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Thread: Manuel Ortiz - Louisiana Death Row

  1. #1
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    Manuel Ortiz - Louisiana Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    On October 23, 1992, Manuel was convicted of murder for Cheryle Mallory and his wife, Tracie Williams Ortiz. Ortiz claimed he killed his wife for $950,000 worth of life insurance.

    Ortiz was sentenced to death on January 31, 1995.

    __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____


    April 22, 2010

    Death sentence in Jefferson Parish murder could be overturned

    Troubled that former Jefferson Parish prosecutor Ronald Bodenheimer sent a man to death row for a double murder in Kenner 18 years ago and then represented a victim's family in a related civil lawsuit, a state judge indicated Thursday that he is leaning toward overturning the convict's death sentence but leaving the conviction intact.

    Judge Jerome Winsberg, a retired New Orleans jurist sitting ad hoc in the 24th Judicial District Court, said he had no problem with the prosecutors' circumstantial evidence that led to the 1994 conviction of Manuel Ortiz, 52. Bodenheimer, who led the prosecution, convinced a Jefferson Parish jury to convict Ortiz of two counts of first-degree murder in the Oct. 23, 1992, deaths of Ortiz's wife, Tracie Williams, 31, and her friend Cheryl Mallory, 33.

    But Winsberg said he found it "extremely troubling" that Bodenheimer signed a contract to represent Williams' family in getting her life insurance seven days after Ortiz was convicted. The criminal case had not concluded.

    "If the death penalty was not involved, I think the court would be of a different mind," Winsberg told attorneys. "I just have a severe problem with an attorney being in a position that Mr. Bodenheimer was in, and he put himself in that position, and he knew there was a problem."

    Winsberg gave Ortiz's attorney Nick Trenticosta and Assistant District Attorney Terry Boudreaux until May 21 to provide case law on whether he could overturn Ortiz's death sentence but let the convictions stand.

    That delivered an apparent blow to Ortiz, who says he is innocent and accuses prosecutors of hiding evidence favorable to the defense and presenting evidence to the jury knowing it is false. Trenticosta argues Ortiz should get a new trial.

    "Mr. Ortiz has been living a nightmare for 18 years that can end today," Trenticosta said.

    Bodenheimer later became a 24th Judicial District judge who pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges and was sent to federal prison for 46 months. While an inmate more than four years ago, Bodenheimer was subpoenaed to testify in Ortiz's case, admitting his private firm earned almost $300,000 in the Williams' life insurance case. But he denied cheating to win convictions.

    Ortiz, a resident alien from El Salvador, was convicted of taking out a $900,000 life insurance policy on his wife and then hiring someone to kill her so he could get the money. Ortiz was in El Salvador during the killings, and the actual killer was never identified.

    Mallory, Williams' lifelong friend, was slain simply because she was with Williams when the killer struck.

    The case rested almost entirely on Carlos Saavedra, a Honduran who lived in Jefferson Parish and was a paid informant for the FBI. Saavedra told his FBI handler that Ortiz had approached him about murdering a woman and sharing the life insurance.

    Ortiz claims Saavedra killed the women. Trenticosta argues that Saavedra was a Cold War hitman for the Honduran government who admitted on his death bed in 2000 he killed the women.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Ronald Bodenheimer ethical conflict cited as killer's death sentence is thrown out

    A state judge has tossed out a convicted killer's death sentence for a 1992 double homicide in Kenner, finding that "rogue prosecutor" Ronald Bodenheimer, who later served time for being a corrupt Jefferson Parish judge, created a "repugnant" ethical conflict by arguing the defendant killed for a life insurance payout but then representing a victim's family in a related lawsuit to get that insurance money -- netting his law firm about $300,000.

    However, Manuel Ortiz's convictions of first-degree and second-degree murder for the Oct. 23, 1992, deaths of his wife Tracie Williams, 31, and her childhood friend, Cheryl Mallory, 33, remain intact. Ortiz, 53, who has maintained his innocence, will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.

    "The Court is aware of the gravity of this ruling," Judge Jerome Winsberg wrote in a judgment he filed in the 24th Judicial District Court Friday. "However, the prosecutor's aberrant behavior in this case is beyond the pale of what is expected in a death penalty case."

    Williams' and Mallory's families could not be reached for comment.

    A Jefferson Parish jury convicted Ortiz in 1994 of taking out $905,000 in life insurance policies on his wife of five months and then hiring a hit man to kill her. She was stabbed to death at her Vouray Drive apartment, and Mallory, who was visiting, was shot dead. Ortiz was in his native El Salvador at the time and was arrested when he returned to the United States. The actual killer was never identified.

    Conflict decried

    During Ortiz's trial, Bodenheimer argued that Ortiz increased the policy amount on his wife as part of the murder scheme. That argument "may well have influenced the jury to recommend the death penalty," Winsberg wrote.

    Yet, days after the conviction, Bodenheimer signed on as the Williams' family attorney to get that life insurance money and argued that Williams -- not Ortiz -- increased the policies, Winsberg found. The civil case "could succeed only if Mr. Ortiz, who was listed as the primary beneficiary of the insurance policies, was convicted and remained so," he found.

    Bodenheimer's private firm netted about $300,000 for the work. He was later elected to the 24th Judicial District Court and convicted in the FBI's "Wrinkled Robe" investigation into corruption at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty in 2003 to federal racketeering charges.

    In a strongly worded 13-page judgment, Winsberg, a retired New Orleans judge, recognized Bodenheimer's past in assessing his credibility when prosecuting Ortiz.

    "This is yet another example of Mr. Bodenheimer's willingness to act in an unprincipled manner for personal gain," Winsberg wrote. "It is repugnant that a prosecutor would, in a death penalty case, urge the jury to make a particular fact-finding, and then, in a related civil case, argue for the opposite conclusion, one which may have aided the defense in the criminal case. Mr. Bodenheimer's conduct in the related civil cases has cast a shadow on the criminal prosecution, rendering the death sentence unreliable."

    Ortiz's attorney Nick Trenticosta, who is defending a capital murder case in New Orleans, could not be reached for comment Friday.

    District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., whose office inherited the case when he was elected in 1996, was unavailable for comment, his office said. His chief of trials, Tim McElroy, said they are reviewing Winsberg's judgment.

    "We will make a decision as to what our next step will be," McElroy said.

    Winsberg also criticized former Jefferson Parish District Attorney John Mamoulides, whom Bodenheimer has said allowed him to represent Williams' family on the civil case. "This egregious act endorsed Mr. Bodenheimer's conduct, and encouraged him to act as a rogue prosecutor," Winsberg wrote.

    Mamoulides, who left office in 1996, could not be reached for comment Friday.

    Restrictions established

    Connick's Executive Assistant District Attorney Barron Burmaster said prosecutors now are full-time employees who have little time for outside legal work. Bodenheimer prosecuted cases and then tended to his "full-blown law practice" on the side, Burmaster said.

    "Our people don't have outside practices, but that doesn't mean our people don't have outside law work," Burmaster said, adding he and supervisors review all requests for outside work.

    Bodenheimer's conflict was a central argument Trenticosta raised in 2003, when he filed a post-conviction relief application in seeking a new trial.

    Trenticosta argued that Carlos Saavedra Sr. killed the women and framed Ortiz because of a dispute over a failed business venture. Trenticosta's witnesses testified that Saavedra was a former Honduran hitman who confessed to the Kenner killings and owned a knife similar to what was used to stab Williams to death. Trenticosta also accused Bodenheimer of illegally hiding evidence that would have helped Ortiz's trial attorneys.

    Winsberg ruled he was "unconvinced" by the witnesses attacking Saavedra and found that, except for Bodenheimer's conflict, Ortiz "received a fair trial, resulting in a verdict worthy of confidence."

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...hical_con.html

  3. #3
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Louisiana Supreme Court wants to hear argument on Manuel Ortiz's death sentence

    The Louisiana Supreme Court wants to hear attorneys' argument on whether a death penalty should be reinstated for Manuel Ortiz. The El Salvadoran national was convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme that left his wife and her friend dead in Kenner 20 years ago.

    The court's announcement Friday came just one week after justices declined to review Ortiz's claim that he is innocent of the murders of his new wife Tracie Williams, 31, and her friend Cheryl Mallory, 33, on Oct. 23, 1992. That ruling essentially means Ortiz's 1994 convictions of first-degree and second-degree murder stand.

    But the question of his punishment remains open. Retired New Orleans Judge Jerome Winsberg, appointed to handle Ortiz's post-conviction proceedings a decade ago, last year tossed out the death penalty in finding that the original prosecutor, disgraced former judge Ronald Bodenheimer, agreed to represent Williams' family in a civil lawsuit for the life insurance payout between the time Ortiz was convicted and sentenced at the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna.

    Winsberg called it "aberrant behavior" that "is beyond the pale of what is expected in a death penalty case."

    Ortiz's attorney Nick Trenticosta argues that his client was framed, and that the true killer was a Honduran hit man who confessed to the Kenner slayings on his death bed. Trenticosta asked the Supreme Court to review Winsberg's decision to uphold the conviction, which was denied last week.

    Trenticosta declined to comment Friday, other than to say the Supreme Court will hear argument.

    The Jefferson Parish district attorney's office, however, asked the high court to review Winsberg's decision to vacate the death penalty. The Supreme Court announced Friday it will hear argument on the punishment in December and wants attorneys on both sides to file written arguments before the hearing.

    The Supreme Court affirmed Ortiz's conviction and death sentence in 1997. And Winsberg ruled last year that he found Ortiz received a fair trial.

    Ortiz, 54, was on death row for 17 years before Winsberg vacated the punishment. If that decision stands, Ortiz would spend the rest of his life in prison.

    Authorities said Ortiz had a $905,000 life insurance policy on his wife when he ordered the hit. He was in El Salvador when Williams was killed but was arrested in Florida as he returned to the United States. Mallory happened to be visiting Williams when the killer struck. The actual killer was never caught.

    After the conviction, Bodenheimer signed on to represent Williams' family to get the life insurance, netting his private law firm about $300,000. He admitted during a 2004 hearing that he represented Williams' family in the life insurance case, and that then-District Attorney John Mamoulides allowed it. But Bodenheimer denied accusations that he cheated in order to convict Ortiz.

    Bodenheimer later was elected to the 24th Judicial District Court bench but resigned in 2003 and pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in the FBI's "Operation Wrinkled Robe" investigation of the Jefferson Parish Courthouse. Bodenheimer was sentenced to 43 months in prison.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...urt_wants.html

  4. #4
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    Louisiana v. Ortiz

    Opinion Date: January 29, 2013

    Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

    Respondent Manuel Ortiz was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death for the 1995 for the killing of his wife. The State urged jurors to find that Respondent was involved in a murder-for-hire scheme motivated by his desire to collect on an insurance policy taken out on the wife. Post-conviction relief proceedings stretched out over years. One of the allegations Respondent raised on appeal involved prosecutorial misconduct by a former assistant district attorney. The litigation took place against the background of the assistant DA's subsequent but unrelated legal difficulties which resulted his disbarment and imprisonment on federal charges. The district court ultimately denied respondent the post-conviction relief he sought, effectively rejecting specific claims that the assistant DA had suppressed certain exculpatory evidence and suborned perjury, but vacated Respondent's death sentence. Both Respondent and the State appealed the district court's decision. With no evidence that any prosecutorial decision made before or during the guilt or sentencing stages of trial stemmed in whole or part from any pecuniary interest in the insurance proceeds relating to the victim's death (including the decision to charge Respondent with his wife's murder), the Supreme Court concluded that the district court erred in vacating Respondent's death sentence. Accordingly, the Court reversed the appellate court's decision and reinstated respondent's death sentence.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    and the article..

    Louisiana Supreme Court reinstates death sentence in Jefferson Parish murder case

    The state Supreme Court has reinstated Manuel Ortiz's death sentence, for his first-degree murder conviction of hiring someone to kill his wife in Kenner 20 years ago to get her $900,000 life insurance policy. Justices reversed retired New Orleans Judge Jerome Winsberg's decision to lift the death sentence because the prosecutor in the case, Ronald Bodenheimer, represented the victim's family in a civil lawsuit to get the life insurance before his involvement with the criminal case had ended.

    Ortiz, 55, an El Salvadoran national who had a condo in Kenner, was convicted of first-degree and second-degree murder in the Oct. 23, 1992, death of his wife Tracie Williams, 31, and her friend Cheryl Mallory, 33. Prosecutors said Ortiz was in El Salvador when the person he hired killed his wife and Mallory, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Prosecutors say the killer was never identified.

    Ortiz's convictions have been upheld, leaving open the question of whether he received the death penalty or mandatory life in prison. Ortiz's attorney Nick Trenticosta did not immediately return a call for comment Friday. He has argued that Ortiz is innocent, that Bodenheimer cheated to convict his client by withholding evidence and already has taken the case to federal court in New Orleans.

    Winsberg tossed the death sentence in August 2011, finding that before Bodenheimer's involvement in the criminal case had ended, he signed up to represent Williams' family to get the life insurance, eventually netting his private firm about $300,000. Further, Winsberg found that Bodenheimer's argument in the life insurance case was different from what he argued in the criminal trial.

    Bodenheimer's "aberrant behavior in this case is beyond the pale of what is expected in a death penalty case," Winsberg wrote in tossing the punishment.

    However, after hearing oral argument in December, Supreme Court justices this week found that Bodenheimer's arguments in the criminal and civil cases "were not diametrically opposed," but rather emphasized different aspects of trial testimony about the life insurance policy.

    Justices found there was no evidence linking Bodenheimer's handling of the Ortiz prosecution to his personal financial interests in the life insurance case. As such, justices found, Winsberg erred in tossing out the death penalty.

    The vote was 6-1, with former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu dissenting. Landrieu was appointed to the Ortiz case because Associate Justice Greg Guidry, a former Jefferson Parish judge, recused himself.

    Landrieu said that Winsberg, a "highly respected" retired district court judge in New Orleans who "has presided over many capital cases," held "extensive hearings" before deciding to remove the death sentence.

    Bodenheimer had "a clear conflict of interest," which the Supreme Court knew nothing about when upholding Ortiz's conviction and death sentence 16 years ago, Landrieu wrote.

    Winsberg was appointed to the case in 2003 after the entire 24th Judicial District Court bench stepped aside because of Bodenheimer, who later in his career was elected to that court but resigned when he pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges unrelated to the Ortiz case. He was sentenced to 43 months in prison.

    Ortiz's case has attracted wide attention from death penalty foes, including Sister Helen Prejean. Trenticosta, his attorney, argues that a Honduran hitman was the killer and framed Ortiz because of a failed business venture.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...urt_reins.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #6
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Ortiz's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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