Death penalty at issue in 4 cases

A federal judge in Boston has given the government three weeks to decide whether it will seek the death penalty against four men charged with murdering rival gang members in a case slated for trial this spring.

US District Judge Patti B. Saris ordered federal prosecutors this week to notify defense lawyers for the four -- Brima Wurie, Amando Monteiro, Angelo Brandao, and Louis Rodrigues -- by Jan. 27 whether they will push to have the men put to death if they are convicted.

Monteiro, Brandao, and Rodrigues are charged with killing Dinho Fernandes on March 17, 1999, in Brockton; Wurie is charged with killing Luis Carvalho in Boston on Feb. 17, 2000. All four are accused of being members of Dorchester's Stonehurst Street gang, which operated in Brockton, Randolph, and Providence and also participated in numerous shootings and drug trafficking.

The case would be only the fourth in the state in which federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty; Massachusetts does not have the state death penalty.

Saris set the deadline, the first time a judge has done so in Massachusetts, at the request of defense lawyers, who argued that prosecutors have had more than enough time to make up their minds. The four were initially indicted 15 months ago. In the meantime, defense lawyers say they have been limited in how much they've been able to prepare for the April trial.

"We've been waiting a long time," said Norman Zalkind, a Boston lawyer who represents Wurie, adding that the uncertainty has "left everybody in limbo."

US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan makes a recommendation on whether to seek the death penalty, but the ultimate decision is made by the US attorney general. Sullivan declined to disclose his recommendation, saying he didn't want to try to influence the decision by outgoing Attorney General John D. Ashcroft.

"We should give the [Justice] Department as much time as it needs," Sullivan said. "We shouldn't be forced to make a quick decision which we would end up regretting."

Ashcroft is preparing to step down as attorney general, but Sullivan said he expects Ashcroft to make a decision in the case before he leaves.

Wurie was notified at the time of his October 2003 indictment that the charges against him made him eligible for the federal death penalty. Monteiro, Brandao, and Rodrigues didn't become eligible for the death penalty until new charges were added against them in September. Monteiro and Rodrigues, however, were warned months before that the death penalty was a possibility. Nine codefendants in the case face numerous charges, but are not eligible for the federal death penalty.

Zalkind said very few lawyers in Massachusetts are experienced at trying such cases. Under the law, judges are required to get lawyers from other states who are adept at trying such cases to serve as so-called learned counsel.

There has been much controversy surrounding use of the federal death penalty in Massachusetts. The only defendant in the state sentenced under the federal death penalty was Gary Lee Sampson, a drifter who was convicted in December 2003 of killing two men during a series of carjackings.

The only other federal death penalty case to go to trial here was that of Kristen Gilbert, a nurse who was convicted in 2001 of killing four patients at a veterans hospital in Northampton. The jury in that case rejected death.

Two men in another Boston gang case, Darryl Green and Branden Morris, face the federal death penalty when they go on trial this year in the slaying of a gang rival, 23-year-old Terrell Gethers, at Boston's Caribbean Carnival in August 2001.

The decision by US prosecutors to seek the death penalty in gang cases has been criticized by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, who believes that it hampers crime-fighting efforts by undermining partnerships between law enforcement and local ministers who have helped combat urban violence but oppose capital punishment. Conley wrote a letter to Ashcroft last year, urging him not to seek the federal death penalty in gang cases.

Sullivan said he disagrees with Conley and supports the federal death penalty as "a tool that Congress has given prosecutors and that should be used sparingly," in the most horrific cases.

In this case, E. Peter Parker, a Boston lawyer who represents Monteiro, acknowledges that without knowing why they were taking so long, it's difficult to fault the government for not making a decision. "If they really are doing an invidualized analysis, I can't fault them for that," he said. "However, if it's just bureaucratic inertia, that's a different story."

Kevin McNally, a Kentucky lawyer with the Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, said it's not uncommon for judges to issue deadlines to force the Justice Department to make a decision. "I don't know what the problem is," he said. "It's a mysterious process sometimes."