Thread: Man (illegal) charged with killing three at after-hours club

ashlynn422,

Sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes, justice is slow and complicated.

Dixie

Padilla files to keep Mexico informed

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com




HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Mexican national facing death for three murders said he wants Mexico to keep helping protect his rights.

Miguel Padilla, an illegal alien, said he has wanted the assistance of the Mexican government since his arrest in August 2005. Blair County authorities and his attorney refused to recognize a role for Mexico.

Padilla, 27, filed a statement this week with the court instructing his attorney to keep Mexico informed about his case.

“I wanted him to keep the Mexican consulate informed about all proceedings in my case so that the Mexican government could assist in protecting my rights,” he said. “Despite my repeated instructions, my court-appointed attorney did not keep the Mexican consulate informed about my case.”

Padilla was convicted for killing three Altoona men at the United Veterans Association. Since then he has submitted voluminous documents, including an 80-page appeal, possibly prepared by Mexico.

Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said Tuesday that Mexico was pulling a “fraud” on the courts by not admitting it is assisting Padilla.

Consiglio said it was a “flat out lie” that Padilla was denied Mexican assistance when arrested. Consiglio said that within days of Padilla’s arrest, Mexico sent a representative to meet with him at Blair County Prison.

Padilla has said that police never said he could contact the Mexican consulate.

He said he was without an attorney for seven weeks — until Mexico protested to Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva.

Consiglio said he doesn’t think Padilla’s latest statement means anything to his case. He said if Mexico wants to assist Padilla, it should formally enter an appearance in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas.

Meanwhile, Blair County Judge Hiram Carpenter is reviewing a request that Padilla’s trial attorneys be dropped from the case. Carpenter must decide if Padilla receives a new death penalty hearing based on improper information given to the jury.

Carpenter is expected to rule this week.

Padilla was convicted of killing Alfred Mignogna, owner of the UVA building, Fredrick Rickabaugh Sr., a club employee, and Stephen Heiss, a patron, after an argument at the door.

Illegal immigrant won't get new death penalty trial in Blair County
Friday, March 16, 2007


A Blair County judge ruled that an illegal immigrant from Mexico does not deserve a new death penalty trial for fatally shooting three people at an Altoona social club.
Judge Hiram Carpenter ruled that jurors who sentenced Miguel Padilla, 27, to death were not unfairly tainted by information that he allegedly committed a firearms felony as part of the shooting at the after-hours club in August 2005.

At the trial, the jurors were told Padilla committed a firearms crime, but were not told that it was illegal for Padilla to own the gun because he was an illegal immigrant. Carpenter did not want the jury to be biased against Padilla because of his immigrant status.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 98066.html

Five years after a triple murder in Altoona, three families are carrying on
August 29, 2010 - By William Kibler
Comments (1)

Five years ago this weekend, illegal immigrant Miguel Padilla of Gallitzin shot and killed three Altoona men outside the UVA Club, after two of them refused to let him into the members-only bar.

It's still the only triple murder in Blair County history, as far as District Attorney Rich Consiglio, who prosecuted the case and won a death penalty conviction against Padilla, knows.

Seven shots from Padilla's handgun killed club owner Al Mignogna, 61, a former Altoona Area High School math teacher; doorman Fred Rickabaugh Sr., 58; and club patron Stephen Heiss, 28, a guard at the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon - who reportedly pushed his girlfriend to safety as the bullets flew.

It galvanized the community, bringing Pennsylvania for a while into the illegal immigrant discussion, causing some people in this area to wonder why Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not previously deport Padilla for earlier transgressions it knew about.

His criminal history included stabbing his former father-in-law and beating his girlfriend.

Padilla came to America from Mexico with his mother and brothers in 1989 to escape an abusive father.

The Mexican consulate in Philadelphia sent a representative to observe proceedings, and the Mexican government attempted unsuccessfully to intervene at trial.

Though a Cumberland County jury tried the case in 2006, it's still under appeal before the state Supreme Court. The defense's initial appeal argued Judge Hiram Carpenter gave improper instructions to the jury when he said it couldn't reduce the murder charge to third-degree because there was no evidence of an overwhelming impact on Padilla's judgment by alcohol or drugs.

www.altoonamirror.com

Here is the one comment (so far) to the above article:

Obummer
Aug-29-10 12:26 AM

"causing some people in this area to wonder why Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not previously deport Padilla for earlier transgressions it knew about.".....you're joking right? you expect the Federal government to enforce the immigration laws? No, they just use your money to pay people to do that, they don't actually do it......in fact, today the Feds attack those who want them deported, instead of deporting them......don't worry, according to liberals, they're here to do jobs you lazy Americans just wont' do....and you believed it.