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

Here's a small story with a video link

http://www.wtajtv.com/news/local/3901161.html

PADILLA GUILTY
Jurors have found Miguel Padilla guilty of three counts of first degree murder. The verdict came down just after 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. Their decision came after two hours of deliberations.

Padilla was charged in the killings of three people outside the UVA club in Altoona last summer. His lawyers admitted Padilla fired the shots, but say there was no "intent" to kill.

The penalty phase of the case begins Wednesday morning. Padilla could be sentenced to death.

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/in ... ylist=penn

Jury to weigh death penalty in triple shooting outside club
9/12/2006, 7:40 p.m. ET
The Associated Press


HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jurors who deliberated for only two hours before convicting a construction worker of killing three men outside a club must now decide whether he deserves the death penalty.

Miguel Padilla, 27, of Gallitzin, was convicted Tuesday of three counts of first-degree murder in the shootings outside the United Veterans Association Club in Altoona on Aug. 28, 2005.

The jury was expected to begin hearing evidence Wednesday morning on whether Padilla deserves the death penalty. If the panel does not unanimously vote to sentence Padilla to death, he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Authorities said that after a friend was denied admission to the club, Padilla went to his vehicle, got a gun, and opened fire when he returned, killing doorman Fredrick Rickabaugh Sr., 59; club owner Alfred Mignogna, 61; and patron Stephen M. Heiss, 28.

A defense psychologist testified Monday that Padilla was abused by his uncle in his native Mexico and also had trouble controlling his temper and actions due to a history of alcohol and drug abuse. A prosecution psychologist, however, testified that Padilla shot the men because he thought he was being pushed around.

Padilla's attorney, public defender Donald E. Speice, never disputed that his client shot the victims but argued that Padilla did not form a legal intent to kill.

The jury in the case was chosen in Cumberland County and bused to Blair County, where a judge had ruled that extensive publicity had made it impossible to find an impartial jury.

I had to go out in the field for work today and was just getting back when I saw the jury walking out of the court house. Most of them were all smiles. I kid you not.

I just want to say that I am happy with how well the District Attorney's did a great job in trying this case...I know this will never bring back any of the victims and its just one more step for closure for me...Hmmm death penalty or life sentence...death penalty---solitary confinement, no contact with other inmates, 1 hour of exercise a day, law books available at your request, maybe even a television and radio too...life sentence---school,library, ice cream, yard 3 times a day (thats 6 hours of exercise), sports,television and radio, and not to mention having to look over his shoulder everytime he goes to yard or to chow (ha ha )... There have been inmates on death row since the early 80's that have not been put to death yet and probably won't, there are many appeal processes that inmates exhaust---my concern is he is a Mexican National have we ever put to death someone that was not a US citizen?

Hello Barbie38 and welcome to Alipac!

To answer your question non citizens and illegal immigrants can be given the death penalty. The most recent I know of was a serial killer from Mexico called the Rail Road killer (see link below).

However murderers must be captured within U.S. territory for it to happen. If they flee to Mexico and make it across the border there is no chance for a death penalty sentence. In fact if we want Mexico to extradite a murderer from their country the United States must drop any plans of capital punishment first.

If Miguel Padilla is given the death penalty however, be prepared for the Mexican Government to fight it to the end. They believe it is a human rights violation to execute their citizens in our country.


http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=32956

Here's an article I thought might be of interest on extraditions between Mexico and the United States.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/americas/4483746.stm

Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 03:47 GMT
Mexico alters extradition rules

Mexico's Supreme Court has struck down a constitutional provision banning life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

The ruling means Mexico will be able to extradite wanted criminals to places in the United States where they face life without parole in jail.

However, a ban will remain in force in cases where US states could apply the death penalty.

Correspondents say the decision also means that Mexico could itself introduce life imprisonment.

For the past four years, extraditions have been banned in any cases where the criminal faced a life sentence in a US jail without the possibility of parole.

Since the ban was imposed, a number of notorious criminals have avoided being sent to the US in murder or drug-smuggling cases.

Now the Supreme Court judges have voted by a margin of 6-5 to remove the ban, although it remains in place for death penalty cases.

The ruling increases the chances of drug smuggling suspects like Benjamin Arellano Felix, alleged head of a Tijuana-based cocaine cartel, being sent to the US.

The extradition rules will apply to all suspects, including US citizens who flee to Mexico after committing crimes north of the border.

Life sentences are very rare in Mexico, which has no death penalty.

But the Supreme Court also ruled constitutional a modification of the penal code in Chihuahua state to allow for life sentences in murder and kidnapping cases.

Other Mexican states could now follow Chihuahua's example.

Here's a sample of how Mexico is trying to meddle with our justice system.

http://www.mexidata.info/id105.html

Monday, December 15, 2003

Mexico challenges U.S. death sentences in the World Court

By Barnard R. Thompson


The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is scheduled to hear a contentious case filed by Mexico against the U.S.A., challenging the legitimacy of the death penalty in this country, from December 15 to 19. Judges from the so-called “World Court,” the top-level legal body of the United Nations that is based in The Hague, will hear Mexico’s legal team argue that 54 Mexican citizens who were found culpable and who are now on death row in a number of states were denied their right to pretrial counsel and trial assistance by Mexican consular officials. As such, the pleadings will call for cancellation of all 54 executions.

In what is viewed as the unacceptable intervention by Mexico in U.S.A. domestic affairs, U.S. government attorneys will argue that over and above the improprieties in Mexico’s petition, the granting of such a request would violate this nation’s sovereignty.

During the recent debate in the Mexican senate with respect to last month’s foreign ministry (SRE) decision to replace a number of diplomats worldwide, some interesting insights into Mexican opinions and plans on the death penalty matter also surfaced. Per se, opposition party senators mainly based their comments and criticism on the November 7 announced decision to remove Santiago Oñate Laborde as ambassador to the Low Countries.

Silvia Hernández, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who chairs the senate’s North America Foreign Affairs Committee, charged that the arbitrary decision of the SRE to relieve Oñate — an attorney and onetime president of the PRI — of his post at this time weakens Mexico’s chance of winning the case against the U.S.A. This is a “life and death” matter, and as such all the work that Oñate has done since the case was filed last January — including his positive rapport with ICJ judges, could be damaged or lost the ex-tourism secretary said.

Former foreign minister (1982-8 Bernardo Sepúlveda Amor, one of 34 current members elected by the General Assembly of the UN to serve on its International Law Commission, also criticized Mexico’s decision to remove Oñate. “There is a very serious concern, (since) Oñate’s role is absolutely central. Besides being one of the attorneys for the Mexican cause, as ambassador he is the main link between Mexican authorities and the Court. (His dismissal) could lead to a break in Mexico’s relationship link with the Court at an absolutely crucial moment,” Sepúlveda admonished. Sepúlveda will also be a member of the Mexican team at the ICJ proceedings.

Barring commutation of sentence by a particular governor in the U.S.A., Mexico sees the ICJ as its only means to spare citizens facing capital punishment the death penalty. The Mexican Constitution prohibits the imposition of death sentences (excepting in a few exceptional circumstances), plus Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in October of 2001 that life sentences are a violation of the Constitution.

Mexico’s fundamental argument is that the U.S.A. is in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Optional Protocols. In part, Article 36.1.b., states: “if he so requests, the competent authorities of the receiving State shall, without delay, inform the consular post of the sending State if, within its consular district, a national of that State is arrested or committed to prison or custody pending trial or is detained in any other manner…” It would thus seem that all 54 of those now awaiting execution of sentence were not opportunely informed of their rights, and that none “so requested” consular services?

Following the clamor in the senate regarding Oñate and the ICJ hearing, foreign minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said that every effort possible would be made to defend Mexicans who face capital punishment abroad. Oñate in turn has been quoted in news reports as saying that, while he may no longer be ambassador to the Low Countries, he will be kept on this particular case until its conclusion. The ICJ is expected to rule by March 2004.

In addition to repeatedly voicing concern over the negative moves of the SRE and for the lives of the 54 Mexicans sentenced to death, Senator Hernández pointed a critical finger straight at the Fox administration. “The government has said that its foreign policy priority is the defense of Mexicans abroad, (and) here is its opportunity to show with actions that its policy is efficient and it is committed. It is clear to us that this means beating the U.S.A. in an international trial. One must not be afraid of the U.S.A.,” she said.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/siteSea ... 34956.html

Padilla guilty in three murders
By KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat


HOLLIDAYSBURG— A self-employed contractor from Cambria County was convicted Tuesday of three counts of first-degree homicide in the deaths of three men outside an Altoona club.

The six-man, six-woman jury rendered its verdict against Miguel Padilla after just two hours of deliberations.
The panel rejected defense contentions that Padilla, who had a history of alcohol and drug abuse and supposedly was a victim of sexual abuse, did not have the mental capacity to form a legal intent to kill.

The finding of such intent is required for a first-degree conviction.
Spectators in the emotionally charged courtroom burst into applause as soon as the jurors left the room.

Jurors will consider today whether Padilla, 26, of Gallitzin – an illegal immigrant from Mexico – should receive the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.

The jury also convicted Padilla of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in the Aug. 28, 2005, deaths of Alfred Mignogna, Fred Rickabaugh and Stephen Heiss, all of Altoona. Authorities said Padilla went to his car to get a gun after being denied admittance to the United Veterans Association, a private after-hours club.

The families involved were tearful and some overjoyed by the verdict.

“It will be better tomorrow at the end of the day. But this is the first step,” said Al Mignogna Jr., son of the owner of the UVA.

After the verdict, a tearful Maria Brauns of Gallitzin, Padilla’s mother, was whisked from the courthouse by a representative of the Mexican Consulate, but not before she vowed to The Tribune-Democrat that she is going to be strong.

“There’s nothing I can do to change anything,” said Brauns, who has been in the courtroom every day of the weeklong trial.

Janet Rickabaugh, wife of the club bouncer, said she and her late husband would have celebrated their wedding anniversary two days ago.

“It will never be over – what he did to us,” she said.

Her son, Fred Rickabaugh Jr., said he hopes Padilla gets life in prison so he must deal with the deaths every day of his life.

“Then he’ll have to think about it,” he said.

But Rickabaugh’s brother, John Rickabaugh, said he wants to see Padilla put to death.

“I’m going to be happy when the right verdict comes out,” he said.

Public Defender Donald Speice, in his closing statement Tuesday, argued that drug and alcohol use may have diminished Padilla’s mental capacity. He pushed for a conviction of three-degree murder on all three counts.

“I don’t know what happened that night. I wasn’t there,” Speice said. “Maybe even he didn’t know what was in his mind. He was upset about everything and he went downhill.”

Randy Heiss, brother of the 28-year-old bystander who was shot by a stray bullet, hopes his family can begin to heal. “We can all set our minds at ease knowing justice has been done,” he said.
In his closing statement to the jury, Blair County District Attorney Rich Consiglio said the case against Padilla is a slam dunk.

“That fellow right there,” he said, pointing to Padilla at the defense table, “deliberately killed Al Mignogna, Fred Rickabaugh and in the process killed Stephen Heiss.”

“First, the victims are dead. Second, he killed them. And third, he did it with intent to kill,” Consiglio said.
Even U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, weighed in on the verdict.

“These vicious killings are a terrible tragedy, and the fact that Padilla wasn’t supposed to be here at all just adds insult to injury,” he said in a statement.

“We need to close the loopholes that allow illegal aliens to remain in the United States, especially after prior arrests.”

Padilla, an illegal Mexican immigrant, was picked up twice by authorities, but they failed to deport him before he committed the murders, Shuster noted.

If Miguel Padilla is given the death penalty however, be prepared for the Mexican Government to fight it to the end. They believe it is a human rights violation to execute their citizens in our country.

BUT, it's ok for him to execute 3 of our own!

In what is viewed as the unacceptable intervention by Mexico in U.S.A. domestic affairs, U.S. government attorneys will argue that over and above the improprieties in Mexico’s petition, the granting of such a request would violate this nation’s sovereignty.

In addition to repeatedly voicing concern over the negative moves of the SRE and for the lives of the 54 Mexicans sentenced to death, Senator Hernández pointed a critical finger straight at the Fox administration. “The government has said that its foreign policy priority is the defense of Mexicans abroad, (and) here is its opportunity to show with actions that its policy is efficient and it is committed. It is clear to us that this means beating the U.S.A. in an international trial. One must not be afraid of the U.S.A.,” she said.

Then why, doesn't Mexico, keep it's citizens home, so that their crimes, when committed. can be in their own country, instead of abroad? Oh...could it be for the $20 Billion that Mexicans send home every year?

I am NOT saying all Mexicans are criminal.