Posted on 09/24/2006 7:47:32 PM PDT by SmithL
Citing his unstable childhood, the attorney for convicted murderer Scott Dyleski has asked a judge to consider handing down the lightest possible sentence for killing his neighbor, Pamela Vitale.
Dyleski deserves a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, which would give him the opportunity for parole, deputy public defender Ellen Leonida wrote in her sentencing memo to Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga.
"All he is asking for is an opportunity to demonstrate -- many, many years from now -- that he can change," Leonida wrote.
Dyleski, convicted of murdering high-tech executive Pamela Vitale in her Lafayette home when he was 16, is set to appear Tuesday in Superior Court in Martinez for sentencing.
A jury in August convicted Dyleski of first-degree murder in Vitale's death, and found to be true the special circumstance that Vitale was killed during the commission of a burglary.
That special circumstance finding would send an adult defendant to prison without parole, and it would leave a sentencing judge no discretion.
But California law allows a judge to impose a sentence of 25 years to life on a defendant who was 16 or 17 when he committed a crime that led to a conviction of first-degree murder and special circumstances.
By law, a convicted murderer must serve the entire minimum sentence before meeting with the parole board.
At Dyleski's trial, prosecutor Harold Jewett said Dyleski killed Vitale on Oct. 15, 2005, as part of plan to steal financial information and purchase marijuana growing equipment.
Jewett said Dyleski believed Vitale was a different neighbor who foiled his plot to purchase the equipment and also hit and injured his dog.
Investigators found evidence linking Dyleski to Vitale, including Vitale's blood on Dyleski's clothes and the teenager's shoe print at the crime scene. Leonida said her client was at home at the time of the killing.
In her memo filed last week, Leonida never wrote that Dyleski committed the crime, but she talked about her client's childhood. She said he had survived homelessness and spent years living in a rodent-infested lean-to, taking weekly showers at the homes of generous friends.
"The fact that (his mother) describes the years they spent in a lean-to as 'fun' and 'like camping' is a telling example of the profound narcissism that defines the adults in Scott's life," Leonida wrote.
She added that Child Protective Services failed to respond to people who complained about Dyleski's welfare.
Despite his early years, he performed well in school and developed positive relationships with peers and teachers, she wrote.
"The murder he has been convicted of was, according to people who knew him, completely inconsistent with his character," Leonida wrote. "The astonishment expressed by those around him upon hearing of this crime shows that there is more to Scott Dyleski than the worst thing he has done."
Jewett said Friday that Vitale's family members also have written to the judge, arguing for a sentence of life without parole.
"(The letters) heartwrenchingly shared the depth of the pain caused by the crime, showing why the interests of justice would not be served by a grant of parole at any time," Jewett said.
Judges understand that murderers may never get parole, even with a 25 years to life sentence, said Golden Gate School of Law professor Peter Keane.
Since November of 2003, the governor has authorized the release of 24 men and women granted parole after they were convicted of first-degree murder, said department of corrections spokesman Tip Kindel.
Keane said Zuniga could give the lighter sentence knowing Dyleski has little chance to leave prison, but just to give him a sense of hope.
"His life will be pretty much gone," Keane said. "But the idea of having that hope, that could be a significant factor of swaying the judge."
In 2001, a judge handed down a life sentence without parole to Lee Snyder, who was 17 when he killed Lafayette resident Janet Daher in 1998.
Snyder had been convicted of first-degree murder and a special circumstance.
Daher's killing was the last murder in Lafayette before Vitale's.
Poor Scott Ping.
If this were a just world they'd throw his lawyer's ass in jail with him. Idiot.
Thanks for the ping. Ms Leonida knows how to damn Dyleski with faint praise, lol. Saying no one knew he was capable of such a thing just makes him seem that much more depraved.
Not following all the testimony word-for-word this time or getting to see the trial live, I didn't realize Jewett had gone for the "mistaken identity" aspect of the crime. I suppose this was easier to explain or something, than saying his very first real crime, aside from the credit card scam and identity theft for growing and selling marijuana illegally, was cold-blooded murder.
His "things to do" list indicates his intentions to repeat this over and over unless or until he was caught. Dyleski was a budding serial killer and I'm glad he was caught the first time out.
What's with the teens in Lafayette that they are the most recent murderers there? Dyleski's background refutes the assertion that they are all overindulged, spoiled rich kids. I'm not even so sure it was Esther's kind of warped upbringing of him that made him the way he was - he's just wired differently from most people, IMO, and then was enabled to develop the odd wiring further by those adults in his life who weren't paying close enough attention.
He learned to be quite deceptive and that worked when he was finally refused in getting something he wanted. Poor Pamela was such an innocent victim. I grieve for her family still.
Oh, and that Keane, the prof who commented that Dyleski should be given some "hope" during his lifetime jail sentence, needs a reality check of the first degree.
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