(Remember, Monaco's Roman Catholic Divine Right of Kings and Princes UNDER the MORAL obligation to THE HOLY SEE!!!)
(And, therefore, "Mercy" before the WHOLE World!!!)
"AMEN,........MORE Grace and MERCY,........In Jesus' PRECIOUS Name, Amen!!!"
BTTT
An appeals court in Monaco has rejected a defense bid for reduced charges in the deaths of banker Edmond Safra and a nurse, which prosecutors in the tiny French principality blame on a fire set by male nurse Ted Maher of New York.
Maher, who turned 43 while imprisoned in Monaco's House of Arrest this month, must stand trial for "voluntarily" setting fire to fortified Monte Carlo penthouse of Safra, one of the world's richest men. The fire was started with a scented candle.
Maher's Monaco lawyer, Donald Manasse, told Courttv.com that he has not had a chance to read the 47-page ruling closely. A quick reading of the document, Manasse said, revealed the that the three-judge panel rejected defense motions to get the case thrown out of court on legal grounds or to have the charges at least reduced to involuntary homicide.
Maher, of Stormville, N.Y., could have walked out of prison in time to see his youngest child start kindergarten if the charges had been reduced. He will now face life in prison if convicted.
"The Court did not accept any of our requests that the investigation, or elements of it, be declared null," Manasse said in an e-mail message. "We will appeal to the Court de Revision, Monaco's highest Court, as soon as the decision is notified to us."
Edmond Safra
Maher was nearing the end of his short-term contract caring for Safra, 67, who had Parkinson's Disease, when the fire occurred. Maher stumbled bleeding from knife wounds into the lobby of Safra's bank building in the wee hours of Dec. 3, 1999, to report fighting off masked intruders.
Maher was rushed to Princess Grace Hospital, but police kept firefighters at bay for 90 minutes because they believed that intruders were still inside. Meanwhile, Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente hid themselves in a dressing room, a sort of "panic room" built for the security-conscious billionaire.
Toxic fumes fueled by the fire ended their lives.
Maher's story about intruders unraveled quickly and within days he confessed — under illegal duress, his family claims — to staging a scenario to ingratiate himself with Safra. Maher himself told the appeals court last month that the deaths were an "accident" and that he is being made a scapegoat.
Maher said his plan was to invent non-existent intruders, stab himself, get Safra to safety, alert authorities and bask in the glow of his good deed. Maher, in fact, met Safra because he returned a camera left behind by close friends of Safra in the neo-natal unit of a New York hospital where Maher once worked.
The Dec. 3, 1999, gutted Safra's penthouse — the top two floors of his bank building in Monte Carlo Safra and Torrente never made it to safety, no one else encountered intruders and the fire Maher set in a wastebasket beneath a fire alarm spread to the building itself.
Prosecutor Daniel Serdet could not be reached Wednesday. If the new charge is permitted by Monaco's highest court to stand, Serdet may have to prove during the trial that Maher intended for the fire he set in the middle of his room, directly below a fire alarm, to spread to the penthouse itself.
"There is absolutely nothing in the file to indicate that," Manasse, reached on his cell phone, told Courttv.com.
Michael Griffith, a New York lawyer assisting in Maher's defense, said he will not allow Monaco authorities to sacrifice the rest of Maher's life for the failure of police and firefighters to rescue Safra and Torrente.
"We are going to fight like hell," said Griffith, who specializes in international cases. "We are going to make a stink like you won't believe."
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