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Posted: Thursday, 09 July 2009 10:30AM
Connecticut Jury Considers Death Penalty in Triple Killing
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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- A Connecticut jury is to begin deliberating Friday on whether a Trumbull man should get the death penalty for killing his former lover, her 9-year-old daughter and his former roommate in Bridgeport three years ago.
Richard Roszkowski, 44, would be the 11th person on the state's death row if the 10 men and two women on the jury decide he deserves lethal injection for the shooting deaths in Bridgeport on Sept. 7, 2006.
The same jury convicted Roszkowski in May of capital felony and murder in the killings of 39-year-old Holly Flannery of Bridgeport, her daughter Kylie and 38-year-old Milford landscaper Thomas Gaudet. If jurors decide against the death penalty, Roszkowski would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.
Even if Roszkowski receives the death penalty, appeals could postpone any execution for years.
Connecticut's most recent execution was on May 13, 2005. Michael Ross, convicted of raping and killing several eastern Connecticut women in the 1980s, became the first person to be executed in New England in 45 years. Ross gave up his right to file appeals.
Police say Roszkowski shot Flannery and Gaudet once each in the head on Seaview Avenue. Officers say Roszkowski then chased Kylie down the street, shooting her in the back of the thigh, in the face and in the side of her head at close range.
Witnesses testified during the trial that Flannery had broken off a relationship with Roszkowski weeks before the killings, and he began stalking her. They also testified that Roszkowski accused Gaudet, his former roommate, of having an affair with Flannery, but Gaudet was never involved with Flannery.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers gave closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial on Wednesday.
Prosecutor C. Robert Satti Jr. left the jury with the image of Kylie lying on the ground begging for her life after seeing her mother get shot. Relatives of the victims broke down and cried in the courtroom.
Public defenders Joseph Bruckmann and Miles Gerety say Roszkowski did shoot the three victims to death, but they said he had an extreme emotional disturbance at the time, a factor the jury must consider in its deliberations.
Medical experts testified for the defense that Roszkowski has brain damage from car crashes, as well as hepatitis and a history of drug abuse.
``Our society does not impose the death penalty on a brain-damaged person. That's not what we do,'' Gerety told jurors.
But Satti claimed the defense case was ``smoke and mirrors.''
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