord attached to a rack in her bedroom closet and Kayla by her pajama bottoms attached to a rack in the bedroom.

    Perez is in the state Correctional Institution at Cresson, Cambria County.

    Testimony is scheduled to continue today.

    http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=237205

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    Judge upholds killer's conviction, death sentence

    A Berks County judge has upheld the conviction of and death sentence for a 29-year-old man in the January 2007 hangings of a mother and daughter in their Bernville apartment.

    Judge Linda K.M. Ludgate concluded in a 67-page opinion that Albert Perez's trial attorney was not ineffective for failing to provide expert and character witnesses in Perez's trial.

    Perez's new lawyer, Eric E. Winter of Reading, asked Ludgate to grant a new trial and overturn the death penalty.

    Winter will appeal to the state Supreme Court as required by law in all death-penalty cases.

    Perez, formerly of the 300 block of Chestnut Street, was convicted in May 2009 of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the Jan. 15, 2007, hangings of Duceliz Diaz-Santiago, 22, and her daughter, Kayla, 5, in their Bernville apartment.

    During a two-day hearing in July, Winter called several witnesses who said they would have testified for Perez if they had been asked to do so during the trial.

    "We are disappointed in the judge's ruling," Winter said. "We believe there were several key pieces of evidence and expert witnesses that should have been presented at trial."

    Perez testified he would have preferred to have had a forensic pathologist, a psychiatrist and character witnesses testify.

    Winter argued that Perez's trial attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kevin M. Beals, who died in July 2009, was ineffective.

    Assistant District Attorney Adrian S. Shchuka said Ludgate properly concluded Perez received a fair trial.

    "When the appeals are complete, a death warrant will be signed," Shchuka said. "They raised 25 issues and they were all denied."

    Ludgate concluded the character witnesses would not have made any difference in the outcome.

    "The testimony these witnesses would have provided as to the defendant's reputation for peacefulness in the community was directly contradicted by his own admissions to the crimes he committed," Ludgate wrote.

    The judge said Perez admitted he strangled Diaz-Santiago with a cord and moved her body to the closet and staged a hanging.

    Ludgate said he also admitted hanging Kayla with pajamas.

    The judge also said the expert witnesses provided by the defense in the post-trial hearing would not have affected the outcome.

    Winter had called Dr. Timothy J. Michals, a Philadelphia forensic psychiatrist, who testified that a report provided during Perez's trial for the prosecution was incomplete.

    Ludgate said Michals admitted he would not be able to conclude that Diaz-Santiago murdered her daughter if he had sufficient evidence to prove Perez killed the child.

    During the trial, prosecutors called Dr. John O'Brien, a Philadelphia forensic psychiatrist, to rebut Perez's statement to police that he killed Diaz-Santiago because Diaz-Santiago killed her daughter.

    O'Brien said he had concluded a mother would not kill a daughter.

    Dr. Jonathan Briskin, a Philadelphia forensic pathologist, testified during the July hearing that the child could have been killed by her mother.

    Briskin testified that compression around the neck could cause death in less than one minute, as Perez said in his statement to police.

    Dr. Isidore Mihalikis, medical examiner in Warren County, N.J., testified during the trial that it was not possible for Diaz-Santiago to have killed Kayla in less than one minute.

    Ludgate wrote in the opinion that Briskin did not exclude that the child was alive when she was hanged by her pajamas.

    Perez told police he had gone outside to smoke for a minute when Diaz-Santiago ran out to tell him that she had killed her daughter. Perez said he then killed Diaz-Santiago.

    Perez is in the State Correctional Institution at Greene, Greene County.

    http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=284414

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    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v ALBERT PEREZ

    OPINION DATE: June 16, 2014

    COURT: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

    Appellant raised twenty-five lettered issues, "nearly exhausting the alphabet," to challenge the two death sentences he received after a jury convicted him of first degree murder and abuse of corpse. "Appellant’s brief is replete with beyond-boilerplate allegations containing sparse argument and even less citation to supporting authority or identification of pertinent portions of the record. His attempt to incorporate the entire trial transcript into his brief [was] insufficient, [. . .] as are his bald assertions containing no developed argument." Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed appellant's convictions and sentences.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Double death penalty backed for man in killing of ex-girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter

    2 death sentences imposed on a Berks County man who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter have been upheld by Pennsylvania's highest court.

    The state Supreme Court affirmed capital punishment for Albert Perez this week in a majority opinion penned by Justice J. Michael Eakin that rejected Perez's claims that there wasn't enough evidence to convict him and that his lawyer was ineffective.

    Perez, now 33, was found guilty of killing Duceliz Diaz-Santiago, 22, and her daughter, Kayla, in their Bernville home in January 2007. Both victims were strangled, and Kayla's body was found hanging from a bathroom railing with a pair of pajama pants wrapped around her neck.

    In his opinion, Eakin noted that Perez gave police 6 statements regarding the murders. First, he denied any involvement, but ultimately admitted to killing Diaz-Santiago. Perez claimed when he was arrested that Diaz-Santiago had killed Kayla after he refused her pleas to resume their relationship.

    Yet, investigators said that as he awaited trial Perez told another county prison inmate that he feared what would happen to him when other prisoners learned that he had, in fact, murdered the little girl.

    A county jury convicted Perez in May 2009 on charges of 1st-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.

    Eakin criticized the quality and thoroughness of the appeal filed on Perez's behalf. Justice Thomas G. Saylor went further and filed a dissenting opinion, arguing that the appeal was "so inadequate" that it should have been sent back for further work before being considered by his court.

    (Source: pennlive.com)
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Perez's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District
    Case Nos.: (621 CAP)
    Decision Date: June 16, 2014
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    On November 13, 2014, Perez filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/pen...cv06494/497992

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    ADMINISTRATIVE DATE

    Execution date set for two death row inmates

    Execution dates are set for two death row inmates despite a moratorium on the death penalty by Governor Tom Wolf.

    Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, signed Notices of Execution setting April 17, 2015 for the executions of Albert Perez, of Berks County and Lance Arrington, of Philadelphia.

    Perez was convicted of first degree murder on May 19, 2009. The same jury handed the death penalty on May 27, 2009.

    Arrington was found guilty of first degree murder on February 17, 2000 and sentenced to death five days later.

    http://fox43.com/2015/03/12/executio...h-row-inmates/
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