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Posts Tagged ‘murder’

The death-penalty sentence for Gary Sampson, as a result of convictions for multiple murders in 2001, has been reversed and a new sentencing trial has been ordered because a juror lied when answering a jury form.

A Mere Technicality?

The juror, identified only as “C,” failed to truthfully answer several questions on a jury questionnaire. During the jury selection process, she failed to disclose that she had been the victim of domestic violence and that her husband had in fact threatened her with a rifle. The juror failed to reveal many circumstances and experiences that would otherwise have disqualified her participation as a juror in the trial.

Read the full story here:  Death Sentence Overturned on Juror Misconduct

On October 18, 2010, United States District Court Chief Justice Mark L. Wolf sentenced Nicholas Djokich to 20 years in a federal penitentiary for his role in a 2008 international kidnapping and murder-for-hire plot. As a result, Djokich will not be eligible for parole until 2026, when he will be 76 years old. Djokich was represented by the firm of Denner Pellegrino in Boston, Massachusetts.

Djokich, 60, is a Canadian national who was arrested in the United States in 2008 on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. The target of his plot was Attorney Richard DeVries, a lawyer from the Bahamas. Djokich believed that DeVries had swindled him out of millions of dollars in a fraudulent investment scheme. Djokich therefore hatched a plan to send a hit man to the Bahamas to pressure DeVries into paying the money back. Djokich told the hit man that he would not mind if, after DeVries was forced to pay the money, the hit man “took DeVries fishing and he never came back.”

The “hit man” Djokich hired, however, was actually an undercover police officer from Boston, M.B.T.A. Detective Peter Pasciucco.

Read the rest of the article at:  http://www.davidyannetti.com/CM/Articles/DeAngelis-notguilty-trial.asp

Today, David Yannetti is a respected and highly regarded criminal defense attorney based in Boston. In 1998, however, he was on the other side of the aisle and served as the lead prosecutor in the criminal trials resulting from the infamous murder of 10-year old Jeffrey Curley. In late 2008, Attorney Yannetti was asked to re-create his closing argument from that case at the “Battle of the Lawyers” charity event sponsored by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.  Attorney Yannetti’s presentation  won the trophy for “Most Compelling Argument”

In June, 2009, Brian Macquarrie, a reporter for the Boston Globe, published “The Ride” — the book that tells the story of the murder and its aftermath, including details of Yannetti’s prosecution. The new book prompted Yannetti to revisit the courtroom where he had sought justice for Jeffrey Curley over 10 years before. It was an emotional affair for the Boston lawyer.

Not long after the Curley case, David Yannetti went on to open his own Boston law office and, since then, has gathered extensive criminal defense experience — including DUI/OUI, domestic violence, drug and weapons charges.

Read the full story: Former Prosecutor Yannetti Revisits “The Ride”