The premise of Texas law is that individuals who are in the commission of a crime give up certain rights, including the right not to be shot and the right to blame the guy that's with you if someone dies while you're committing a felony.
Posted on 01/31/2005 8:08:42 PM PST by 68skylark
A 19-year-old parolee who was prowling with childhood friends on the Lower East Side early on Thursday morning has been charged with murdering a young actress who talked back to them as they robbed her companions, the police said yesterday.
The police said that the arrest of the man, Rudy Fleming, came after detectives received tips from people who had heard that he and at least four friends were involved in the shooting.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Fleming was openly weeping in the back seat of an unmarked car as detectives drove him away from the offices of the Manhattan South homicide squad.
"It hurts me to know that this happened," said his godfather, Servino Simmon, at his apartment in the Baruch Houses, where Mr. Fleming had been staying near the scene of the shooting. "I feel sorry for the person. I wish that it didn't happen. It's not right."
Although Mr. Fleming was the only person charged in the killing of the actress, Nicole duFresne, 28, of Brooklyn, two of Mr. Fleming's friends were charged in an attempted robbery that took place nearby earlier that morning. Two other friends of Mr. Fleming's, brothers ages 17 and 21, were questioned in the killing but not charged after telling detectives they were shocked when Mr. Fleming pulled the trigger.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday, Ms. duFresne, who lived in Greenpoint, had just left a bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted by a group of robbers on Clinton Street near Rivington Street. One of the assailants pistol-whipped her fiancé, and Ms. duFresne stepped forward and said, "What are you going to do, shoot us?" her friends said later. She was shot once in the chest and was pronounced dead later Thursday morning.
The murder suspect, Mr. Fleming, has lived in Brooklyn and Staten Island, but has lately been staying with his godfather at the Baruch Houses in Manhattan. He was on parole for a 2002 weapons conviction, when he sneaked a gun into Port Richmond High School and pointed it at a school safety officer, according to Richmond County district attorney's office.
The parole was not set to expire until June 2007. Mr. Fleming's meetings and home visits were satisfactory, and he had a job working at a restaurant, said Scott Steinhardt, a spokesman for the State Division of Parole.
His last meeting with a parole officer was an office visit on Wednesday, the day before the killing. "The office visit was unremarkable," Mr. Steinhardt said.
The police said detectives found two pieces of evidence at Mr. Simmon's apartment: a white scarf that is visible on one of the people in a security video taken near the time and place of the shooting, and what is believed to be the murder weapon, a .357 Magnum revolver.
"I was watching TV before the police came," Mr. Simmon said. "I was lying on the bed with the gun underneath. I didn't even know the gun was there."
Asked whether the police had obtained a confession in the case, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday at a news conference, "Some statements have been made."
A police official said the crime seemed to have begun as a robbery that went bad. "They're out there and do what bad kids do when they get together," the official said. "They're looking for trouble and they find it." About the witnesses to the shooting, he added, "If you believe them, it sort of shocked everyone else." The arrests began around noon on Sunday and continuing until midnight, the police said. Mr. Fleming was the last to be arrested, at the ferry terminal on the Staten Island side. His mother lives on Staten Island, the police said.
Mr. Simmon's two sons, Servano, 17, a high school student, and Servisio, 21, were present at both crimes but have not been charged and are being treated as witnesses, the police said.
Mr. Simmon said Servano told him about the shooting. "Apparently," he said, "Rudy went to rob the lady. He pulls out a gun. No one knew he had a gun. He shoots the lady."
Mr. Simmon added: "It's not fair to the people, and it's not fair to me. I don't have enough money to buy a decent pair of pants right now, much less have the money to get them out. All I have to say is, these kids did what they did. I don't know anything. I wish I could change the whole situation, but I can't."
The arrests followed calls to the Police Department's tips hot line, Mr. Kelly said. "They were from concerned citizens," he said. "I don't want to get into it any more specifically than that."
Mr. Fleming was charged with first- and second-degree murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. David Simmon, 18, and a 15-year-old boy not identified by the police because of his age were charged with attempted robbery in the case earlier that morning, in which the police said they tried to steal a man's coat. David Simmon, of Clifton Place in Brooklyn, is a cousin of the Simmon brothers.
After the shooting, the group split up, with some taking a subway to Brooklyn, but they later came back, the police said.
The following day, the police released the video clips of a group of people walking in the area, and the tips to the hot line began to arrive, the police said.
The police called both the robbery attempt and the shooting "crimes of opportunity," with the suspects happening upon their victims. Ms. duFresne and her friends had had several drinks at the bar Max Fish after she finished her first night of work at a new club, Rockwood Music Hall.
Ms. duFresne's friends described her as a tough, fiery survivor of a rape in a bar's parking lot while at Emerson College in Boston.
Her final, defiant words to her killer have led to speculation that she might not have been killed if the group had just given over their belongings.
Mr. Kelly said in a statement yesterday, "Regardless of what the victim said or did not say, the person responsible for her death is the one who pulled the trigger."
At the news conference, however, asked about how people should respond to an armed robber, he said, "If you're in a situation when someone is pointing a weapon at you, I think it's best to comply with the directions of that individual."
On Nov. 27, 2001, Mr. Fleming missed school in Staten Island and was picked up by a truancy officer. He refused to let the officer remove his jacket, and asked if he was hiding something, he said yes and pulled out a semiautomatic pistol, said William J. Smith, a spokesman for the Richmond County district attorney.
He got into a shooting position and aimed at four safety officers, before four police officers, their weapons drawn, ordered him to drop the gun, Mr. Smith said. He did.
Mr. Fleming pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted possession of a weapon and went to prison in the spring of 2002. He was released on June 18, 2004.
The police said that Mr. Fleming might be affiliated with a gang but that it did not appear to have played any role in the shooting.
Colin Moynihan and William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting for this article.
Gough's was an institution. Great Gough's story: for years there was a dirty, ornate frame some six feet high behind one of the booths. The canvas it held was so dirty from cigarette smoke an grim, it basically looked like a picture of a black cat at midnight. One of the art guys from the Times take the picture one day and decides he's going to restore it. Doesn't have a clue how to do it, but he reads some books and starts. About a year later, the fully restored painting comes back into the bar -- who is it? It's an enormous, life-sized portrait of John L. Sullivan in formal attire.
I was in there one night and there's a very proper British actress in the back booth giving an interview to the reporter about her new play that's about to open. The interview ends and roughly three hours later, she on the bar -- literally on the bar -- singing the filthiest songs you can imagine to a full house.
He's played by Matthew Broderick in the movie -- a movie, which nopardons seems to hate.
Regarding the 'Mr' thing I note the Irish equivalent of the NYT, the Irish Times, does the same thing. They get themselves into terrible twists about it though, someone told them that Arabs have their family names first so after much thought they came up with 'Mr Saddam' which was actually how he was referred to in editorials. I read about 'Mr Zedong' alot before I realised they were talking about Chairman Mao.
Actually I shouldn't be too hard on the Irish Times they've recently hired Mark Steyn to contribute, boy he really ruins alot of their readers' breakfasts.
The premise of Texas law is that individuals who are in the commission of a crime give up certain rights, including the right not to be shot and the right to blame the guy that's with you if someone dies while you're committing a felony.
I positively despise the NYT. Who gives a rat's a$$ if the killer was "openly weeping" ?? It disgusts me the way they turn killers into some type of victim we are supposed to pity. Let him do his "boohooing" on Death Row.
Well that justifies it in New Sheep City I guess.
Irish Times is a surprisingly good paper.
It's called accomplice liability, and lots of states have it. One of my personal faves is "felony murder", where you're on the hook for murder if anyone croaks, for any reason, while you're doing a felony. For example, you stick your finger out in your pocket to pretend you have a gun to rob a 7-11, some old coot back in the dog food section doesn't even see you, but keels over of a heart attack... You're going down for murder one! How can you not love that?
I didn't hate the movie,I hate the actress (sic) who portrayed Dorothy Parker.
I know, I know, she mumbles. I was just teasing you.
Something stinks here. Why aren't the punk's buds charged with murder. It is my understanding that anyone involved in a crime resulting in murder, all are equally guilty of said murder.
Wait...let me check. No, I'm not a she. I meant the actress who plays Dorothy.
"Mr. Simmon's two sons, Servano, 17, a high school student, and Servisio, 21,...
Because the DA wants the shooter. If they testify against him, they'll get reduced charges. If the DA goes to convict all of them, then they have nothing to lose by lying and ten thousand relatives will come out of the woodwork to swear they were home play scrabble the night of the murder.
Yes,the actress is from the school of mumbles and bad accent coaching.
their = there
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