Mostly about my amusement

Tag: Daniel Enchautegui (page 1 of 1)

Lillo Brancato gets 10 years

I listen to the radio more than I watch TV and I just heard the news.

Brancato, who dodged the murder conviction given to his accomplice, Steven Armento, was sentenced by Bronx State Supreme Court Judge Martin Marcus to 10 years in prison for his role in the death of off-duty NYPD Officer Daniel Enchautegui in December 2005.

via Ex-Sopranos, Bronx Tale actor Lillo Brancato gets 10 years in cop slay case — Newsday.com.

This leaves a bad taste. 10 years is better than nothing I guess.

According to the article, this actor can possibly be released in about 5 years. The maximum that the judge could have sentenced him to was 15 years.  That would have been better; 10 years for being involved in a crime that lead to the killing an officer seems insufficient.

Must be the HBO connection

I heard this on the radio last night.

A State Supreme Court jury in the Bronx found the defendant, Lillo Brancato Jr., 32, guilty of first-degree attempted burglary, a felony, but said he was not culpable in the death of the officer, Daniel Enchautegui, who was shot by Mr. Brancato’s accomplice after a night of drinking and a search for drugs.

Under the law, a person is guilty of second-degree murder in a killing that occurs in the commission of another felony. But the law provides for mitigating circumstances in a defense.

via Ex-‘Sopranos’ Actor Cleared of Murder Charge in Officer’s Death – NYTimes.com.

I do not get this at all. This man participated in a crime and off-duty officer Daniel Enchautegui died as a result.  That’s a direct line event to this officer’s death.  No crime and that officer may still be with us today.

No one likes to put people in jail, and serving on a jury before the holiday’s must be especially difficult.  But it is a duty, a responsibility and justice must be fair and equal.  This was not a plea deal, this was not a administrative move or legal trick.  The jury intentionally gave this man a pass after buying his story.

What an actor. I can’t help but think that if this eloquent actor had been Puerto Rican and the murder victim an off-duty Italian American officer, would the jury’s result have been different? I don’t want to think about that, it makes me more upset.

This result from the jury is unfair and I hope that the judge sentences this man to 15 years in jail for “attempted burglary”. I hope that that would provide some small comfort to Officer Enchautegui’s family.