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A CAPITAL OFFENSE | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/09/2010 8/9/10 5:25 PM

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Posted on Mon, Aug. 9, 2010

A CAPITAL OFFENSE

If death is a little-used penalty, what will give murder victims' families closure and peace?

By MENSAH M. DEAN Philadelphia Daily News [email protected] 215-854-5949

SINCE HER police-sergeant father was slain two years ago, Amber Liczbinski has graduated from high school and has been accepted into college. File photo

Although life goes on, Amber last week - in front of the Death-penalty opponents point to the case of Philadelphia jury that could hand death sentences to the Nicholas Yarris, above, who spent two two men convicted of the May 3, 2008, murder of Sgt. decades on death row, but was freed on DNA Advertise Here Stephen Liczbinski, 39 - spoke of wanting closure. evidence. "I know that any punishment they receive won't bring my dad back, but I know that by getting the worst punishment Today's Most Viewed Most Emailed possible it may bring me closure," said Amber, 18. 1 of 5 View images Defiant Brit struts through Dubai mall in a bikini Many a grieving relative has shared such sentiments with Pennsylvania jurors since the state resumed capital Landlord spray paints 'deadbeat tenants' on home punishment in 1978, but few have obtained that closure. Lobstering alive and well in N.J. READER FEEDBACK West Chester teacher charged with child That's because no matter how shocking the murder, how Post a comment pornography heartless the murderer or how innocent the victim, the state's death row appears to have become a safe zone RELATED STORIES Move at tight end; Aikman as an Eagle; and more for those sent there. Jurors weighing fate of cop killers view boxing video Although 220 inmates live under death sentences, only YouTube video: Levon T. Warner's last boxing » More Most Viewed three - after dropping all appeals - have been executed match since 1978. Double-murderer Gary Heidnik was the last Philadelphia police officers killed in the line of duty of them, in 1999. since 2006 Lobstering alive and well in N.J. Meanwhile, a majority of the 35 states that have the death penalty have executed a dozen or more convicts since Europe's high-speed rail revolution may spread to 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. Texas has the most, with 462 executions; next is U.S. Virginia, with 107; then come Oklahoma, 92; Florida, 69; and Missouri, 67, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center. Nurses who are doctors Condo sales booming across Philadelphia Death-penalty opponents salute the appeals process that keeps the condemned alive for decades, but grieving » More Most Emailed relatives view appeals as roadblocks to that elusive closure.

'A big joke' LATEST STORIES IN THIS SECTION Mary Piccone, 71, still speaks of her youngest of five children, Nicolette "Nicky" Caserta, in the present tense. "She'll be 42 next month [Sept. 12]," Piccone said during a phone interview Friday. Our famed forensic sculptor wryly reflects on a fading life 08/07/2010 Piccone does this despite being By DANA DiFILIPPO painfully aware that Nicky has been EAST IS EDEN 08/06/2010 gone since Jan. 9, 1981. By DAN GERINGER Another pain sears Piccone, and John Smallwood: Vick's case should focus on causes her voice to grow bitter. football, not social justice 08/05/2010

It's that Henry Fahy, the Kensington Nutter calls for end to plan that has swallowed man who was sentenced to death for million$ 08/04/2010 raping and murdering 12-year-old By CATHERINE LUCEY Nicky, is still very much alive on Exclusive interview: McNabb as Redskin 08/03/2010 Pennsylvania's death row. By PAUL DOMOWITCH

"I think it's all a big joke," said Piccone. "I don't know why they give the death penalty, because they don't use it. He Top Jobs Top Homes Top Cars

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/20100809_A_CAPITAL_OFFENSE_…lty__what_will_give_murder_victims__families_closure_and_peace_.html Page 1 of 4 A CAPITAL OFFENSE | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/09/2010 8/9/10 5:25 PM

penalty, because they don't use it. He doesn't deserve to live, but he gets appeal after appeal, and the victim is just gone. If they would use the death penalty, there would be less crime. There would be something the prisoners would be afraid of; but there is no fear now."

The circumstances of Nicky's rape and murder were so brutal that veteran homicide Det. Michael Chitwood - now police chief in Upper Darby - broke down on the witness stand while reading Fahy's confession statement in SEARCH JOBS find » January 1983.

A walk down death row will reveal Old City/Society Hill South Philadelphia many similarly sad and sickening stories. Among them:

* After being sentenced to death in 1995 for raping and murdering his girlfriend's 3-year-old son at a North Philadelphia housing project, Kenneth Brown smiled and proclaimed that he didn't care. We all have to die, he said. $359,900 $145,000 Brown, 46, remains alive. 50 N FRONT ST #501 2518 S DARIEN ST

* In 1980, James Jones used electric wire to tie Diane Williams, 21, and her FOR SALE find » sister, Karen, 18, to the cellar-stairs banister at his home on Montgomery Volt vs. Leaf: Avenue near 25th Street. He gagged Two takes on the women, doused them with gasoline electric then set them ablaze. revolution Twenty-nine years later, Jones, 67, is still waiting to be executed. FIND A CAR * When Leslie Beasley was sentenced to die for the 1980 murder of Police Choose Make Zip * Find Officer Ernest Davis, 38, he was the Powered by AutoTrader.com, the ultimate automotive only person on the state's death row for marketplace for Used Cars and New Cars. killing a city cop. Thirty years later, seven Philadelphia cop-killers are on death row.

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phillysgr8 Posted 04:57 AM, 08/09/2010 Opponents say the system is flawed? Just by human nature any system is flawed. Look back to the Santiago fire bombings that killed 7 members of one family (1975). The bomber and his 2 friends walked. Instead, one got 20 years for civil rights violations and the other two were made celebs. All three laughed about it, bragging how they beat the system. It seems nobody cared about the victims, except the cops. Sign in to report abuse

TICKET OFFERS SGT. Jim Moore Posted 06:57 AM, 08/09/2010 AMBER LET IT GO NO MATTER WHAT THEY GET THEY WON'T BE EXUCATED FOR AT LEAST 25 YEARS IF SPORTS OTHER PHILLY TIX THEN SO LET IT GO GET ALONG WITH YOUR LIFE AND DON.T LET IT BEAT YOU UP, GOOD LUCK IN COLLEGE. Sign in to report abuse Eagles Justin Bieber Phillies Lady Gaga NRA AL Posted 07:23 AM, 08/09/2010 Flyers Paul McCartney ATLEAST ON DEATH ROW THEY ROT IN A CELL MOST OF THE TIME INSTEAD OF BEING IN GENERAL POP. Union Walking with Dinosaurs Sign in to report abuse

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keith97btown Posted 07:49 AM, 08/09/2010 "Although 220 inmates live under death sentences, only three - after dropping all appeals - have been executed since 1978. Double-murderer Gary Heidnik was the last of them, in 1999." In PA YOU HAVE TO VOLUNTEER TO BE EXECUTED! IF YOU KEEP FIGHTING AND APPEALING, YOU CAN LIVE A LONG LIFE ON DEATH ROW. YOU CAN COME IN TO DEATH ROW ON YOUR 21ST BIRTHDAY, AND IF YOU KEEP FIGHTING, YOU WILL BE ALIVE ON YOUR 60TH BIRTHDAY! Sign in to report abuse

keapitreal Posted 08:00 AM, 08/09/2010 PA needs to keep the death penalty just so scum like Floyd will be in a cell 23 hours a day instead of hanging out with all the other lifers having a party. The Yaris guy didn't die so stop using him as an example (there is more to that yarris story also!). Why would this 'reporter' write this article now when the jury is in the middle of deiciding these guys' fate? foolishness... Sign in to report abuse

FROM THE BEACH Posted 08:32 AM, 08/09/2010 death Penalty is tie up by our Democrat governors. If raping and murdering children doesn't warrant a death penalty then call it what it is, an illusion our politicans use to say they are tough on crime without actually having to be tough on crime. This might be why crime is out of control and th3e expense of housing these people for the political pawns they are is out growns every year. these scumbags get better medical and dental than the average person. the whole thing is a sham and the families of the victims keep getting victimize everyday these scumbags get to brag of their murders. Sign in to report abuse

Bartleby Posted 08:41 AM, 08/09/2010 Considering the number of people who are in jail, or have been, but were innocent of the crime they were convicted of, using the death penalty will inevitably lead to the execution of an innocent man. What will give us closure when that happens? Sign in to report abuse

etbarksdale Posted 09:20 AM, 08/09/2010 i feel sorry for the innocent people accused and sentenced. dna has become a blessing. if you have the guilty in jail, let them rot in inhumane conditions for the rest of their lives. better still let the harmed family choose the punishment. Sign in to report abuse

whitealright Posted 09:43 AM, 08/09/2010 How does killing these men provide "closure" for this young woman? Read or reread Kafka's "In the Penal Colony." Are we so bent on hate, vengeance, anger and retribution that life imprisonment and life long loss of freedom is not enough? At what point exactly, after the poison is administered, will she feel better? And god help us all if mistakes were made along the way. Sign in to report abuse

DonQ Posted 10:15 AM, 08/09/2010 Wrong!!! The death penalty is not little-used. It's used by street justice all the time. There are people being executed here for offenses as slight as standing at the wrong street corner at the wrong time. It's the government that has a hard time administering the death penalty. I like calling a spade a spade, and that's why I prefer the life sentence. Both end up being the same, minus the costly appeals process. Sign in to report abuse

ena1977 Posted 10:15 AM, 08/09/2010 The worst argument I hear is that we cannot use any 'cruel and unusual' methods to execute people. Well, the murderers certainly didn't kill their victims without any 'cruel and unusual' methods, especially the sicko who tied up those two people and lit them on fire. These animals are of zero use to society and contribute nothing. Cost of execution is too high? Well, a box of bullets costs maybe $20. And there is no shortage of people willing or able to be a part of a firing squad. The families of these victims are scarred forever, and the guilty ones sit in a cell laughing over how many times they have cheated death. Its time to make good on the promise of being executed and put fear back into the criminals. And let's face it, the Yarris case was one in a million. Time to give the victims some justice and to stop pandering to the guilty. Sign in to report abuse

Eilex826 Posted 10:16 AM, 08/09/2010 Here's an idea that will make the death penalty more affective: revamp the entire prison system and turn it into, I don't know, a PRISON!! Look to other countries (France, most notably) and see what their prison systems are like. You commit a crime you go to prison...and that means you sit in an uncomfortable cell that barely fits you and a bed by yourself all day; you are stripped of all of life's luxuries---TV, internet, phone, education, the choice of meals, etc.; and you have no contact with other prisoners. Meals can be slipped through a slot in the only door. There would not be a need for as many guards or security because chances of escaping are small and the odds of inmates who never see each other forming gains, getting into fights and whatnot would be non-existent. This would save tax-payers huge sums of money which could fund an Innocence Project where all inmates receive DNA tests to find out if anyone is innocent and deserves to go free. A situation where prison is actually prison and hell-like would deter criminals who see prison today as "a cot, three hots and free cable tv". Death row could even be worse. For those sentenced to the most harsh sentence another kid of cell...smaller, colder and no light so the condemned one has nothing but their thoughts of what brought them there. But no, that's all "unconstitutional" and we can't treat rapists, murderers and the rest of them like the monsters they are. We must let them retain their dignity, their rights and whatnot. Although I've read the constitution many times and see nowhere in it does it say prisoners must be treated as well as ordinary citizens never convicted of a crime.. Sign in to report abuse

John Law Posted 10:18 AM, 08/09/2010 Floyd was a Dept. of Corrections escapee! Many Thousands of Inmates are pushed out into these community centers to make it easier for them to be Paroled...or ESCAPE!!! Like the 500 plus Escapees currently at large in Philadelphia right now! The other two Murderers, Cain and Warner were Paroleed by the State Parole Board despite scores of Prison misconducts and stirring up the Prison's Muslim population! Oh, and Isaac Albright (the man who also helped Floyd)...is yet another State Parolee. God Bless SGT. Liczbinski and his family, but he was just one murder victim and one destroyed family as a result of Gov. Rendell's push to save State Budget monies for "NO Bid" and over $63 Million in other "Inappropriate" Contracts for his Campaign Contributors and friends! He had to have known that he would be causing murders, destroying families and violating civil rights from his years as a bad Philadelphia DA and Bad Mayor and lawyer, but he committed these crimes anyway and the body count has just gone up with the latest Parolee Murders http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/20100809_A_CAPITAL_OFFENSE_…lty__what_will_give_murder_victims__families_closure_and_peace_.html Page 3 of 4 A CAPITAL OFFENSE | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/09/2010 8/9/10 5:25 PM

at THE PIAZZA & Whitney (the mother of a newborn son) by Aaron Porter, who is already on Parole for Murder and ,of course, was "Minimum Supervision". The Mayor, City Council, State Legislature, State Attorney General have all been repeatedly told for over 2 ½ YEARS and have done nothing to stop this Slaughter. I hope the destroyed families will sue the State and get some public disclosure! Parole Board Chairman McVey is refusing to turn over records to State auditors so she can hide her crimes! I hope others will contact the U.S. Department of Justice at [email protected] and urge them to investigate this SCANDAL. Why isn't our Mayor suing the State to get the MILLION$ we've unfairly had to pay out to make up for Rendell's shortchanging of Philadelphia for years now? When will our fantastic "Investigative Reporters" expose "The Rendell Murders"? U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder...where the hell are you? Sir, how much blood is enough? Sign in to report abuse

IamAteacher2 Posted 10:20 AM, 08/09/2010 @whitealright...she will never get closure. But for an 18 year old whose life was torn apart, eye for an eye seems justified right now. Sign in to report abuse

passleft Posted 10:25 AM, 08/09/2010 Life in solitary confinement is an excellent alternative. Essentially, a death sentence is life in solitary confinement except it has costly appeals. Sign in to report abuse

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