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Thread: Alfonso Sanchez - Pennsylvania Death Row

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    Alfonso Sanchez - Pennsylvania Death Row




    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death in Bucks County on October 3, 2008 in the murder of Lisa Diaz, 27, at a Warminster apartment in October 2007. That night in the Bucks Landing apartment, Sanchez also murdered Mendez Thomas, 22, shooting him in the head at point-blank range.

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    October 3, 2008

    As the family of the convicted murderer sat tensely in the courtroom alongside relatives of the slain, a Bucks County judge addressed the jury Thursday, making the day's business clear.

    “There are two choices before you,” said Judge Alan M. Rubenstein. “Life imprisonment. Or death.”

    Eleven hours later, the jury sentenced convicted first-degree murderer Alfonzo Sanchez, 26, to death for shooting and killing Lisa Diaz, 27, at a Warminster apartment last October.

    That night in the Bucks Landing apartment, Sanchez also murdered Mendez Thomas, 22, shooting him in the head at point-blank range.

    For that act, the jury sentenced him to life in prison. But the ultimate penalty imposed for the slaying of Diaz takes precedence, and Sanchez will soon be moving into a cell on death row.

    Pointing to the facts that came to light in a six-day trial, Rubenstein told the jury candidly, “No one can have a quarrel with your verdict.”

    Prosecutor Gary Gambardella praised the jurors for having the “courage” to sentence Sanchez to death. “Clearly this case cried out for that verdict,” Gambardella said. “This man tore apart many lives.”

    Mendez Thomas's family, including his sister and mother, clung to each other after the verdict was read. “Justice was served,” said Deborah Thomas, Mendez's mother.

    Tears were evident among Sanchez's supporters. Four people testified on his behalf Thursday. They included a day care owner whose daughter had dated Sanchez for years.

    A woman whose son was best friends with Sanchez while growing up flew from Arizona overnight to testify for him. Both she and her daughter characterized Sanchez as a caring, respectful, non-violent person. “He's a teddy bear,” said Jennifer Gitlin.

    Jack McMahon, Sanchez's lawyer, argued he did not deserve death because he does not have a violent criminal history and was drunk and high when the slayings occurred, rendering him incapable of realizing the ramifications of his actions.

    The jury didn't agree.

    A death sentence was warranted in the murder of Diaz because he killed her just after murdering Thomas in the presence of Thomas' two young children while committing a burglary, the jury ruled.

    Diaz was at Thomas' apartment baby-sitting the night of the murders. Thomas' girlfriend, Jessica Carmona, was shot in the leg as she tried to shield her 2-year-old son.

    Sanchez and Steven Miranda, 20, and another man, Alexander Martinez, 23, of Warminster, went to the apartment that night on the pretext of buying drugs.

    Miranda faces the prospect of life in prison for his actions that night. Martinez pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and testified against the others.

    (Source: phillyburbs.com)

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    Pennsylvania v. Sanchez

    Opinion Date: December 17, 2013

    Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

    Appellant was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Mendez Thomas and Lisa Diaz. On appeal, appellant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him at trial. After review of the trial court record, the Supreme Court found the evidence sufficient to support appellant's murder convictions.
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    On April 15, 2014, Sanchez filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/pen...cv02231/490084

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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Sanchez's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District
    Case Nos.: (No. 605 CAP)
    Decision Date: December 17, 2013
    Rehearing Denied: February 14, 2014
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    Man on death row for shooting of York City man among five execution warrants signed by Governor Corbett

    Governor Tom Corbett signs execution warrants for five men including one man sentenced to die for the 2008 murder of a York City man.

    Kevin Mattison, of Baltimore, was convicted for the December 9, 2008, robbery and shooting death of Christian Agosto. Records show that Mattison shot Agosto over a pound of marijuana. He was convicted in 2010 and handed the death penalty. Mattison’s execution is scheduled for March 12th.

    The four men in the other warrants are:

    * Terrance Williams, convicted of murder for the beating death of a man on June 11, 1984 during a robbery in Philadelphia County.

    * Kenneth Hairston, convicted of killing his wife and son on June 11, 2001 in Allegheny County

    *Alfonso Sanchez, convicted for the shooting deaths of a man and woman in 2007 in Bucks County

    *Robert Diamond, convicted for the shooting deaths of two men on August 1, 2008 in Bucks County;

    All five men are incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. Williams’ execution has been scheduled for March 4, 2015; Hairston’s for March 5, 2015; Sanchez’s for March 10, 2015 and Diamond’s for March 11, 2015.

    The execution warrants signed today for Mattison, Williams, Hairston, Sanchez and Diamond represents Governor Corbett’s 44th through 48th warrants signed, respectively, since taking office.

    Executions in Pennsylvania are carried out by lethal injection. For more information, visit the Department of Corrections online at www.cor.pa.gov.

    http://fox43.com/2015/01/13/man-on-d...ernor-corbett/
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    On February 3, 2015, the Bucks County Common Pleas Court issued a stay of execution for Alfonso Sanchez.
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    Bucks County death row inmate gets new trial after prosecutorial mistake

    A new trial has been ordered for a death row inmate convicted of killing two people in Warminster because of a prosecutorial mistake.

    Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge Alan M. Rubenstein announced the decision on Thursday morning.

    Alfonso Sanchez, 35, was found guilty by a jury in 2008 of first-degree murder and related charges for the shooting deaths of Lisa Diaz and Mendez Thomas.

    Sanchez allegedly fatally shot the two in the head at close range in a Warminster apartment in 2007.

    Sanchez was sentenced to death, but a 2016 investigation into the case by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office found that during the trial, lab reports pertaining to DNA testing were not turned over, even though they were legally material to Sanchez's defense.

    In a letter read in court on Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Jill Graziano said the results showed a match between DNA found under Lisa Diaz's fingernails and the DNA profile of Diaz's then-boyfriend, Stephen Miranda.

    Sanchez's defense in court was that Miranda was the shooter, not him.

    "Your Honor, the Commonwealth does not believe that this information concerning Stephen Miranda’s DNA in any way exonerates Petitioner," Graziano said, noting that prosecutors still believe Sanchez is responsible for the murders.

    "Nonetheless, we also recognize that the Commonwealth had a duty and an obligation to turn over the lab reports to Petitioner in 2008 at a time when they could have been used by trial counsel to advance Mr. Sanchez’s proffered defense," Graziano wrote.

    In the forthcoming new trial, prosecutors again plan to seek the death penalty for Sanchez.

    “Whenever we discover that a mistake has been made, justice requires that we act promptly to set it right,” District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said in a statement.

    http://www.phillyvoice.com/new-trial...orial-mistake/
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    Appeal delays Warminster double-murder retrial

    By James O'Malley
    The Bucks County Courier-Times

    Two days into jury selection, the retrial of a man previously on death row for a 2007 Warminster double murder has been delayed in anticipation of appeal.

    Alfonso Sanchez, 35, asked Bucks County Judge Alan M. Rubenstein on Wednesday to dismiss the charges against him, saying he was being retried in violation of his constitutional rights. The judge denied the request, prompting defense attorney Francis Genovese immediately to announce his intentions to appeal the decision.

    Rubenstein said late in the afternoon he would issue an official stay in the proceedings once the appeal has been filed. The review is likely to delay the trial for months.

    Charged with criminal homicide and once again facing the death penalty for the shooting deaths of 27-year-old Lisa Diaz and 22-year-old Mendez Thomas, Sanchez will remain behind bars throughout the process. The new delay comes a day after defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully for a continuance, saying they needed more time to prepare for the death penalty phase in the event their client was again convicted of first-degree murder.

    Late Wednesday afternoon, a panel of prospective jurors in the new trial was dismissed following Rubenstein's decision to deny Sanchez's motion, and were told it would not be necessary to return in the morning. The group had spent the better part of Wednesday sequestered in a nearby courtroom, awaiting individual questioning and presumably unaware of what was occurring just down the hall.

    Sanchez alleged prosecutorial misconduct, saying prosecutors purposely hid DNA evidence during the 2008 trial. A retrial, Sanchez claimed through his attorneys, would constitute double jeopardy.

    Deputy District Attorney Antonetta Stancu argued Sanchez's claims were baseless, pointing to testimony from former prosecutor Gary Gambardella, who said he turned over the DNA evidence report to Sanchez's defense attorney the day he received it.

    Gambardella, now district judge in Nockamixon, said he did not learn of the report until the day immediately following Sanchez's sentencing.

    Well-known Philadelphia defense attorney Jack McMahon, who represented Sanchez at his first trial, testified that he was never made aware of the report, and would have taken immediate action to appeal had he been. He said the case was the first time he lost a case in the death penalty phase.

    Sanchez in January was granted a new trial at the request of the Bucks County District Attorney's Office after the office's appellate division said it discovered the DNA evidence report had been overlooked.

    Prosecutors say the new report showed evidence of a co-defendant's DNA found under the female victim's fingernails during an autopsy. Stancu said in court she believes the evidence corroborates the prosecutors' theory of the case, noting Gambardella's statement that he would have entered the report as evidence during the 2007 trial.

    Genovese, along with his co-counsel, defense attorney Charles Jonas, said after the hearing they respected the court's decision, and reaffirmed their intent to appeal.

    Stancu declined to comment. The seasoned prosecutor is trying the case alongside Deputy District Attorney Jill Graziano, who now serves as chief of staff in the county prosecutors' office after heading the appellate unit.

    http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.c...04b9f6eda.html

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    December 27, 2018

    Exonerated death row inmate alleges Bucks County and Warminster police engaged in wrongful prosecution

    By Bree Gonzales
    Pennsylvania Record

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania resident is suing police in Bucks County and Warminster Township, alleging that they fabricated evidence and intentionally withheld and misrepresented exculpatory evidence, specifically DNA results.

    Defendants in Alfonso Sanchez's Dec. 13 lawsuit are Bucks County, Warminster Township, Warminster Township Police Officer Sean Harold, Bucks County Detective Martin McDonough and Warminster Township Detective John Bonagro.

    The suit, filed in Philadelphia federal court, alleges malicious prosecution, and deprivation of liberty without due process of law and denial of a fair trial by fabricating evidence, withholding exculpatory material and impeachment evidence, and deliberately failing to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation, and other counts.

    According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in 2008, he was wrongfully convicted of murder in the first degree of the shooting deaths of Mendez Thomas and Lisa Diaz and, as a result, served nine years on death row before his conviction was vacated and another one-and-a-half years in county jail while he awaited retrial.

    The defendants allegedly performed their unlawful acts under the color of state law, intentionally, with reckless disregard for the truth, and with deliberate indifference to Sanchez's rights.

    The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, attorney's fees, and for any and all other relief to which he may be entitled. He is represented by Michael Pillegi in Philadelphia.

    https://pennrecord.com/stories/51168...ul-prosecution

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