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Judge: Man on Death Row for Killing 2 Cops Can't Be Executed
ABC/AP ^ | March 15, 2016 | Michael Balsamo

Posted on 03/16/2016 5:02:35 AM PDT by lowbridge

A man on death row for killing two undercover New York City police officers cannot be executed because he meets the legal standard to be considered intellectually disabled, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

In his 76-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis vacated Ronell Wilson's death sentence and imposed a new punishment of life in prison.

"In reaching this decision, the court in no way minimizes or excuses the cruelty and depravity of Wilson's action," Garaufis wrote. "Having presided over this tragic case for more than a decade, the court quite frankly finds it impossible to muster any sense of sympathy for this defendant."

But the judge said Wilson, who had a history of severe behavioral problems dating back to childhood, had "significant deficits in adaptive functioning" that made him ineligible for the death penalty under new standards established by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"To be candid, the court harbors doubts as to whether Wilson would be considered intellectually disabled by most clinicians," the judge wrote. But, he said, the Supreme Court's decision "strongly suggests" the legal standard is more protective than the clinical standard.

Wilson, 33, was a young gang member on Staten Island in 2003 when he murdered undercover detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews in an illegal gun sting gone awry. The officers were shot point-blank in the backs of their heads.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: deathpenalty
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The Judge is a Bill Clinton appointee. The same Judge who a few years ago ordered the new york city fire department to start implementing racial hiring quotas.
1 posted on 03/16/2016 5:02:35 AM PDT by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

Is there anything preventing them from introducing the pos into the general prison population?


2 posted on 03/16/2016 5:04:37 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: lowbridge

Too bad.

Of course a person who executes two cops is insane.

Execute him anyway and impeach the judge.


3 posted on 03/16/2016 5:05:12 AM PDT by cyclotic (Liberalism is what smart looks like to stupid people.)
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To: lowbridge

Idiot judge says a moron is morally incapacitated.

Huh?

Even morons know the difference between right and wrong.

No one is asking an idiot to be an Einstein.


4 posted on 03/16/2016 5:05:20 AM PDT by goldstategop ((In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever))
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To: lowbridge

Smart enough to recognize and kill LEO.


5 posted on 03/16/2016 5:07:27 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("When a crime is unpunished, the world is unbalanced.")
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To: lowbridge

The question should not be whether he’s a stellar math student or poet. The question should be whether he understood that what he was doing was wrong. This murder understood and still understands. Liberals are simply perverting the system (as usual) to get the outcome they want. Democrats celebrate live thugs and dead babies.


6 posted on 03/16/2016 5:08:05 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to meand over an is worthless." - Scalia)
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To: lowbridge

I still say that the families of the victims should be the ones to decide what the punishment should be.

And they should be given carte blanche. Today’s liberal judges and legislatures no longer have the capacity to make rational decisions.


7 posted on 03/16/2016 5:08:56 AM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Jesus Christ is not a religion. He's the Truth.)
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To: lowbridge

“Psychiatrists noted that he sucked his thumb and stroked his ear during their examinations in middle school.”

Because of questionable behavior in elementary and middle school a gang member with a history of criminal violence, who shot two police officers point blank in the back of their heads, can not be executed.

The liberal, Democrat, Clinton appointed judge showed a great deal of sympathy for the defendant.


8 posted on 03/16/2016 5:11:08 AM PDT by detective
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To: cyclotic

Agree with your sentence for the perps.


9 posted on 03/16/2016 5:13:42 AM PDT by TheDon (BO must be replaced immediately for the good of the nation and the world!)
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To: Vigilanteman

Odungo is intellectually unAmerican. Hilda is
Intellectually untruthful and dishonest. Biden
is just stupid


10 posted on 03/16/2016 5:16:19 AM PDT by Doogle (( USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: lowbridge
"While Wilson was incarcerated in New York City in 2012, he impregnated a guard at a federal lockup. Their child, Justus, was born shortly after the guard, Nancy Gonzalez, was arrested. She was sentenced in 2014 to serve one year and one day in prison for the relationship."

Sounds like he's smarter than the prison guards.

11 posted on 03/16/2016 5:20:14 AM PDT by Sooth2222 ("Every nation has the government it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: Pollster1

I would go with the standard of “Is he a threat to the law-abiding community?”, without regard to his mental understanding. If he’s the equivalent of a mad dog, then put him down as a mad dog.


12 posted on 03/16/2016 5:23:51 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: Vigilanteman
Is there anything preventing them from introducing the pos into the general prison population?

Where he will be seen as a hero by his fellow inmates?

13 posted on 03/16/2016 5:23:53 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: lowbridge

It’s interesting that the only time dems ever allow IQ to be mentioned in relation to blacks is when they are fighting to keep one of their pets on death row from being executed. Other than that, they always say that either IQ is made-up or unimportant.


14 posted on 03/16/2016 5:24:38 AM PDT by euram
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To: lowbridge

I am SO FREAKING TIRED OF THIS BS !!!!

If you are SO STUPID that you can’t be held responsible for your actions... you should be INSTITUTIONALIZED !!!!


15 posted on 03/16/2016 5:25:46 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (You can't spell Hillary without using the letters L, I, A, R)
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To: lowbridge

Well, to continue with this “logic”, if he is intellectually unable to be executed for murder, then he is intellectually unable to be incarcerated. Or is the judge now applying a double standard? Smart enough to be in jail, just not bright enough to carry out justice.


16 posted on 03/16/2016 5:26:24 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: lowbridge

Hillary Clinton was the one tied in with the national Lawyers Guild and LSA; her part of the “Co-Presidency” was using leftist lawyers to control cabinet departments and the judiciary. Dollars to donuts, Hillary Clinton was behind this appointment.

My favorite part is the admission that “most” clinicians (i.e., doctors specializing in mental health evaluations) would not class Wilson as mentally disabled. So the untrained, not expert, judge gets to make the diagnosis based on his arbitrary political whim. What a country...


17 posted on 03/16/2016 5:37:56 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: lowbridge
"In reaching this decision, the court in no way minimizes or excuses the cruelty and depravity of Wilson's action," Garaufis wrote.

Yes. Yes it does.

18 posted on 03/16/2016 5:39:39 AM PDT by Egon (RIP, Harold Ramis. The world is less funny with your loss.)
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To: Vigilanteman

The guy is a gang thug who killed two cops - he’d be a hero in general population.

I say, release the guy. Just make sure the NYPD and local police know the time and location of his release, and I’m sure things would work themselves out....


19 posted on 03/16/2016 5:41:24 AM PDT by zedee
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To: Sooth2222

“Sounds like he’s smarter than the prison guards.”

Sounds like he was smarter than the judge(s)/politician(s) whom thought a female at a male prison was a ‘good idea’...


20 posted on 03/16/2016 5:44:41 AM PDT by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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