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Thread: Elvis Riccardi's Life Spared in 2009 PA Slaying

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    Elvis Riccardi's Life Spared in 2009 PA Slaying

    Pa. murder suspect lunges at co-defendant in court

    Deputies had to wrestle a murder suspect to the ground after he lunged at a co-defendant inside a northeastern Pennsylvania courtroom.

    Luzerne County sheriff's deputies cleared the courtroom Wednesday morning after tackling 33-year-old Michael Simonson.

    Simonson lunged at 32-year-old Elvis Riccardi as the pair were in court for a pretrial hearing.

    Both men are charged with killing 34-year-old Donald Skiff in April 2009. Prosecutors say the suspects robbed and beat Skiff to death before setting his truck on fire. The Plymouth man's body was found more than a month later.

    Simonson, of Plains Township, and Riccardi, of Wilkes-Barre, had requested separate trials. Court documents indicate each man blamed the other for the slaying.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    http://www.yorkdispatch.com/pennsylvania/ci_15675469

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    Suspect attacks co-defendant in bloody courtroom fracas

    For the second time in 14 months, murder suspect Michael Simonson's animosity for co-defendant Elvis Aaron Riccardi has spilled into a Luzerne County courtroom.

    Last year, Simonson, 33, threatened to kill Riccardi, 32, as they were being arraigned on charges they kidnapped, robbed and killed Donald Skiff, a 34-year-old musician who disappeared in April 2009 after fishing with friends in Shickshinny.

    Wednesday morning, as sheriff's deputies were leading Simonson into court for the resumption of a pre-trial hearing, the shackled, handcuffed defendant lunged at Riccardi and headbutted him.

    Sheriff's deputies quickly wrestled Simonson to the floor and cleared attorneys, witnesses and others from the cramped courtroom, on the third floor of the Bernard C. Brominski Building, across North Street from the main courthouse.

    "My guys were on top of it," Sheriff John F. Gilligan said as he stood in a corridor near the courtroom turned battle zone. "No sooner did it happen than it was over."

    Emergency responders wheeled Riccardi from the courtroom on a stretcher. He was treated at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township for unspecified injuries and returned to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

    Sheriff's deputy Eric Aigeldinger broke a finger while helping subdue Simonson, Gilligan said. Simonson, whose blood splattered across the table where Riccardi and his attorneys had been sitting, refused medical treatment. He was eventually returned to the Lackawanna County jail, where he has been held since threatening Riccardi's life last year.

    Judge Joseph M. Augello, who was in his chambers when Simonson attacked Riccardi, ordered the hearing postponed until this morning and moved to a larger courtroom at the main courthouse. Gilligan said he would increase security.

    Augello has yet to rule on a defense request in January to have Simonson and Riccardi tried separately. Their trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 10.

    District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll, Deputy District Attorney David Pedri and Assistant District Attorney Mary Hanlon Mirabito, who were sitting in front of Riccardi when Simonson attacked, declined to comment, citing a standing order from Augello barring statements to the media. Musto Carroll, citing the judge's order, declined to answer questions about whether Simonson would be charged in the attack.

    Riccardi attorney Mark Bufalino, who after the attack wore protective gloves as he wiped Simonson's blood from his case materials, also declined to comment, citing the order.

    Simonson and Riccardi are each facing 28 counts, including homicide, kidnapping, robbery and arson charges, in the Skiff killing. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

    Riccardi, of Wilkes-Barre, and Simonson, of Plains Township, have already confessed to the killing, prosecutors said. Riccardi's 15-year-old niece testified at a preliminary hearing in October that Riccardi burst into her house a week after Skiff's disappearance and blurted out than that he had "killed someone."

    Riccardi later demonstrated how he tied Skiff's hands with Skiff's own shoelaces, pressed his face down in dirt and beat him with a log or tree branch, the niece testified.

    Days before the June 2009 preliminary arraignment, Simonson told investigators he would take them to "the body" and led investigators to Skiff's badly decomposed corpse, which had been dumped in a wooded area about 100 feet from Suscon Road in Jenkins Township.

    At the arraignment, Simonson threatened Riccardi.

    "You're dead," Simonson said coolly, eyeing Riccardi from across the cramped district magistrate's hearing room. "You're dead, bro. I'm killing you. Watch."

    Officers quickly moved between the two men, who were wearing the same basic wardrobe as in Wednesday's incident - prison jumpsuits, handcuffs and shackles. Riccardi responded to the threats outside after the arraignment, as officers led him to a state police cruiser.

    "(Expletive) him," Riccardi said at the time. "I'm going to kill him."

    Wednesday's attack came near the end of a five-minute recess between legal arguments on a defense request to prevent prosecutors from using Simonson and Riccardi's statements to investigators at trial, and testimony from a state police corporal.

    Sheriff's deputies escorted Riccardi, who requested the break, then Simonson to the bathroom. Their path back to Simonson's seat, on the left side of the courtroom, crossed within two feet of where Riccardi was sitting on the right side of the room.

    Simonson stopped, looked at Riccardi and lunged at him, head first.

    http://citizensvoice.com/news/suspect-attacks-co-defendant-in-bloody-courtroom-fracas-1.923324

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    Suspect finds body, beats death penalty
    Michael Simonson is one of two men charged in the 2009 death of Donald Skiff.


    Prosecutors made a deal not to seek the death penalty for homicide suspect Michael Simonson if he led state police investigators to the body of Donald Skiff.

    The revelation came during an evidence suppression hearing for Simonson, 33, and co-defendant, Elvis Riccardi, 32, on Thursday.

    Attorneys for Simonson and Riccardi are attempting to convince Luzerne County Judge Joseph Augello to prohibit prosecutors from using statements by the two men to investigators about Skiff’s murder at trial, scheduled to start Sept. 10.

    Simonson, of Plains Township, and Riccardi, of Wilkes-Barre, are accused in the killing of Skiff, 34, of Plymouth, on April 27, 2009. Skiff was fishing with friends in Shickshinny and was allegedly kidnapped by Simonson and Riccardi after they asked him for a ride to a strip club in West Nanticoke.

    Investigators allege Skiff was beaten and tied up with shoelaces near the Garden Drive-In on state Route 11. He was then driven in his 2000 Ford Ranger to a credit union in Plains Township where the two men withdrew money from his account, investigators allege.

    District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll and assistant district attorneys Mary Hanlon Mirabito and David Pedri are seeking the death penalty for Riccardi, if he is convicted of first degree murder.

    Trooper Lisa Brogan testified Thursday that Simonson, after a preliminary hearing at Wilkes-Barre Central Court on an unrelated case, led investigators to Skiff’s body in woods off Suscon Road in Jenkins Township on June 4, 2009. Brogan said an agreement was reached with the District Attorney’s Office that the death penalty wouldn’t be sought against Simonson before the body was found.

    Before leaving Central Court, Brogan said Simonson spoke with his attorney, Jonathan Blum, on a cell phone before leading investigators to the body.

    “The only question we asked him was, ‘where to,’ and he said Jumper Road (Plains Township),” Brogan testified.

    Brogan said they drove on Jumper Road and Bald Mountain Road before stopping on Suscon Road.

    In the weeks before Skiff’s body was discovered, Riccardi was cooperating with investigators, according to Thursday’s testimony.

    Cpl. Gerry Williams testified Riccardi “voluntarily” provided information about the murder on May 1, 2009, and Turinski testified Riccardi, after being read his Miranda warnings, wrote a letter of apology to Skiff’s father, Donald C. Skiff, on May 18, 2009.

    Security heightened at the courthouse on Thursday in response to a violent outburst by Simonson on Wednesday in the Brominski Courthouse building. Simonson, as he was being returned to the courtroom after using the restroom, head butted Riccardi.

    A sheriff deputy brought a canine to the third floor and searched the floor prior to the start of Thursday’s hearing. There were also more deputies standing guard.

    The hearing will resume on Aug. 25.

    http://www.timesleader.com/news/Suspect-finds-body-beats-death-penalty.html

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    Murder suspects claim they were framed

    A day after their bloody courtroom altercation, two Luzerne County murder defendants turned their ire on the investigators and prosecutors they claim framed them in a corruption-fueled conspiracy.

    "This is just part of this big corruption scheme in Luzerne County," Elvis Aaron Riccardi grunted to reporters Thursday after the continuation of a pre-trial hearing postponed Wednesday when Riccardi's co-defendant, Michael Simonson, headbutted him during a bathroom break.

    Riccardi, 32, accused investigators of fabricating statements and false testimony to implicate him and Simonson, 33, in the April 2009 disappearance and death of 34-year-old Plymouth musician Donald Skiff.

    Those false statements, Riccardi said, included the oral and written confessions he made to investigators in May 2009 during a 3½-hour drive retracting the night prosecutors say he and Simonson kidnapped Skiff in Shickshinny, beat him and left his body in a wooded area of Jenkins Township.

    Simonson said he believed Riccardi's bizarre theory - a rare point of agreement for the co-defendants who, 14 months before Wednesday's head-long attack, had threatened to kill each other.

    "Figure it out," a shackled and handcuffed Simonson told reporters, assenting to Riccardi's thesis that their arrests somehow spiraled from the same culture of corruption in Luzerne County that has been the focus of an ongoing federal investigation.

    Riccardi and Simonson's attorneys and the prosecutors on the case, District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll, David Pedri and Molly Hanlon Mirabito, are under an order from Judge Joseph M. Augello not to make statements to the media and were unable to comment on the conspiracy theory.

    Simonson and Riccardi are each facing 28 counts, including homicide, kidnapping, robbery and arson charges. If convicted, Riccardi could face the death penalty. Simonson, who led prosecutors to Skiff's body, could face life in prison.

    Augello has yet to rule on a defense request in January to have Simonson and Riccardi tried separately. Their trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 10.

    Simonson and Riccardi sat on separate sides of the courtroom Thursday, surrounded by a security detail that included nine sheriff's deputies, Sheriff John F. Gilligan, and at one point, a K-9 unit. Gilligan said the increased security, double the normal complement of sheriff's deputies, came in direct response to the scuffle Wednesday.

    That attack came near the end of a five-minute recess, as sheriff's deputies were leading Simonson into court for the resumption of the pre-trial hearing. On Thursday, the sheriff's deputies huddled closely around each co-defendant, reminding them to remain seated and grabbing pens and other small objects out of their hands to prevent against a potential aerial assault.

    During the hearing Thursday, prosecutors revisited the night of Skiff's disappearance and Riccardi and Simonson's myriad confessions - statements the co-defendants said later were forged in the same crucible as the plot of two former judges to funnel juveniles to private detention center for $2.8 million in kickbacks and the schemes of an ex-county commissioner who traded influence for flat-panel televisions and other prizes.

    Attorneys for Simonson and Riccardi argued the statements were obtained illegally, in a series of makeshift interviews that deprived the defendants of their rights to remain silent and to consult with an attorney.

    Prosecutors and the investigators who heard the confessions demurred, saying Simonson and Riccardi voluntarily told them about how they accosted Skiff on a quiet Shickshinny street, asked him for a ride to a West Nanticoke bar and turned the drive into a deadly carjacking.

    Days before their June 2009 preliminary arraignment, Simonson told investigators he would take them to "the body" and, after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty, led investigators on a car ride to Skiff's badly decomposed corpse, which had been dumped in a wooded area about 100 feet from Suscon Road in Jenkins Township.

    Corrections officer George Gocek testified Riccardi spoke freely about his involvement in the killing in May 2009 while riding back to prison following his cathartic journey with investigators.

    "You're going to see me all over the news," Riccardi said, according to Gocek. "I was involved in that murder in Plymouth. I was there, but I didn't kill him."

    http://citizensvoice.com/news/murder-suspects-claim-they-were-framed-1.926023

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    Inmate beaten, in hospital

    A Plains Township man who is awaiting trial in the homicide of Donald Skiff is suspected of beating a fellow inmate at the Lackawanna County prison on Sunday, causing severe head injuries that have left the victim in critical condition, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

    Michael Simonson, 33, is being investigated in the assault on Nicholas Pinto that occurred Sunday morning, the source said.

    Simonson was being held at Lackawanna County prison while awaiting trial in Luzerne County in the homicide of Skiff in April 2009. Pinto was housed at Lackawanna while awaiting sentencing on a federal charge of possession of child pornography.

    The alleged assault on Pinto is the second attack involving Simonson to occur within a week.

    Last Wednesday, Luzerne County sheriff deputies had to subdue Simonson after he lunged at Elvis Riccardi, 32, his co-defendant in the Skiff case, at a pre-trial hearing.

    Simonson was being escorted by sheriff deputies after using a rest room when he head butted Riccardi, who was shackled and seated next to his lawyer, Mark Bufalino, in the courtroom.

    Lynne Shedlock, spokeswoman for Lackawanna County, issued a press release Monday confirming that the District Attorney’s Office there and Scranton police are investigating an assault on an inmate. The release did not identify the victim or the assailant. Shedlock said no further information would be released because the case is under investigation.

    But federal Public Defender Hervery Young, who represents Pinto in the child porn case, confirmed Pinto was seriously injured in an assault at the prison on Sunday. Young said he did not know the identity of the assailant but was told the inmate was from Luzerne County.

    “He was assaulted and suffered a head injury that required him to have surgery,” Young said. “He’s in critical condition and the prognosis is not good.”

    The Rev. William Pickard, chaplain at the Lackawanna County prison, also confirmed Pinto was assaulted.

    Pickard said he attempted to visit Pinto on Sunday in the intensive care unit at Community Medical Center in Scranton, but was barred from doing so by a guard who was stationed outside Pinto’s room.

    Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll, who is prosecuting Simonson and Riccardi, said she could not speak about the alleged attack in Lackawanna County because of a gag order issued by Luzerne County Judge Joseph Augello.

    Musto Carroll is seeking the death penalty for Riccardi.

    A state police investigator testified at last week’s pre-trial hearing that prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty for Simonson in exchange for his help in finding Skiff’s body.

    Simonson led investigators to Skiff’s body in woods along Suscon Road, Jenkins Township, on June 4, 2009.

    Skiff, 34, of Plymouth, was fishing with friends in Shickshinny and was allegedly kidnapped by Simonson and Riccardi after they asked him for a ride to a strip club in West Nanticoke on April 27, 2009.

    Investigators said Skiff was beaten and tied up with shoelaces near the Garden Drive-In on Route 11. He was then driven in his 2000 Ford Ranger to a credit union in Plains Township, where the two men withdrew money from his account, investigators allege.

    http://www.timesleader.com/news/Inmate_beaten__in_hospital_08-09-2010.html

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    Suspect in prison beating pleads to Luzerne County murder

    An hour and a half into testimony revealing the gruesome details of the death of Donald Skiff Jr., Michael Simonson opted out.

    Mr. Simonson decided, during a recess in the final hearing before he and co-defendant Elvis Riccardi were to stand trial for kidnapping, robbing and killing the Plymouth Twp. man., to sign a plea deal. About an hour later, he appeared before Luzerne County Judge Joseph M. Augello to affirm his guilt.

    Mr. Simonson, 33, pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Mr. Simonson still faces attempted homicide charges in Lackawanna County for attacking Nicholas Pinto, a 29-year-old convicted child pornography producer, at the Lackawanna County Prison.

    Judge Augello sentenced Mr. Simonson immediately.

    According to prosecutors, Mr. Simonson and Mr. Riccardi kidnapped Mr. Skiff, 34, from a Shickshinny street, robbed and tortured him before beating him to death and leaving his body in a wooded area of Jenkins Twp.

    Mr. Simonson did not speak in court and, as sheriff's deputies led him from the courthouse, told reporters, "I ain't got nothing to say." Mr. Simonson's attorney, Brian Corcoran, told Judge Augello the silent defendant wished to express his "apologies and regrets."

    No deal has been reached with Mr. Riccardi, who faces death the death penalty and is still scheduled to stand trial Sept. 10.

    http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/suspect-in-prison-beating-pleads-to-luzerne-county-murder-1.975384

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    Riccardi murder trial pushed back to January

    A request for continuance on pre-trial hearings for accused killer Elvis Riccardi has been approved, moving the trial from September to January, according to paperwork filed Thursday.

    Riccardi and Michael Simonson are accused of kidnapping Donnie Skiff, 34, on April 27, 2009 in Shickshinny, luring him around to extract cash from area ATMs and beating him to death in a wooded area of Jenkins Township. Simonson pleaded guilty on Aug. 25 to a single count of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Riccardi faces the death penalty and was scheduled to stand trial Sept. 10.

    According to the request for continuance filed by Riccardi's lawyers, additional time was necessary to prepare for trial.

    Luzerne County Judge Joseph M. Augello granted the continuance, with pre-trial motions to be completed on or before Sept. 24 and the trial scheduled to begin Jan. 19.

    http://citizensvoice.com/news/riccardi-murder-trial-pushed-back-to-january-1.988877

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    Man pleads guilty in 2009 NE Pa. murder

    A northeastern Pennsylvania judge says prosecutors can use some statements a homicide suspect allegedly made to investigators, but not others.

    Thirty-three-year-old Elvis Riccardi is scheduled to go on trial in Luzerne County next month in last year's death of 34-year-old Donald Skiff. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

    Authorities allege that Riccardi and 33-year-old Michael Simonson met Skiff at a bar in April 2009 and then kidnapped, robbed and killed him. Simonson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

    Authorities say Riccardi talked to investigators as he was being taken by ambulance to a hospital in May 2009. The (Wilkes-Barre) Times-Leader says a judge ruled Tuesday that statements made then cannot be used, but statements made after he was released from the hospital are admissible.

    http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=6056276

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    Capital murder trial postponed until April

    A Luzerne County judge has delayed the capital murder trial of accused killer Elvis Riccardi until April 4.

    Judge Joseph M. Augello ordered the delay after Riccardi's attorneys, Mark Bufalino and William J. Watt, said they needed additional time to prepare for the mitigation phase of the trial, which would only come after a first-degree murder conviction.

    In mitigation, defense attorneys present evidence and expert testimony in an attempt to dissuade jurors from imposing the death penalty.

    Riccardi had been scheduled to stand trial Jan. 19.

    Prosecutors, forced to cancel flights and lodging for witnesses, objected to the delay. Bufalino and Watt, prosecutors said, asked for a similar delay nearly a year ago to finish mitigation-related casework.

    Riccardi and Michael Simonson are accused of kidnapping Donnie Skiff, 34, on April 27, 2009, in Shickshinny, luring him around to extract cash from area ATMs and beating him to death in a wooded area of Jenkins Township.

    Simonson pleaded guilty on Aug. 25 to a single count of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

    http://citizensvoice.com/capital-mur...pril-1.1087315

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    Riccardi asks to supress evidence from jury

    A Wilkes-Barre man facing the death penalty seeks to prevent a jury in his murder trial from hearing about his alleged suicide attempt or a supplemental autopsy report.

    Elvis Riccardi allegedly slashed his throat with a razor when state police approached him on May 1, 2009 to ask about the disappearance of Donald Skiff Jr., whom he is charged with killing. Skiff's body was found 33 days later in Jenkins Township.

    A second defendant in the case, Michael Simonson, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to killing Skiff, whom authorities said was kidnapped, robbed and tortured before his death.

    On Friday, Riccardi's attorney filed a motion to suppress evidence of the alleged suicide attempt and an alleged suicide note that police obtained.

    Riccardi has a history of attempting suicide and thinking about suicide, according to the motion filed by attorney Mark Bufalino. Two letters from psychiatrist Dr. Richard Fischbein are attached to support the motion. Fischbein said Riccardi told him that he "saw many bad things growing up" and didn't care if he died for periods of his life.

    Fischbein also said Riccardi on May 3, 1996 tried to kill himself twice, including once when he slashed his wrist with metal from a radiator in the Luzerne County Juvenile Detention Center.

    In another motion, Bufalino asked to suppress a supplemental report to the autopsy of Skiff written Dr. Gary Ross on Aug. 24, 2010.

    The supplemental report said that a circular defect at the base of Skiff's skull might be from a gunshot. Ross said the defect might have been caused if his neck were "markedly flexed forward" when hit by a sharp, cylindrical object.

    Bufalino calls Ross' supplemental report speculation drawn from looking at photos of the skull a year after the autopsy. The July 7, 2009 autopsy report found "no definitive skeletal or soft tissue injuries," indicated the skull was intact, and listed the cause of death as undetermined.

    http://citizensvoice.com/news/riccar...#ixzz1EDSDNAan

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