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

Im sorry, no cost is to high to punish this *&!@%$! for his crimes.

2 thumbs up for the PA supreme court

finally moving forward

lets just hope justice prevails in PA

mike

http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/artic ... cleID=4426

Friday, September 01, 2006 — Time: 2:24:28 AM EST

Mental state, drug and alcohol use likely to be used in strategy at trial of accused triple murderer Miguel Padilla

By Phil Ray. pray@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Lawyers for Miguel A. Padilla said Thursday that their client’s mental state and the amount of alcohol and drugs he consumed may be important in his defense on charges he murdered three people.

Blair County Public Defender Donald E. Speice said Padilla was mourning the death of his best friend the week before the shootings Aug. 28, 2005, outside the United Veterans Association on Union Avenue in Altoona.

The 27-year-old also suffers from panic attacks, Speice said.

Before the shootings, Padilla and a friend were drinking at The Palace, another Altoona nightclub, Speice said.

Padilla’s death penalty trial begins Tuesday in Hollidaysburg before a Cumberland County jury.

Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said the prosecution has a right to know if Judge Hiram Carpenter will permit arguments that “intoxication” and “diminished capacity” will be part of the trial because that will affect the witnesses prosecutors present to the jury.

The defense says it can argue intoxication to the jury as a way to mitigate the degree of murder against Padilla.

But prosecutors argue that the intoxication has to reach a certain level before Padilla’s lawyers can claim it is a defense to first-degree murder.

Several other pretrial issues were brought before Carpenter Thursday.

Prosecutors want to use stories of Padilla’s violent past as part of its case against him.

Also, when Padilla was arrested and was placed in a holding cell at the Altoona Police Department, he attempted to wash his hands.

Prosecutors want to present this information as evidence that Padilla knew police were about to administer a test for gunpowder residue.

Speice said the attempted hand-washing incident report only recently was given to the defense to prejudice the jury.

Padilla is charged with killing Alfred Mignogna, Fredrick Rickabaugh and Stephen Heiss in the parking lot behind the UVA club after Padilla, friend Travis Shoemaker and Shoemaker’s mother, Shirley, were refused admission.

Jury selection ended Monday in Cumberland County. The panel was selected out of county because of pretrial publicity.

Padilla, an illegal alien, was in court Thursday, as was his mother and girlfriend and two representatives of the Mexican consulate from Philadelphia. Two members of Rickabaugh’s family also attended.

The jury will be bused to Blair County Tuesday night. Jurors will be housed in a local motel throughout the two-week trial.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.

http://www.wjactv.com/news/9790570/detail.html

Blair County Triple-Murder Trial Set To Begin

POSTED: 2:01 pm EDT September 5, 2006

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Blair County --

The long-anticipated trial of a triple-murder case is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Miguel Padilla, a Mexican immigrant, is charged with killing three men in Altoona last year.

Blair County district attorney Rich Consiglio said he has not offered Padilla any deals and said he is ready to get the trial started.

Consiglio said he doesn't expect any problems from family members at the trial. He said they have been given rules from the judge such as what they are permitted to wear. Victims' families are not allowed to memorialize them with clothing or badges.

The jury of six men and six women from Cumberland County are expected to arrive Tuesday night.

Opening statements begin Wednesday at 9 a.m.

I work at the court house and it was all I can do to over my lunch break to keep from trying to go strangle that S.O.B. while they had him in the holding cell (or where ever it is they're keeping him).

From what I understand, they were so concerned about security that they brought Padilla to the court house at 5:30 AM today.

My boyfriend and I would like to take a couple days off work to sit in on the trial, but I'm not certain we could get in.

Also, since my office doesn't have a TV, I talked to the one local news anchor who was in court all morning. He said the defense isn't trying to say that Padilla didn't do the shooting, but that he didn't have a 'will to kill'. Ridiculous.

I'm rambling...I apologize.

I guess it's also been a long time since I posted. I'd also like to add that it is great that you all have followed this story and have paid such attention to it. Steve, Freddy and Al may be gone, but they are certainly not forgotten.

Edited to add: here's the story and a link with video of the reporter I spoke with talking about this morning's opening statments.
http://www.wtajtv.com/news/local/3849837.html

No need to apologize Jenny. It didn't appear you were rambling. Even if you were that is okay also. I can hardly fathom going through a murder trial of friends or loved ones. I'll keep updating the thread with new articles as I run across them. Glad you can give some personal insight into the trial since it adds more than any of the articles can.

Thanks for the article and video of the trial!

Originally Posted by Brian503a

No need to apologize Jenny. It didn't appear you were rambling. Even if you were that is okay also. I can hardly fathom going through a murder trial of friends or loved ones. I'll keep updating the thread with new articles as I run across them. Glad you can give some personal insight into the trial since it adds more than any of the articles can.

Thanks.

I'd also like to add that I have two other coworkers who have a connections to the victims. One dated Steve, albeit briefly, a long time ago, but was still deeply affected by his death. The other was an old friend of Al's. He ran into one of Al's sons in the lobby before the trial reconvened and said that they seem to be holding up well.

I really hope the trial goes smoothly and they can get a conviction without any mistrials. You guys have had to agonize over this long enough. Unfortunately it is something you can never forget or completely get over no matter how well you are holding up. My prayers and thoughts go out to all of you during this time.

http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/artic ... cleID=4565

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 — Time: 2:56:43 PM EST

Padilla loses bid to delay trial

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com


HOLLIDAYSBURG — Miguel Padilla’s triple-murder trial will begin this morning despite a last-ditch effort by the defendant Tuesday to delay the start.

In a handwritten petition filed in the Blair County Courthouse, Padilla claimed his attorneys, Public Defender Don Speice and court- appointed attorney Ed Blanarik, were not prepared.

Blanarik, who will handle the death penalty phase of the case if Padilla is convicted of first-degree murder, needs more time to talk to Padilla’s family members who live outside the state, Padilla wrote.

Padilla’s stepfather, who lives in Gallitzin, recently was injured in a fall and cannot attend the trial, the petition states.

The Mexican government attached several pages of typewritten legal argument to Padilla’s handwritten petition.

Judge Hiram Carpenter refused the delay, clearing the way for trial.

Carpenter also made several rulings involving evidence that will be presented to the jury from Cumberland County.

Carpenter will not allow mention of any of Padilla’s past criminal offenses.

Altoona police have said they found the murder weapon and a briefcase bearing Padilla’s driver’s license and $19,000 a few blocks from the crime scene.

The jury will not learn about the money in the briefcase.

It also will not be permitted to hear testimony from a man who said Padilla pointed a gun at him a month before the shootings, although the statement may be permitted in a later stage of the case.

The jury also will not hear about an incident at the Altoona police station in which Padilla attempted to wash his hands before a police test for gunpowder residue.

Padilla is charged with killing three Altoona men outside the United Veterans Association Aug. 28, 2005.

Padilla, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, friend Travis Shumaker and his mother, Shirley Shumaker, allegedly had an argument with the owner of the UVA building, Alfred Mignogna, and club employee Freddy Rickabaugh.

Padilla allegedly shot the men to death, as well as patron Stephen Heiss.

The emotionally charged case and pretrial publicity prompted Carpenter to order an out-of-county jury, selected two weeks ago in Carlisle, Cumberland County.

Court employees transported the 18 jurors to Blair County Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies and court personnel addressed security concerns.

A metal detector was set up outside the second-floor courtroom where the trial will be held. Signs were posted specifying where the media, the victims’ families and friends and Padilla’s family will sit.

Printed courtroom rules were prepared for distribution as well.

The courtroom normally occupied by President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva was selected for the trial because it is a few steps from an elevator that will be used to bring Padilla into the courthouse.

District Attorney Richard Consiglio and his assistant Jackie Bernard, who will try the case, said Tuesday that they don’t expect security to be a problem.

Consiglio said his staff has talked to the victims’ families and friends about the trial and told them that they should not wear badges, pictures or other memorials while in the courtroom.

Consiglio predicted his case will take three or four days, and the trial is expected to last a week.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com

Published: September 05, 2006 11:48 pm

Padilla murder trial set to begin

Cumberland County jury will hear case

By KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Opening arguments will be held and the first witnesses will take the stand today to start the triple murder trial of a Cambria County man.

A jury from Cumberland County was bused in to Blair County on Tuesday evening.

Miguel Padilla, 26, of Gallitzin, an illegal Mexican immigrant and a resident of Cambria County since 1988, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of any of the three Altoona men.

Police say that on Aug. 28, 2005, Padilla, angered when he was denied admission to a private club, gunned down club owner Alfred Mignogna, 61; doorman Fred Rickabaugh, 59; and Stephen Heiss, 27, a patron and guard at SCI-Huntingdon.

The jury will be sequestered at a Blair County motel during the trial, which is expected to last through Sept. 15.

An out-of-county jury was selected because of wide publicity about the murders.

Last week, paid newspaper memorials marked the one-year anniversary of the shootings.

Mignogna’s tribute was a full back page with a large color photo. It included a list of nearly 200 contributors to an endowment fund.

Blair County Sheriff Larry Field was relieved when the trial was moved from an older courtroom to more secure accommodations.

“I’m going to have two deputies right on him. And there will be others. We’ll be around overseeing everything,” Field said Tuesday.

Defense attorney Donald Speice and Blair County Assistant District Attorney Jackie Bernard expect Judge Hiram Carpenter to rule on whether Padilla will be able to claim diminished capacity because of drug or alcohol use.