Murder Victim's family shut out of plea deal : Former State Senator Suzio teams with former Victim Advocate Cruz to demand justice for family

Murder Victim's family shut out of plea deal -

Former State Senator Suzio teams with former Victim Advocate Cruz to demand justice for family

Frankie "the Razor" Resto offered plea deal without Ghazal family being consulted

Date: September 17, 2013

For immediate release:

Contact: Len Suzio (203)-530-1544

 

Former State Senator Len Suzio, Connecticut's leading critic of the Early Release program, blasted the offer of a plea deal to accused murderer Frankie Resto. The victim's family was denied the opportunity to provide input, and was given zero details about the bargain. "This family has gone through hell since their father was murdered in cold blood, now their suffering is compounded by the prospect of the murderer being offered a plea deal without any input or consent from the family. It is yet another example of Connecticut’s justice system accommodating violent criminals at the expense of their suffering victims. Excluding the family from the details of this plea bargain scheme, displays an incredible lack of sympathy or sensitivity to the Ghazal family and it is illegal " Suzio said.

 

"I want to publicly thank former Connecticut Victim Advocate Michelle Cruz who has offered to represent the family pro bono to demand justice for the family of murder victim Ibrahim Ghazal," Suzio continued. "Former Victim Advocate Michelle Cruz is an expert in victims' rights and related Connecticut laws and has been a tireless worker on behalf of victims and their families for many years. We expect (HOPE?) prosecutors to (WILL) retract any 'bargain' until the family has been informed and given an opportunity to respond (BE HEARD). Respect and fairness for the family demand nothing less," Suzio concluded.

 

“Connecticut’s Constitution guarantees crimes victims’ the right to be treated with fairness, respect, communicate with the prosecutor and have input in any plea offer. For the Ghazel family to learn, after the fact, that a plea has been communicated to the defendant without knowing the details and circumstances, violates these important rights of the victims, and 'revictimizes' the family. These injustices targeted at crime victims, have to stop.” Attorney Cruz has been retained by the family to assure that justice for their father and respect for their rights as family of the victim are respected. Attorney Cruz is seeking an immediate meeting with prosecutors to request any plea bargain be rescinded until family members have been provided the details of the proposed deal and have had a chance to express their opinion.

 

Len Suzio is a member of the Victims Advocate Advisory Committee and Attorney Michelle Cruz has a private practice offering serves to clients in Connecticut and Massachusetts

A Tale of Two Sex Offenders: Readers Speak

Last week we asked our facebook friends to comment on a current event in hopes to gain insight on their thoughts on current sentencing guidelines. We found that a Middletown woman had been recently convicted of a sex crime and the case paralleled that of a Georgia woman, the difference being drastically different sentences. Because of the involvement of minors, little information of what transpired is available. Special education teacher Cristina Prestonof Georgia was convicted of having sex with a 14 year old student in her care and sentenced to 25 years and lifelong parole earlier this week. This week Christine Powell a special education teacher employed by the Middletown  Connecticut Public School system here plead guilty to sex with a minor student. Her sentence: 9 months, 10 years  probation. Both must register as sex offenders. There are a number of reasons why the sentences could be different, however the similarities released to the public are strikingly similar.

We asked: Readers what do you think? Thoughts? Which sentence is correct? 
Please comment below, we may use your thoughts in an article. 
Thank you to our readers who responded! Feel free to leave a comment yourself. 
Does location play a part in sentencing? Here is what they had to say:

Charvel Greene-Davis "Extensive probation like that is ridiculous. Jail time? Yes...but all that probation does is lead someone back to jail. I think jail time, and classes and therapy for the people that go through this is necessary. Either way the way they make probation makes it easy to mess up as soon as you walkout your door you are in a new violation. People do stupid shit all of the time...do it once; do the time and let people learn from it....its when they repeat should the probation and jail term be increased.Idk I think the focus should be more on dangerous criminals and people who are consistently doing the same thing. Also, what's up with the different length in sentences? These people will already have a screwed up time 
trying to get by for the rest of their lives."

Vinnie Marotta "If you don't already know at 40, that having sex with a 14 year old is wrong,
then all the therapy in the world won't help. Shoot her."

Vinnie Marotta "At least sterilize her..."

Charvel Greene-Davis "True but I've known way too many people that have gone to jail for   this and can't lead a normal life when the age difference is freshman/sophomore and have had worse sentences than this. That's more what I was commenting on and relating it to the article...4 year age difference and both parties were willing but ends up with 10 years and 15 probation or a 26 age difference and multiple people knew and it was a teacher who and she gets slapped with 9 months....SOMETHING needs to change and fast..so the people who paid their dues get left alone."

John Brush "My understanding is Christina Preston received a sentence of life, without the possibility of parole before serving 25 years. Obviously cultural mores in the two states influenced the extremely disparate outcomes." 

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Palin Smith "I'm surprised she didn't get an award, but I guess her offense

didn't rise to infringement of the Bill of Rights"

Palin Smith "In synch with your Calabrese post, why not re-title the story to say, "Chris Powell 
gets 9 months in the slammer for poor choice of friends"

Brian Sandridge "Very interesting. Christine and Cristina P. Homonymous first names and identical final initial. Clearly Cristina is guilty of misspelling her first name and thus deserves the greater sentence. However to be certain it is necessary to see a photo of Cristina. Christine is much less attractive thanmost of the teachers who have "abused" hormonally driven boys so I would think she deserves more time than the pretty blondes."

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Fred Carroll "It depends on some key details but if there was no force involved and the
 "child" wasn't 3 years old or such then I don’t think I agree with 25 years.....I would assert that our culture is profoundly pornographic and that Jon Benet Ramsey could be considered a literal "poster child" for the sexual exploitation of children as practiced in America, and elsewhere, also of course.....we have 
no monopoly on being sick freaks, I assume....."