Lawyer says death penalty withdrawn against Fotios Geas, accused in Springfield murder of mob boss Adolfo Bruno

SPRINGFIELD - A defendant in an organized crime murder-for-hire case will go to trial in February without the death penalty hanging overhead, his lawyer confirmed.

Fotios "Freddy" Geas was charged in 2008 in U.S. District Court with the Springfield murder of mob boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno in November of 2003. The indictment piggy-backed identical charges in Hampden Superior Court issued months earlier, after the admitted gunman in the case became an informant for the government.

The decision not to seek the death penalty against Geas came early Wednesday, after months of consideration by the U.S. Justice Department.

Geas' defense lawyer David P. Hoose said that Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd E. Newhouse informed him of the decision, but offered no reasoning.

"I got the call earlier today. We're happy to hear the news," Hoose said, though the decision was hardly shocking since capital punishment is extremely rare in organized crime murder trials.

The U.S. Attorney General makes the final decision on whether to seek capital punishment in death-penalty eligible cases.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul H. Smyth, the head of the office in Springfield, declined to comment.

The gunman, Frankie A. Roche, had been charged alone in the state case until, on the eve of his trial in 2007, he told law enforcement officials that he was hired to shoot Bruno amid a power struggle for the region's mob-controlled rackets. The trial was averted, and Geas and another man, Brandon D. Croteau, were charged with murder in state court days later.

Roche eventually pleaded guilty to murder in federal court in May 2008, admitting he called out to Bruno in a darkened parking lot and shot him seven times. He said Geas, 42, acted as a conduit for higher-ranking gangsters and paid him $8,000 to shoot the long-standing local head of the Genovese crime family. Roche told investigators that Croteau, his former roommate, helped him get out of town after the murder.

None of the alleged higher-ups have been charged.

While Roche averted the death penalty under a plea deal with prosecutors, Geas enjoyed no such protection.

Capital punishment is not legal in Massachusetts, but certain federal crimes - including murder in aid of racketeering - can trigger capital punishment.

The announcement came a week earlier than the July 15 deadline set to render a decision on the capital punishment aspect of Geas' case. It came months after meetings in Boston and Washington between defense lawyers and Justice Department officials.

Prosecutors are prohibited from discussing the deliberations underlying the decision, but Hoose said defense lawyers urged prosecutors to reject the death penalty given the nature of the witnesses against their client.

"I think the main reason we emphasized is that most of the testimony will come from informants, and the chief (government) witness has a bad criminal record," he said, referring to Roche.

Roche, 35, was an ex-convict and merely a fringe character in organized crime circles when he was recruited to kill Bruno, according to investigators. His criminal record dated back to when he was a teen growing up in Westfield, records show, and later included convictions for assault and a tractor-trailer truck heist.

He fled the area after the shooting, investigators said, and stayed on the lam until FBI agents caught up with him in Florida in 2004. He was accidentally shot in the lower back during the arrest, and recently received a $150,000 settlement from the government.

Under his plea agreement, Roche may receive a far shorter prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.

Geas' trial in federal court is scheduled to begin Feb. 1; Newhouse estimated it will take two months to try before a jury. Geas faces life in prison if convicted.
No trial date has been set in the state case. 

Source

Boston, Massachusetts DUI Attorney Stephen L. Jones Joins 1800DUILaws.com

Boston, MA, July 03, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Boston, Massachusetts DUI attorney Stephen L. Jones has joined 1800DUILaws.com, the nationwide network of top drunk driving defense lawyers.Boston, Massachusetts DUI attorney Stephen L. Jones is a former prosecutor and is now a nationally recognized drunk driving attorney who has appeared on the Today Show, MSNBC, Chronicle, Inside Edition and the Discovery Channel to speak about criminal law. Boston, Massachusetts DUI / OUI attorney Stephen L. Jones has also defended several high-profile cases that have been covered on national and Boston news programs.Boston, Massachusetts DUI / OUI attorney Stephen L. Jones has successfully defended more than 1,000 Massachusetts drunk driving cases. His law practice focuses on the defense of drunk driving charges and related matters. He is well-versed in both the science and law of drunk driving defense, and will use that knowledge to aggressively challenge chemical tests, field sobriety tests, and other evidence in a Massachusetts DUI case.As the chair of the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminars on drunk driving for 10 years, Boston, Massachusetts DUI / OUI attorney Stephen L. Jones is in great demand as a drunk driving defense speaker. He has spoken across the nation on subjects related to OUI/DUI and has lectured on the subject of courtroom testimony at the FBI Academy.


Source