Wants Life Sentence Reduced
FOUR YEARS AGO IN MAY 2008, Firegeezer reported on a tragic story about a Cranston, Rhode Island, fire lieutenant who was shot and killed by his next-door neighbor during a children's birthday party being held on the front lawn. We also covered the bail hearing and then a year later we followed the trial where Nicholas Gianquitti was tried for murdering Lt. James Pagano. We wrote in our original posting:
A CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, FIREFIGHTER James Pagano was hosting a birthday party for his son’s 9th birthday on the front lawn of his house Sunday. When one of the kids’ ball went into his next-door neighbor’s yard, he came out and accosted Pagano. Then the neighbor, Nicholas Gianquitti, went back into his house and came out with a gun, then started shooting at Pagano.
The firefighter was trying to shield the children from the gunfire when he was fatally struck in the back. Lt. Pagano had just been promoted this January and worked at Cranston FD station 1.
The following year in March 2009, Gianquitti was tried and found guilty of 2nd-degree murder and discharging a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. The judge sentenced him to 40 years with 20 to serve for the 2nd-degree murder conviction. He then imposed a mandated life sentence for using a firearm while committing a violent crime. It will take 34 years before Gianquitti will be able to apply for parole and he will be age 75 then.
Today, Friday Gianquitti appeared with his lawyer before the same judge asking for the 20-yr. sentence to be reduced to 10 years which would create a possibility for parole in 25 years instead.
Gianquitti at today's hearing (WPRI-TV)
Radio station WPRO reported this afternoon:
A Superior Court judge Friday denied a motion for a reduction in sentence for a former Providence police officer, convicted of killing a neighbor in a fight over a child's tennis ball.
"You, Mr. Gianquitti shot him in the back, chased him as he fled unarmed from your doorstep and shot at him again, then you stood over him with a gun pointed at his head and taunted him as he lay dying, and for this you seek leniency? In no way is clemency a reward for that criminal conduct," said Krause, addressing Gianquitti before the court.
Prosecutor Lauren Zurier recognized the impact of his sentence on Gianquitti's family as "indeed harsh, however it is equally, I would say quite more harsh on the Pagano family. The Gianquitti family gets to see the defendant once a week at the ACI. There are no visiting hours for Jim Pagano anymore."
WPRI-TV filed this video report from the courtroom today:
Former cop denied reduced sentence: wpri.com
You can review the extensive postings from Firegeezer over the course of the arrest and trial HERE.
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