Sentencing Postponed for Greenwich Man in Daughter's Death

GREENWICH - Sentencing was postponed today for a former Greenwich man who pleaded guilty to killing his daughter.

Police say Adam Dobrzanski fatally slit his 20-year-old daughter's throat at the estate where he worked as a landscaper in Dec. 2009. They say he then attempted to commit suicide.

According to prosecutors, the 56-year-old was experiencing psychological problems and was upset because his wife wanted a divorce.

The hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 16. Dobrzanski faces 40 years in prison.

This Day In History

May 22 1957
A B-36 bomber accidentally drops a 10 megaton hydrogen bomb over an uninhabited area near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The conventional charges detonate on impact, leaving a radioactive crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet wide.

May 22 1968
The nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion sinks to the bottom with all 99 aboard perishing, after it is reassigned to a spy mission and begins to head towards the Canary Islands. Navy Warrant Officer John Walker (a mole) had certainly reported enough to the KGB to allow them to read the Scorpion's encrypted transmissions. For reasons yet unknown, Navy officials of the U.S. and Soviet Union agree not to discuss the circumstances of this incident or the sinking of a Soviet sub the same year.

May 22 1981
Peter Sutcliffe is convicted of murdering 13 women in the Yorkshire Ripper trial. In the words of the presiding judge: "It is difficult to find words that are adequate in my judgment to describe the brutality and gravity of these offences and I say at once I am not going to pause to seek those words. I am prepared to let the catalogue of crimes speak for itself."

INSIDE STORY: Clues to Why Melissa Huckaby Murdered an 8-Year-Old Girl

People.com(June 2010)- The day 8-year-old Sandra Cantu disappeared from a Tracy, Calif., mobile-home park, Melissa Huckaby sent a text message to the child's mother.

"Tell the police that I had something stolen today around 4 p.m.," Huckaby texted to Maria Chavez on March 27, 2009. "I don't know if that makes a difference or not."

That stolen item turned out to be an Eddie Bauer suitcase that contained Cantu’s body, the victim of a brutal sexual assault and murder.

The case horrified the Central California community, but even after Huckaby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, residents were at loss as to why the Sunday school teacher committed such a heinous crime against her own daughter's playmate.

Now, with thousands of pages of previously sealed documents released and the lifting of a gag order, authorities are offering a theory: The bizarre text message and Huckaby's subsequent strange behavior suggested she killed the child in an attempt to attract attention to herself.

A Theory for Motive
Such behavior has a name: Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a form of child abuse, in which a person harms somebody else, often children, for attention. The prosecutor in the case noted that Huckaby's daughter may also have fallen victim: the child had a history of being sick and in need of hospital care way too often.

"There were 20 or so times that Melissa cut herself, set fires, or verbally or psychologically attacked someone else, such as a roommate," says Deputy District Attorney Thomas Tesla. "And there was something like that going on here (after the murder), where she wanted to be the center of attention."

The text message was just one clue. Also, the day after Sandra disappeared, Huckaby was hysterical and hyperventilating as she went to police to say she had found a note on lined notebook paper.

Newly Revealed Evidence
The misspelled message stated Sandra's body was locked in a stolen suitcase thrown in water at Bacchetti and Whitehall roads. "I wonder if she wanted to be the one who solved the case by finding the note," Tesla suggests.

Investigators thought it unusual that a woman who reported losing a suitcase "should be the one woman out of everyone in this complex who should happen to find a note that reports that the stolen suitcase was used to hide the child's body," FBI Special Agent Michael Conrad would testify in the grand jury, according to transcripts.

During an April 6 search of Huckaby's home after the suitcase was recovered, FBI agents found a notebook with "Cute but psycho. Things will even out" printed on the cover. On the pages they found indentations matching the letters from the note.

"It didn’t take an FBI expert to figure this out," Tesla says. "She has a distinctive way of writing certain letters. You can compare it to her known handwriting… and tell as a layperson that they’re written by the same person."

When confronted with the mounting evidence, court documents show, Huckaby offered a confession of sorts, saying that Cantu hid in the suitcase in Huckaby’s trailer as part of a game, but stayed inside too long and suffocated. Huckaby also offered a soft version of the events at her sentencing, saying Sandra "didn't suffer. I didn't sexually molest her."

But, Tesla contends, forensic evidence offers a grimmer version of the crime: Huckaby took Cantu to her grandfather’s nearby church, sexually molested her with a rolling pin, strangled her and stuffed her into the suitcase in a snug fetal position that Cantu couldn’t have squeezed into on her own. Huckaby then tossed the suitcase into an agricultural ditch that stunk so badly of manure that searchers couldn’t retrieve the suitcase until it eventually floated to the surface.

In the first few days of the investigation, detectives assumed the killer was a man. They trailed local sex offenders and investigated their alibis. Says Tesla: "We thought there was no way a woman would do these things."

"Conviction" Producers Respond to Victim's Family

They should've at least told the family first! That is messed up.

News Briefs- The producers of the Hilary Swank movie Conviction, the new movie that tells the story of the woman who spends years of her life proving that her imprisoned brother (Sam Rockwell) is innocent of murder, responded to public complaints from the family of the real-life murder victim.

In a statement, the producers said, “We have the deepest compassion and sympathy for the family of Katharina Brow and would like to arrange a private screening for Melrose and Charlie Brow. This will no doubt answer many of their questions surrounding the unthinkable and horrific tragedy that befell their mother.”

On Thursday, the Brows and their lawyer, Gloria Allred, held a press conference where they criticized the filmmakers for not reaching out to their family before making the movie.

Judge Gives Misty Croslin 25 Years for Drug Conviction

CNN.com- Misty Croslin, the last person known to see a 5-year-old Florida girl before she was reported missing in February 2009, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday on an unrelated drug charge.

Circuit Judge Wendy Berger also ordered Croslin to pay $500,000 and to follow her prison time with five years of drug-offender probation.

Croslin had pleaded no contest in the St. Johns County courtroom to a single count of trafficking oxycodone.

She faces sentencing on October 19 in a Palatka, Florida, courtroom for a conviction on similar charges.

At the time Haleigh Cummings went missing, Croslin was 17 and residing in the family's mobile home with her then-husband, Ronald Cummings, Haleigh and her 4-year-old brother.

Croslin and Ronald Cummings were both arrested in January along with three others after allegedly selling about $3,900 worth of drugs to undercover officers, authorities said. The two divorced after Haleigh's disappearance.

Croslin told police she tucked Haleigh and the brother into bed about 8 p.m. February 8, 2009, and went to sleep two hours later.

She said she awoke at 3 a.m. to find Haleigh missing and a cinder block propping open a back door. Ronald Cummings reported Haleigh missing when he returned from work at dawn.

Authorities previously said physical evidence contradicts Croslin's account of events that night. However, police have stopped short of naming Croslin as a suspect.

In televised interviews, Croslin has said she does not know what happened to Haleigh but believes "the other side of the family" knows where she is.

Police have said Cummings and Crystal Sheffield, the girl's mother, are not considered suspects. Authorities believe Haleigh is dead and are treating the case as a homicide investigation.

Burn Mother F*cker, Burn! - Hayes Convicted in Deadly Cheshire Home Invasion

NEW HAVEN (AP) - A paroled burglar was convicted Tuesday of killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in an affluent Connecticut town and now could be sentenced to death.

Steven Hayes was convicted of capital felony and three counts of murder by a jury that heard eight days of gruesome testimony about the July 2007 attacks on Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

The verdict triggers a second phase of the trial, in which the same jurors will decide if Hayes should be executed or face life in prison. Hayes was convicted of 16 counts and acquitted of a single count - arson.

Hayes' defense admitted to his involvement in the fatal home invasion but blamed his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for being the aggressor. Komisarjevsky faces trial next year.

Komisarjevsky spotted the mother and her two daughters at a supermarket, followed them to their Cheshire home, then returned later with Hayes, authorities say.

The men broke into the Petit house in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire, beat the girl's father with a baseball bat and forced Hawke-Petit to withdraw money from a bank before raping and strangling her, according to testimony. The men, both paroled burglars who met at a halfway house, tied the girls to their beds, put pillow cases over their heads and poured gas on or around them before setting the house on fire, authorities say.

The girls died of smoke inhalation. Authorities say the men were caught fleeing the scene.

Hayes' attorneys conceded most of the evidence on the first day and spent much of the trial focusing on Komisarjevsky's role. They pointed to graphic photos of Michaela found on Komisarjevsky's cell phone, and Hayes' attorney, Tom Ullmann, said Komisarjevsky escalated the violence at every critical point, starting with Dr. Petit's beating.

Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying the two men were equally responsible for the crime.

Victims' Parents Remain Divided Over West Memphis 3 Case

(CNN) -- There was a time that Pamela Hobbs believed justice had been served for her young son's murder.

But 16 years after the mutilations and killings of three 8-year-old Cub Scouts, including her son, she has more doubts than ever.

Tear-stricken and angry, Pamela Hobbs sat though the original trial of the three accused teens -- Damien Echols, 18; Jessie Misskelley Jr., 17, and Jason Baldwin; 16.

They were convicted of murdering her son, Stevie Branch, and two other neighborhood boys, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. The second-graders' bodies were found bruised and mutilated in a West Memphis, Arkansas ditch; their arms and legs were bound by shoe laces.

The killers became dubbed the West Memphis 3.

When interviewed by media and documentary crews after the trial, Hobbs believed justice had been served. Misskelley and Baldwin had life sentences. Echols was on death row.

But recent developments -- including new eyewitness statements and DNA evidence from the defense -- have uprooted her faith in those prosecutions. Once a staunch believer that the teens were guilty, now she says the teens accused of killing her son in the West Memphis 3 deserve a new trial.

"I wanted to believe in our justice system," said Hobbs, now 45. She moved to Blytheville, Arkansas, shortly after the 1993 trial. "But time heals all wounds, and you start looking at things differently."

Her public change of heart has been supported by new evidence presented by the defense over the past few years. In 2007, DNA and forensic evidence tests revealed no physical evidence at the crime scene that linked the three teens to murders. The evidence was presented to the state.
Furthermore, DNA that might belong to two other men was found in the knot used to tie Christopher.

One of the men is Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Stevie, the defense says. In 1993, such advanced DNA testing had not been available, attorneys said.

The defense continues to argue the results of the DNA evidence. In September, the Arkansas Supreme Court received an appeal from Echols, requesting a new trial after the lower courts denied his request to submit new DNA evidence. This month, an Arkansas Law Review article stated Echols should be granted a new trial based on the 2007 DNA evidence.

The Arkansas Supreme Court will likely hear oral arguments for a new trial for Echols in February, say officials representing him.

Three eye witnesses, who resided next to one of the victims, filed affidavits in October with the Arkansas Supreme Court. The witnesses said they saw the second-graders with Terry Hobbs the night before the bodies were found by police.

The statement from the witnesses contradicted Hobbs' statements to police and in court that he never saw his stepson, Stevie, on the day of the murder.

"They [authorities] never really did any investigation," said Dennis Riordan, Echols' defense attorney out of San Francisco, California. "They never interviewed Hobbs. The fact that the witnesses saw him, and they realized for the first time, it was very significant."

Pamela Hobbs was divorced from Terry Hobbs in 2004 because of marital problems stemming from the pain that followed her son's death, she said. She declined to comment on whether she thought her ex-husband saw the 8-year-old boys.

Hobbs has adamantly rejected the defense's allegations that he saw his stepson that day. Hobbs, 51, who still lives in West Memphis, said the defense is attempting to make him the target because Echols is on death row. There is no execution date set.

He raises the question many skeptics of the three men's innocence have echoed: Why would the eyewitness evidence surface 16 years later? Why didn't the witnesses come forward sooner?

To this day, Terry Hobbs says he believes the rightful killers are in prison.

The State's Attorneys Office and prosecutors won't comment about the defense's claims. Mike Walden, prosecuting attorney for Craighead County, where the original trial took place, said the affidavits are weak.

"I think most people will tell you these affidavits are insufficient to justify filing charges against someone else," Walden said about the three new eyewitnesses presented by the defense. "They don't contain enough evidence to enable a prosecuting attorney to make a charging position."

Critics of the defense attorneys say there has been too much finger-pointing over the past 16 years. The defense "can't get their story straight," said Tracy Ripple, who started a Web site criticizing supporters of the West Memphis 3.

West Memphis Police Department declined to comment. An officer said they were told by the state's Attorney General's office not to comment on the West Memphis 3 case.

During the original trial in 1993, prosecutors argued the three teens were part of a satanic cult when they murdered the three children. They said punctures and cut marks on the victims were argued to be to be part of a sadistic ritual. After the trial, some forensic examiners argued those marks were animal bite marks.

The prosecution relied on the confession of Misskelley, a 17-year-old with learning disabilities and an IQ of 70. He confessed after an untaped, three-hour interrogation by police without his parents or an attorney present. Misskelley later recanted his confession.

The teens, now men serving time in the Arkansas penitentiary system, have maintained their innocence. They have tried appealing, arguing that they weren't adequately represented in the original trial. Echols remains on death row, and no execution date has been set.

Pamela Hobbs hasn't been the only parent of the victims to shift to the side of the West Memphis 3 supporters.

Mark Byers, the father of Christopher, lives in Millington, Tennessee. He said he began to think the three men might be innocent, particularly after the 2007 DNA tests results were released. His wife, Melissa, passed away in 1996.

After the murders, Byers announced to the media fervently that he believed the West Memphis 3 were guilty. But by 2005, he began to question the original trial. He said parts of Misskelley's confession did not match up with actual crime. For example, the confession talks about committing the crime in the woods, but medical examiners found few traces of blood in the woods.

"The worst part about it is the three real victims that deserve justice, the three 8-year-old children have not been given justice," Byers said. "They got a hack job for a police investigation. It was a rush to find someone who they said did this."

Todd and Diana Moore, parents of Michael, say the West Memphis 3 are guilty. Todd Moore, now divorced from Diana Moore, says he can't believe the eyewitness affidavits because they are based on memories from 16 years ago. His ex-wife declined to comment.

"They [witnesses] may have seen something," said Moore, who now lives in Marion, Arkansas. "But May 5, 1993, wasn't the day."

The murders of the three boys remain etched into the community even years after the trial ended. The case inspired two HBO documentaries, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and "Paradise Lost 2."

As years passed, the West Memphis 3 continued to live in the media spotlight. The case gained notoriety among celebrities such as the Dixie Chicks and actress Winona Ryder, who have publicly said the three men should have a new trial.

Over the years, the parents of the three boys have watched the headlines return. Some hope for a new trial for the three men, who have languished behind bars for their young adult years behind bars. And other parents pray the men will stay locked up for good.

"I want someone to put a stop to this," said Terry Hobbs. He fondly recalls the memories with his stepson-- the two of them swimming in the backyard pool.

"I'm tired of this stuff. No one understands or cares what this does to us as parents over and over again."

Balloon Boy Parents Get Jail Time, Tough Probation

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Richard Heene choked back tears as he said he was sorry, especially to the rescue workers who chased down false reports that his 6-year-old son had floated away in a balloon on Oct. 15. It was a stunt designed to generate attention for a reality TV show.

"I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there, and the people that got involved in the community. That's it," said Richard Heene, whose wife did not speak at the hearing.

Larimer County District Judge Stephen Schapanski then ordered Heene to begin a 30-day jail term on Jan. 11, delaying the start of the sentence for two weeks so he can spend the holidays with his family. Schapanski allowed Heene to serve the remaining 60 days of his jail term under work release, meaning he can work during the day but spend his nights in jail.

The Heenes' probation will be revoked if they are found to be profiting from any book, TV, movie or other deals related to the stunt.

"This, in simple terms, was an elaborate hoax that was devised by Mr. and Mrs. Heene," the judge said.

The Heenes pleaded guilty to charges that they carried out the balloon hoax, with deals that called for up to 90 days in jail for the husband and 60 days for his wife.

Schapanski ordered Mayumi Heene to serve 20 days in jail after her husband completes his sentence. Her time served is flexible — she can report to jail on 10 weekends, for example — so the children are cared for, the judge said.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence for the husband, saying that a message needs to be sent to promoters who attempt to carry out hoaxes to generate publicity. Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Lewis also asked for full restitution to reimburse authorities for the cost of investigating the hoax — an amount that could exceed $50,000.

"People around the world were watching this unfold," he said. "Mr. Heene wasted a lot of manpower and a lot of money in wanting to get himself some publicity."

He added, "Jay Leno said it best when he said, 'This is copycat game.' And people will copycat this event. (The Heenes) need to go to jail so people don't do that."

He portrayed the Heenes as growing increasingly desperate as their pitches for a reality TV show kept getting turned down by networks — and the family fell deeper into a financial hole. Lewis said the Heenes set in motion the balloon hoax in early October as a way to jumpstart the effort and get some attention.

They chose Oct. 15 because the weather was cooperating and the kids were home for school with parent-teacher conferences, allowing the Heenes to report that 6-year-old Falcon had floated away, Lewis said.

Once the parents were brought in for questioning, Richard Heene feigned sleep during the lie-detector test, claiming it was some sort of diabetic episode, Lewis said.

David Lane, Richard Heene's attorney, pleaded for leniency with the judge and said that the couple "have learned a lesson they will never forget for the rest of their lives." He also said that if someone has to go to jail, let it be Richard Heene and not his wife.

"That is his plea. That would be something of a Christmas miracle if that can occur," he said.

Jury: Death for Man Who Murdered Cop's Daughter

(CNN) -- A Florida jury has recommended the death penalty for a plumber who kidnapped, raped and murdered a police detective's daughter.

Michael King, 38, showed no reaction Friday afternoon as the jury's 12-0 decision was announced in Sarasota. Jurors deliberated for nearly three hours.

King was convicted a week ago of first-degree murder and related offenses in the January 17, 2008, death of Denise Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two boys.

Nathan Lee and Sgt. Dave Goff, the victim's husband and father remained composed in court. They had maintained a daily presence in the courtroom during a trial that included the heartbreaking tape of Denise Lee's frantic 911 call on her captor's cell phone.

In Florida, a jury's recommendation for a death sentence is advisory. King will be formally sentenced later. Judges rarely overturn a jury's unanimous decision.

Jurors Marcia Burns and Pat O'Quinn told reporters that defense testimony about King's head injury from a sledding accident and his low IQ carried little weight in the jury room.

Denise Lee's father and husband had hoped for the death penalty. "I don't think he should be able to live another day," Nathan Lee said Friday as he awaited the verdict.

Lee and Goff told the jury that she was a bright young woman who put aside her career ambitions to marry her college sweetheart and raise their two boys, now 2 and 3.

"She was everything we could wish for in a daughter and more," Goff said.

Several jurors had tears in their eyes as Nathan Lee described his wife as a devoted mother who was nursing one son and potty-training another when a stranger abducted her from their home.

"I was so proud to call her my wife," he said. "Denise was the love of my life, my soul mate. I knew after our first date that I had found the perfect girl."

He added that their boys "know their beautiful, courageous mommy has gone to heaven and now is an angel."

King's siblings spoke of how a childhood sledding accident left him with a head injury that contributed to a lifetime of troubles. On expert described the injury as a "divot" in his brain.

Experts testified that scans indicated that King's brain was abnormally shaped, especially his frontal lobe: the center for logic, planning and reason. His IQ was described as about 76, in the low range. A person with an IQ of 70 is considered to be mentally retarded, according to testimony.

King's brother, Greg, testified that the defendant was 6 when he crashed head-first into a post while being pulled on a sled by a snowmobile. "I felt bad for him," Greg King said. "I felt responsible, but I wasn't."

As a child, Michael King would get a faraway look in his eyes, witnesses said. Once, he fired his BB gun at witches he said he saw in the trees. Another time, he chased family members around the house with a running chainsaw. His eyes were "bugging out," his brother testified.

King also complained of headaches and hearing "a buzzing sound" in his head, Greg King told the jury.

King seemed to be deteriorating mentally in late 2007, according to testimony. He faced foreclosure, was considering filing for bankruptcy and broke up with a girlfriend on Thanksgiving Day. The ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Robb, testified that he sat on the bed staring into space and unable to dress himself.

"He acted as if he were somewhere else," she said. But she said she never knew him to be violent.

According to testimony, Lee was taken from her home during the afternoon, driven to King's home, sexually assaulted and then shot in the head and buried in a ditch.

During the trial, Lee's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

A 911 operator repeatedly said "Hello," and Lee was heard pleading with her captor: "I'm sorry. I just want to see my family. ... I just want to see my family again. Please. ... Oh, please, I just want to see my family again. Let me go."

Eventually, Lee managed to say, "My name is Denise. I'm married to a beautiful husband, and I just want to see my kids again. ... Please, God, please protect me."

Lee's heart-shaped ring, a gift from her husband, was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape at King's house.

According to testimony and court records, Lee fought frantically for her life, banging on the windows of King's green Camaro, screaming for help and begging one witness, "Call the cops."

Several people reported seeing something suspicious and called 911. But authorities didn't find Lee in time, and allegations that dispatchers mishandled the calls have led to criticism of the local 911 system.

The 911 communications breakdown was blamed on a shift change, and two dispatchers were suspended, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Lee's husband has launched a foundation bearing her name that works toward 911 reform. He plans to file a lawsuit this month, a family spokesman said.

Michael King- GUILTY!!

(CNN) -- A Florida plumber was found guilty Friday of kidnapping and murdering a police detective's daughter at a trial in which his victim's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Michael L. King, 38, guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the January 17, 2008 abduction and slaying of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two.

Lee's family, including her father, Charlotte County Sheriff's Det. Rick Goff, cried as the verdict was announced; King showed no reaction.

The jury must next decide whether King, who was a stranger to Lee, should be executed for his crimes.

According to testimony during the weeklong trial, Lee was taken from her home sometime after 2 p.m., driven to King's home, sexually assaulted, then shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in a marshy vacant lot.

King's attorney, Jerry Meisner, did not present any witnesses. But prosecutors told the jury that Lee's ring was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape found at King's house.

According to testimony and court records, Lee fought frantically for her life, banging on the windows of King's green Camaro, screaming for help and begging one witness, "Call the cops."

Several people reported seeing something suspicious and called 911. But authorities didn't find Lee in time, and allegations that dispatchers mishandled the calls have led to criticism of the local 911 system.

Lee's body was found on January 19 near where police stopped King's car some six hours after the abduction.

The jury heard two 911 calls -- Lee's and one from a concerned witness.

Lee used one of King's cell phones to call 911 as she was driven across three counties. As the six-minute tape was played for the jury, her voice sounded tremulous at times, and frantic at others.

The call came in at 6:14 p.m. on January 17. A 911 operator repeatedly said "Hello," and Lee was heard pleading with her captor: "I'm sorry. I just want to see my family. ... I just want to see my family again. Please. ... Oh please, I just want to see my family again. Let me go."

The man, whose voice was identified in court as King's, curses at her for trying to attract attention. A radio plays loudly in the background. The 911 operator asks her address. Eventually, she says, "My name is Denise. I'm married to a beautiful husband and I just want to see my kids again. ... Please, God, please protect me."

The 911 operator asked where she was, and then whether she knew the man. The operator asked if she knows her location. "Please just take me to my house. Can you take me home?" Lee said. The connection was then lost.

Sixteen minutes later, driver Jane Kowalski called 911 to report what she thought was a child abduction. She said she was stopped at a light and could hear screaming from another car "and not a happy scream, a get-me-out-of-here scream."

She testified that she saw someone banging on the car window, slapping her hand hard to demonstrate. "It was very loud," she told the jury. "It was completely horrific, terrified, panicky. I can't think of enough words, it was terrible."

She followed the car for a while, but lost it.

Police quickly traced Lee's call to King's cell phone, and were looking for him. But Kowalski's call was never passed on to officers.

The breakdown was blamed on a shift change and two dispatchers were suspended, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Other witnesses also helped establish the timeline for the terrifying final hours of Lee's life.

Lee's former neighbor, Jennifer Eckert, 24, testified that she saw the green Camaro circle the block three or four times between 1 and 2 p.m. and pull into the Lees' driveway. She said she was certain of the time, because she was watching her favorite TV soap.

King's cousin, Harold Muxlow, testified that King stopped by his house between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and asked to borrow a flashlight, a gas can, and a shovel.

He testified that a "girl's voice" from the car asked him to "call the cops" but Muxlow said King told him, "Don't worry. It's nothing."

Lee's husband, Nathan, has launched a foundation bearing her name that works toward 911 reform. He plans to file a lawsuit next month, a family spokesman said.

This Makes Me F*cking SICK.

Woman Gets 5-Years for Toddler's Death

New Haven (WTNH) - A Hamden woman has been sentenced to five years in prison and five years probation in the dehydration death of a toddler. The baby's mother was so distraught during today's sentencing, she had to be removed from the courtroom.

Sharon Patterson plead guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the death of 23 month old Amari Jackson. Prosecutors say Patterson didn't give the baby anything to drink for more than a week because he wet the bed.

Cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom, but News Channel's Annie Rourke says that when Patterson tried to apologize, Amari's mother began screaming and tried to lunge across the barrier before she was forcibly removed. By the time she walked out of the New Haven court, Sara Hicks had collected herself and did not want to speak to reporters.

Amari was just one month shy of his second birthday when he died in February 2008. Sara Hicks says she was so ill that she left her son at Patterson's Putnam Avenue apartment in Hamden. But Patterson denied the boy to drink any fluids for at least a week.

"Part of the deprivation was that Sharon Patterson laced drinking glasses throughout the house with some form of hot sauce so Amari wouldn't drink," said Capt. Ronald Smith, Hamden Police Department.

In court today, Patterson's defense attorney said his client is not a monster, rather she has diminished mental capacity. At her trial, her charge was reduced from manslaughter to negligent homicide. Experts testified that she has the decision-making ability of a six-year old.

But that didn't soften the blow for Amari's family as Sara Hicks sobbed throughout the proceedings, pleading with the judge to impose a strict sentence saying, "The dead cannot cry out for justice."

Monroeville High School Girl's Ex Found Guilty Of Her Murder

PITTSBURGH -- A young Monroeville man who repeatedly stabbed ex-girlfriend Demi Cuccia after a desperate, daylong exchange of text messages about the status of their relationship was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday.

"My daughter was brutally murdered and nobody deserves to die like that," Gary Cuccia said outside Judge Jeffrey Manning's courtroom, after the verdict was announced.

An Allegheny County jury took about two hours to reach its decision in the case against 20-year-old John Mullarkey, who attacked the 16-year-old Cuccia in her Elliott Road home in August 2007.

Mullarkey chose not to speak before Manning sentenced him to life in prison with no parole.

"Everybody has to be held accountable for what we do in this life, and I believe he's still got a lot in store for him," Gary Cuccia said.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said the victim, a student at Gateway High School, was stabbed 16 times on the day after her birthday by the man who claimed to love her.

An autopsy showed that, while the Gateway cheerleader was stabbed many times, the wound that killed her was one that was made to her left shoulder and severed an artery.

Cuccia's grandmother, Carole Roberts, told reporters that Mullarkey is a "despicable, evil monster," and the girl's mother, Jodi, said, "I've been critically wounded -- as have my family -- from this horrific tragedy, and the painful scars run long and deep."

Last week, jurors were shown text messages -- including one that said, "You no you love me and can't live without me" -- from the day of Cuccia's slaying and the days leading up to it that revealed the couple's tumultuous relationship.

Madoff sentenced to 150 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A federal judge sentenced Bernard Madoff, the convicted mastermind of the largest and most sweeping Ponzi scheme ever, to the maximum sentence of 150 years in federal court Monday.

Judge Denny Chin of U.S. District Court in New York announced the sentence just moments after Madoff apologized to his victims.

Chin, who called Madoff's crimes "extraordinarily evil," said the maximum sentence was important for deterrence, and also for the victims, many of whom erupted into applause after the judge announced the sentence. Many hugged and some of them broke down in tears.

"The sentence imposed today recognizes the significance of Bernard Madoff's crimes," Lev Dassin, acting U.S. attorney, said in a written statement.

The 150-year sentence is the maximum that federal prosecutors in New York requested, based on the number of Madoff's victims, the amount of money he stole and the extent of the damage he caused. Judge Chin said that the Federal Department of Probation had recommended a 50-year sentence.

Shortly before receiving his sentence, Madoff offered an apology, which he delivered facing Judge Chin.

"I live in a tormented state for all the pain and suffering I created," he said. "I left a legacy of shame. It is something I will live with for the rest of my life."

Madoff said he was not asking for forgiveness and not offering any excuses for his behavior. "How can you excuse betraying thousands of investors?" he asked. "How can you excuse deceiving hundreds of employees? How can you excuse lying to and deceiving your wife who still stands by you?"

Madoff then said, "I apologize to my victims. I will turn and face you." Addressing the victims in the courtroom directly, he offered, "I am sorry. I know it will not help you."

Victims had urged the judge to dole out the stiffest punishment possible. "We implore you to give the maximum sentence at a maximum prison for this deplorable low life," said one of the victims in court before Madoff spoke. "This is a violent crime without a tangible weapon."

Many of Madoff's investors were wiped out financially by the scam and sent letters to Judge Chin requesting he spend the rest of his life behind bars. Nine of the letter-writers spoke in court Monday.

Speaking on behalf of his wife and looking at Madoff, the same victim said, "I have a marriage made in heaven. You have [a] marriage made in hell, and that's where you'll return. May God spare you no mercy."

Through her attorney, Madoff's wife Ruth released a statement regarding her husband, "who stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves."

"I am embarrassed and ashamed," she said, in the prepared statement. "Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years."

Madoff, who was stripped of his property in a legal action Friday, confessed on March 12 to running a massive Ponzi scheme. He pleaded guilty to 11 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering, perjury, false filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other crimes.

Lawyer Ira Lee Sorkin, who represents Madoff, asked for a 12-year sentence. In a letter to the judge, Sorkin explained that his 71-year-old client "has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years" and isn't likely to outlive the requested sentence by more than a year.

Sorkin did not return messages from CNNMoney.com shortly after the sentencing.

Madoff orchestrated the scam by masquerading his investment firm as a legitimate business. But the business became a front for a Ponzi scheme, in which the scammer uses fresh money from unsuspecting investors to make payments to more mature investors, creating the false appearance of legitimate returns.

Madoff sent statements to victims claiming that their investments had grown several times over, but in actuality he had stolen, not invested, their money. Investigators believe that he had been running his scam since at least the 1980s, bilking thousands of investors until he finally ran out of money in December 2008.

In a $170 billion legal judgment against Madoff Friday, the government announced it had seized all of his property in a deal that also forces his wife to give up homes and property worth millions. The value of all the assets will eventually be used to compensate -- or partially compensate -- victims, based on how much they invested in Madoff's firm.

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, an organization that shields investors in brokerage firms, will also pay up to $500,000 for any eligible claimant who lost money to Madoff, based on how much they put in.

Thus far, federal investigators have identified 1,341 investors in Madoff's firm, who have losses exceeding $13 billion. They're still tallying the damage. Victims have until July 2 to file a claim with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Acting U.S. attorney Dassin said the investigation was continuing.

"We are committed to bringing additional charges against anyone else who bears criminal responsibility," said Dassin, in a written statement. "At the same time, we are focused on tracing, restraining and liquidating assets to maximize recoveries for the victims."

Since March, Madoff has been incarcerated in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, a holding facility for convicts awaiting sentencing. He will probably be transferred to a medium-security federal prison, according to prison consultants.

Alan Ellis, attorney and author of the "Federal Prison Guidebook," believes that Madoff will probably get sent to Federal Correctional Institute Otisville or FCI Ray Brook, both in upstate New York, FCI Fairton in New Jersey or FCI McKean in Pennsylvania.

Clemency Denied For Thrill Killer, Marvallous Keene

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The State Parole Board has denied clemency for Marvallous Keene, one of the so-called "Thrill Killers" in Dayton.

Keene, now 36, was among four people convicted of going on a killing spree during the Christmas holidays of 1992 that left five people dead. The victims were: Joseph Wilkerson, 34, Danita Gullette, 18, Sarah Abraham, 38, Wendy Cottrill, 16, and Marvin Washington, 18.

Keene was convicted of multiple charges including five counts of aggravated murder and sentenced to death by a three-judge panel.

At a clemency hearing June 17, Keene asked his lawyers not to ask for clemency because he did not want to cause the victim's families any more pain. Keene also refused to be interviewed by the Parole Board.

Keene is scheduled to be executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville on July 21.

Riverside Man Gets Four Years in Drunken-Driving Death

This case hits home with me, as it happened in my hometown.. Just like Martha Moxley, Matthew Margolies, and the two librarians killed by a drunk driver.

GREENWICH-A Riverside man was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday for an October 2008 drunken-driving accident that killed 20-year-old Joseph Borselio of Greenwich.

At state Superior Court, Judge Richard Comerford listened to impassioned pleas from Borselio's family to sentence Douglas Moore, 25, to the maximum jail time he could receive.

"It's outrageous to me," said Kayla Borselio, Joseph Borselio's older sister of the accident. "I wonder how someone can engage in such irresponsible drinking and take away someone that was completely happy with their life," she said while sobbing.

Borselio's father Louis Borselio spoke solemnly about fond memories of his son, such as how well he could play the drums and how kind he was to other children in school.

"There are a lot of things he could have been in his life," said Louis Borselio.

Borselio's grandfather and uncle also spoke and the attorney for the family read a letter from Borselio's mother, who had to leave the room briefly at one point after being overcome with emotion. "This was no accident," wrote Borselio's mother Jessica Lewis in the letter. "Joey was doing nothing wrong."

Moore's attorney, Philip Russell, asked the judge to consider imposing the minimum sentence. He pointed to a letter written by Moore that expressed his feelings of regret over the accident.

"What hasn't been said is that Douglas Moore is terribly sorry and he has done nothing but express his remorse," said Russell, who told the court Moore had completely quit drinking since the accident.

Moore could have received between two and six years in prison for the Oct. 5, 2008, accident on Sheephill Road in which he struck Borselio, who was riding a bicycle. Borselio was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors said Moore tried to leave the scene.

Comerford called the sentencing decision agonizing, but said that "justice has to be tempered by mercy."

"We are dealing with two good people here," Comerford said. "One is lost forever and another will be crossing into the rings of hell for a period of time, if he ever escapes those walls. I wouldn't want that on my conscience."

Moore did not speak during the proceedings, but looked back once before being taken away in handcuffs with tears streaming down his face.

Stamford defense attorney Mark Sherman said Moore's sentence was standard for this type of case.

"The sentence doesn't surprise me," Sherman said. "The criminal system has made it very clear that it has zero tolerance for someone who is drunk, gets behind the wheel and kills somebody."

Upon his release, Moore will be subject to three years of probation, community service and will partake in a victims' impact panel. The Borselio family also is pursuing a civil suit against Moore and Dave & Buster's in West Nyack, N.Y., where Moore was drinking the night of the accident.

"We have an active civil suit," said Bridgeport attorney Michael Stratton who said that Moore was drinking beers and shots for five hours before driving home.

Borselio's family said after the hearing they were disappointed with the lighter sentence and the way the justice system handles drunken driving in the state.

"I never knew that the sentences were so short," said Louis Borselio. "The system has to change. A lot has to change."

Borselio's grandmother said no matter the sentence, nothing will ever fill the void her grandson's death has created.

"I don't know what to say," said Borselio's grandmother Brigida Borselio. "I have to believe in the system. We miss him everyday."
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Brigida worked at my elementary school and was a very nice lady, friends with my grandmother and very caring/loving towards me. My thoughts are with their family.

Woman Sentenced In Doctor's Death

MIAMI -- A woman convicted for her role in the killing of a Coral Gables doctor and his son learned her sentence on Tuesday.

Maria Catabay was convicted in May of armed burglary in connection with the killings of her former boss, Dr. Paul Jarrett, and his son. The men were found fatally shot in their Coral Gables home nearly six years ago.

Catabay was sentenced to 30 years in prison, despite her youngest daughter's pleas to the judge.

"Knowing she might not be there for the most important things in my life, like getting married, giving birth, just breaks my heart," said Yvonna Catabay.

The judge imposed a sentence 10 years longer than state corrections workers had recommended.

"We see tragedies every day in this courthouse. This is as much as you're going to see," said Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Stanford Blake.

When the judge announced her sentence, Maria Catabay sat still, but her children wept and rushed from the courtroom.

Maria Catabay, who had managed Jarrett's office, admitted to stealing from him, and to cover her tracks, prosecutors said she got her boyfriend and his hire to break into his home and steal an incriminating letter, Local 10's Glenna Milberg reported.

Maria Catabay could have been sentenced to life in prison. A jury convicted her of armed burglary but acquitted her of first-degree murder, although the law considers a death in the commission of a felony eligible for a first-degree murder charge.

Blake said that although Maria Catabay did not physically pull the trigger, she is just as responsible for the killings.

"The community was shocked, outraged when this crime occurred. Today, the community, through Judge Blake, spoke back," said prosecutor David Waksman.

Maria Catabay's attorney said she would appeal the sentence as too harsh for a first-time offender.

"We did the best case we could. We presented the best argument at sentencing we could. The court did not see it like that. I certainly hope an appellate court will," said Lorna Owens, Maria Catabay's attorney.

The suspected triggerman hired by Maria Catabay’s boyfriend was convicted and is now serving two life sentences. Her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Fernandez, has not yet gone to trial.

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May 22, 2009: Verdict In Doctor's Killing Trial

2 Teens Get Jail Time in Mexican's Beating Death

(CNN) -- Two Pennsylvania teens will serve time in a county jail for participating in a brawl that left a Mexican immigrant dead last July.

Brandon Piekarsky, 17, was sentenced to 6 to 23 months, and Derrick Donchak, 19, received 7 to 23 months for their roles in the beating death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez.

Judge William Baldwin ordered the two to report to Schuylkill County jail on July 19 to begin serving their sentences.

An all-white jury convicted the two former high school football players of misdemeanor simple assault at trial last month and acquitted them of felony counts, including aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension -- charges that carried lengthier sentences.

In fashioning his sentence, Baldwin acknowledged the severity of the attack, which left Ramirez on life support for two days before he died, but said he could pass a sentence only in accordance with the jury's verdict.

"This wasn't any fight, this was a group of young athletes ganging up on one person. That's not a street fight," Baldwin said, referring to the defense team's characterization of the confrontation as a "street fight."

"You picked out a guy who wasn't one of you and beat the pulp out of him," Baldwin said.

The incident divided the small, rural mining town of Shenandoah into camps for and against the boys as it became a flashpoint for racial tensions across the country.

After the verdict, Gov. Ed Rendell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending that the Department of Justice pursue civil rights charges.

"The evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican," Rendell said. "Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance."

During Wednesday's sentencing, Baldwin said he was surprised that Rendell had chosen to speak out on the case and told the court that his sentence was not affected by the governor's letter.

Fred Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he felt the sentence was harsh, given the circumstances. The judge could have sentenced the teens to probation under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines.

"I'm disappointed that the court exceeded the aggravated range and sentenced him to six months. Having said that, I'm glad we finally have some finality with this case," Fanelli told CNN affiliate WBRE after the sentencing.

Baldwin heard from several teachers, coaches and family friends who testified that the teens were good kids who fell into a bad situation. They urged leniency so the teens could realize their potential as adults.

Ramirez's longtime girlfriend and mother of two of his children read a statement in open court before an audience consisting mostly of the defendants' supporters.

"He was my one and only love, and they took him away from me, and they took my children's father," Crystal Dillman said. "Now I have to live without my best friend and love of my life."

The court also heard a prepared statement from Ramirez's mother, Elisa Zavala, who lives in Guanajuato, Mexico.

"I'm not the same person as before, now I feel a great emptiness within my heart," she wrote. "There are moments in which I'm alone and I ask myself: What do I do now that I don't have my son? I feel that without him, I am no one."

The judge also tacked on extra days to each boy's sentence for consuming alcohol earlier in the evening. For providing the alcohol to his friends before the fight, Donchak was also convicted of corrupting minors.

Jurors found Piekarsky not guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors had said he delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground in the alcohol-fueled brawl, which occurred on a residential street in Shenandoah the evening of July 12.

Prosecutors alleged that a group of teens, which included Piekarsky and Donchak, baited Ramirez into the initial confrontation after a night of drinking, hurling racial epithets at the undocumented Mexican immigrant.

After the fight broke up, witnesses said Ramirez came back at the teens, who beat him so severely that, according to a medical testimony, brain tissue oozed out of his skull during surgery at a hospital.

Jurors heard from several teens who witnessed the incident but did not participate, as well as one teen who pleaded guilty in juvenile court and another whose case is being handled in federal court. The testimony painted a picture of confusion, with several inconsistencies as to who did what.

Defense lawyers argued that Ramirez's death was a street brawl gone wrong that was not motivated by racial bias. They also suggested that Ramirez was responsible for triggering the second confrontation.

Advocacy groups condemned the verdict and sentences, and called on the Department of Justice to bring federal hate crime charges against the defendants.

"The meager sentences handed to the defendants today leaves justice gasping for further redress," said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Citing FBI statistics, Limon said that hate crimes against Latinos have risen 40 percent in the last five years and called on Congress to strengthen hate crime laws.

"The failure to hold these defendants responsible for their atrocious crimes denies justice not just to the Ramirez family, but also to the entire community by failing to deter similar crimes in the future," she said.

Richard Cohen, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the case had troubling implications in the wider context of race relations nationwide.

"Since the year 2000, we've seen a 50 percent surge in the number of hate groups across the country, to a record 926 by our latest count," he said.

"The increase has been fueled by the same factor responsible for the rise in the anti-Latino hate crimes -- a backlash against the changing demographics of our country, a backlash fueled by politicians trolling for votes and pundits looking for ratings."

Man Who Strangled, Stuffed Woman In Trunk Convicted Of Murder

KENT, Wash. -- A 25-year-old man who strangled a woman in the parking lot of the nursing home he worked at and then stuffed her body into the trunk of her car was convicted of murder Wednesday.

The body of 75-year-old Jane Britt was found on March 19, 2008 in the trunk of her car parked at Garden Terrace Care Facility in Federal Way, where Joseph Njonge worked as a certified nursing assistant.

Britt was believed to have been visiting her husband at the facility the day before her body was discovered. He died two weeks before the trial began.

The jury deliberated the case for more than a day and a half at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Prosecutor Carla Carlstrom said the jury couldn't agree on first-degree murder, so Njonge was convicted of murder in the second-degree.

"This case was difficult because unfortunately only Mrs. Britt knows exactly what happened that night, along with the defendant, so since the jury couldn't know exactly why he killed her I think that certainly factored to a difficulty of convicting him of murder in the first degree," Carlstrom said.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that Britt fought hard against her assailant "over a prolonged period of time" and was strangled by Njonge, who used a ligature and came at her from behind.

It was DNA from skin cells found under the victim's fingernails that led to the Njonge's capture, Satterberg said. Britt's husband's credit card was also found in Njonge's pocket.

The Britt family said through the prosecutor that they are “satisfied” with the verdict.

Njonge will be sentenced next month and could be sentenced from 10 to 20 years in prison.

Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game Gets 23 Years to Life

ELYRIA, Ohio - A Lorain County teenager who shot and killed his mother and wounded his father after they took away his video game learned his punishment Tuesday morning.

Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Burge sentenced Daniel Petric, 17, to life in prison with the eligibility of parole in 23 years. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.

"I remain fearful if Danny gets out of prison and somebody else takes away his new pasttime, whether it's a girlfriend that leaves him, this may be the next thing that happens," assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo told the judge.

"Daniel Petric received the only break that he's entitled to under the law, that he was too young to risk a death specification," said Cillo.

Petric, who was 16 at the time, was convicted of shooting both his parents in the head in October 2007 inside their home near Wellington. Susan Petric, 43, died. His father -- the Rev. Mark Petric, 45 -- miraculously survived.

Prosecutors say he told them "Close your eyes, I've got a surprise for you," before shooting them, and then tried to make it look like a murder-suicide.

Petric, who was tried as an adult, held back tears at times during the hearing. He stood to address the judge, but then sat down without speaking.

Defense attorneys argued that Petric's youth and addiction to the game "Halo 3" made him less responsible for the shooting. They say he often played video games 18 hours a day with little food or sleep. They say he may have been so obsessed with the game, where players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth, that he didn't think death was real.

"The playing of the video games and the reality of shooting somebody in his case was blinded, it was merged," defense attorney James Kersey told the court. "He had no thoughts during this process. During this time, he was blinded that his parents might be dead, that they might never come back."

"His addiction was so strong, was running rampant in a tired, exhausted young man, that anybody or anything that stood between him playing the video game and not having his way was in peril," Kersey added.

Petric's father addressed the court, asking Judge Burge to give him a lenient sentence.

"I can't count the number of times that he's said, 'Dad I miss mom, I miss mom.' His pain runs very deep, and it should ... if his pain did not run deep, I guarantee you I would not be standing here speaking on his behalf," the Rev. Petric told the judge.

"I love you Danny," said the Rev. Petric, through tears. "I can see the pain and the guilt inside when I visit him. I look in his eyes and I see it, I see the sadness, I see the concern. He still does not understand why he did something so terrible, but he does admit to it and he admits that it was terrible."

Judge Burge addressed the issue of video game addiction during sentencing, and said that it was a factor in his final decision. He says he hopes more study will be done on the topic.

"I feel confident that if there were no such thing as violent video games, I wouldn't know Daniel Petric," he said.

The Petric family did not speak to reporters after the hearing. Daniel's attorney says that although they feel the sentence is too long, they are satisfied with it.

"They feel it could've been worse," said Kersey.

Rockefeller Poser Gets Up to 5 Years For Kidnapping

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN/IN Session) -- A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and passed himself off for years as a member of the moneyed clan was sentenced Friday to four to five years in prison for kidnapping his daughter.

Earlier in the day, a jury of eight women and four men found Christian Carl Gerhartsreiter, 48, guilty of the kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Judge Frank M. Gaziano noted that Gerhartsreiter showed little regard for the impact his actions had on his former wife and daughter. He said he also considered the defendant's long history of deceptive and manipulative behavior, including the use of multiple aliases.

Gerhartsreiter already has spent a year in jail, meaning that with credit for good behavior he could spend just another year or two in prison.

Gerhartstreiter, who was born in Germany and is in the U.S. illegally, faces removal by immigration authorities when he completes his sentence.

In addition, his lawyer said, authorities in Los Angeles, California, have convened a grand jury to investigate his possible role in the 1985 deaths of a couple who rented a carriage house to him.

The defendant stared straight ahead as the judge announced the sentence. He was equally impassive when the jury returned its verdicts.

The jury rejected Gerhartsreiter's insanity defense, but found him not guilty of two lesser charges after deliberating for 26½ hours over five days.

He faces up to 15 years in prison. A sentencing hearing was set to begin at 2 p.m. ET.

"Today the victims in this case have some sense of justice, I hope," said Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley "We are very happy with today's verdict. We're very happy with the jury."

After announcing the verdict, all 12 jurors returned to the courtroom and delivered a prepared statement.

"This was a complicated case, and not as clear-cut as it might have seemed to those who followed it in the media," the jurors' statement said

"We are confident that our verdict is fair and just, and based only on the information we were legally allowed to consider," it continued. "Our verdict is a unanimous one, as the law requires, and all of us stand by the verdict completely. "

The jurors said the terse statement was their final word on the case. They did not take questions.

The case has attracted international attention because of the defendant's bogus claim to be related to the Rockefellers, one of America's wealthiest families. He fooled even his wife of 12 years, who said on the witness stand that she had "a blind spot" for a man who charmed her, then controlled her and bullied her.

Prosecutors said Gerhartsreiter came to the United States from Germany in 1978 as a student. They said he is a con man who has been telling fanciful tales and misrepresenting himself ever since.

The defense said he has long suffered from mental illness that boiled over into insanity when he abducted his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh, last summer.

The jury heard closing arguments and legal instructions before retiring for deliberation Monday.

"This is not a man playing with a full deck," said Jeffrey Denner, one of two lawyers who gave closing arguments for the defense.

According to testimony from defense experts, Gerhartsreiter believed his daughter was in danger. He also believed they could communicate telepathically and shared a secret language.

"You see him descending into madness," Denner said. "You see completely irrational action that other people are buying because of the name Rockefeller and the appearance, the veneer, of respectability with a powerful wife."

The defense called two experts who, he said, spent 28 hours with the defendant before diagnosing him as having a narcissistic personality disorder and grandiose delusions.

Prosecutor David Deakin called the insanity diagnosis "preposterous." He argued, "This is not a case about madness. It's a case about manipulation."

He described Gerhartsreiter as a controlling man who was angry that his former wife, Sandra Boss, had moved with their daughter to London in December 2007.

According to testimony, Boss, a Harvard business school graduate and senior partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting company, took full custody of the child, giving her ex-husband $800,000, two cars, her engagement ring and a dress he had bought her.

She said she believed the fanciful stories her husband wove around his image as Clark Rockefeller and never saw any sign of mental illness.

Denner asked how a successful businesswoman who was educated at Stanford and Harvard universities and made $1 million a year could fall for an impostor.

"There's a big difference between intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence," Boss explained. "I'm not saying I made a very good choice of a husband. It's obvious I had a pretty big blind spot."

"He told compelling stories," she said. "It seems stupid in hindsight, and it really was, but that is how it was. ... I lived with a person who told me a set of internally consistent things."

"I was completely traumatized," Boss said of the abduction. "I was hysterical."