Come up with an answer on this one.
Thirty-Two Years to Die = Murder?
Stitch in Time blog
By KipEsquire
This fact pattern is confusing the heck out of me:
A suspect was charged Friday with murder in the death last year of a man who had been shot 32 years earlier during a racial dispute.
Jose Colon, 47, died from infections related to gunshot wounds suffered when he was 15, a medical examiner ruled. The shooting paralyzed Colon from the neck down.
Ralph Alini, who already served three years for the shooting, was arrested Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on a second-degree murder charge. The 54-year-old from Staten Island was ordered held without bail.
Criminal law is not my area of expertise, and I do appreciate that there is generally no statute of limitations for murder, but don't I recall something in my first year of law school about the "year and a day" rule?
And if the defendant pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment for the incident and served three years, then why does double jeopardy not attach? Because reckless endangerment is not a category of homicide?
Okay criminal law experts, help me out on this one.
"
Man Faces Murder Charge in 1973 Shooting
Oct 15, 2005
A suspect was charged Friday with murder in the death last year of a man who had been shot 32 years earlier during a racial dispute.
NEW YORK
A suspect was charged Friday with murder in the death last year of a man who had been shot 32 years earlier during a racial dispute.
Jose Colon, 47, died from infections related to gunshot wounds suffered when he was 15, a medical examiner ruled. The shooting paralyzed Colon from the neck down.
Ralph Alini, who already served three years for the shooting, was arrested Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on a second-degree murder charge. The 54-year-old from Staten Island was ordered held without bail.
Defense attorney Philip J. Smallman told reporters outside court that he would challenge the medical examiner's homicide finding. He said his client was shocked by his arrest.
"He was quite surprised to be visited by the police department at his home for something that occurred a number of years ago," Smallman said.
Colon was shot during a racially charged clash between Hispanics and Italians in June 1973 in Brooklyn, according to authorities.
Alini, an Italian American, allegedly fired his gun from a rooftop into a crowd and struck Colon, a Puerto Rican.
Alini and a second suspect were charged with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment. A jury convicted both men but an appeals court overturned the verdict because the judge erred by allowing one attorney to represent both defendants.
The men pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in 1978 and served three year sentences. The second defendant was killed in 1980s in an unsolved homicide, officials said.
"Finally, someone is going to pay for what they did to my brother," said Colon's sister, Esther.
Find this story at: townhall.com |
