Mother of slain Randolph girl to be first to testify in suspect’s trial:
A jury has been selected in the trial of Jonathan Zarate. The trial, barring any unforeseen circumstances, is scheduled to begin this coming Monday.
Mother of slain Randolph girl to be first to testify in suspect’s trial:
A jury has been selected in the trial of Jonathan Zarate. The trial, barring any unforeseen circumstances, is scheduled to begin this coming Monday.
Judge rules accused killer Jonathan Zarate can use insanity defense:
Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto ruled today that Jonathan Zarate’s attorney can, in fact, use the diminished capacity defense in his trial for the murder of Jennifer Parks.
I was angry about this when I first read the headline but as I read the article and the ensuing comments I began to calm down and realized what this really means.
If Zarate was convicted without the diminished capacity defense it would have been left way open for appeal.
It also means that the prosecution can present the evidence that in their opinion that Zarate was faking his ‘mental illness’.
Psychiatrist: Randolph teen was psychotic when he killed girl next door:
This is an article about the start of a diminished capacity defense hearing for Jonathan Zarate. I just couldn’t get over the first two paragraphs in the article…
A psychiatrist testified today that Jonathan Zarate snapped when his teenage neighbor insulted his brother, and that after beating her until she lay motionless, he stabbed her repeatedly because “he felt she was going to get up and hurt him.”
Clifton psychiatrist Diana Riccioli claims Zarate, 21, was psychotic when he killed 16-year-old Jennifer Parks in his father’s Randolph home on July 30, 2005. Riccioli said Zarate’s irrational thinking took over and he was unable to form an intent to kill her.
So basically what this quack is saying is that Zarate was not responsible for his actions when he beat, stabbed, dismembered, and tried to dispose of the body of 16-year-old Jennifer Parks back in 2005.
This comes straight from the ‘You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me’ department.
I usually don’t hurl insults at people indirectly involved in trials but Ms. Riccioli, you are either the most gullible psychiatrist, the stupidest psychiatrist ever, or you have no soul.
The prosecution basically said that Zarate is a liar and that he fooled the good doctor into thinking he has a mental illness.
The hearing is scheduled to resume Wednesday with the trial allegedly starting on Thursday.
Police locate 2nd man allegedly lured to Edmonton garage:
I’m sure a lot of you have heard about the murder of John Brian Altinger. In October he was lured to the garage of Edmonton filmmaker Mark Andrew Twitchell where it’s alleged that Twitchell stabbed Altinger to death.
The reason the murder made headlines outside of Canada is Twitchell was a fan of the TV show Dexter which focuses on a forensic worker who is also a vigilante serial killer.
It’s alleged that Altinger was lured to his death under the pretense that he was about to meet a woman.
What none of the media are telling us is that according to a blogger at Smut and Steff who knew Altinger is that the site he met the ‘woman’ over was craigslist.
That would make the third confirmed murder where craigslist was involved in some way.
Judge: Inmate statements allowed in Randolph teen slaying case:
Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto ruled yesterday that the statements Jonathan Zarate made to other inmates of the Passaic County jail are admissible.
If you’ll recall Zarate made statements to other inmates allegedly admitting to the murder of Jennifer Parks and bragging about how he was going to beat the charge on an insanity defense. He also asked an inmate who was found not guilty by reason of insanity on how to act insane.
Some of those inmates sent letters to the prosecutor’s office detailing Zarate’s statements.
One less hurdle to overcome in putting this scumbag away for life.
Inmates: Accused killer asked how to fake insanity:
According to letters from inmates in the Passaic County Jail accused killer Jonathan Zarate asked them how to fake an insanity plea. These letters were sent to the then Morris County prosecutor in 2007. The letters also said that Zarate bragged about how he was going to beat the murder charge against him by using an insanity defense. One of the inmates he was asking how to be ‘insane’ was a doctor.
Zarate’s attorney is trying to prevent the inmates from testifying. He’s still trying for the diminished capacity defense even though this happened…
When questioned, Jonathan Zarate first told police he was dumping garbage in the Passaic River and volunteered to put it back in their Jeep and leave, according to testimony. After admitting Parks’ body was in the trunk, he claimed he “found her like that” when he went outside his home to meet her. When told that explanation was laughable, Zarate confessed, court papers said.
Again, Zarate and his brother brutally killed Jennifer Parks, dismembered her body, hid it for 24 hours, then tried dumping her body in the Passaic River. Doesn’t sound like diminished capacity to me.
3+ years and still no trial.
Court date set in Randolph killing:
A trial date has finally been set in the killing and dismemberment of 16-year-old Jennifer Parks. The trial date for Jonathan Zarate has been set for November 12th.
It’s been over 3 years since Jennifer’s murder. Hopefully, this trial will finally get off the ground.
DA appeals ruling in Odgren murder case:
The trial for John Odgren has been delayed while prosecutors appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts over the tapes of Odgren’s prison phone conversations.
Odgren is accused in the 2007 stabbing and slashing death of fellow Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High student James Alenson.
Odgren’s lawyer is trying to use Odgren’s alleged Aspergers as a diminished capacity defense.
The prosecution states that the tapes will show that Odgren does not communicate like an Asperger’s patient.
The prison tapes were previously ruled inadmissible.
No new date has been set for the trial.