White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Jury Finds Dennis Alvarez-Hernandez Guilty on All Counts

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey with S. Richard Blassberg, WPCNR Legal Correspondent. May 7, 2003. UPDATED 3:25 PM E.D.T.: After deliberating for less than 24 hours, the jury reached a verdict in the Alvarez-Hernandez capital punishment murder trial at the County Courthouse Wednesday, reading the verdict to Judge Kenneth Lange at the Westchester County Courthouse at 1:45 PM.

The jury found the defendent guilty of the number one count, First Degree Murder, and all 13 other counts in the murders of his common law wife, Patricia Torres and her two children on September 3, 2000. They deliberated less than 24 hours after 4 weeks and 2 days of trial proceedings.

Judge Lange in his remarks before the jury was seated, said it had been agreed by the attorneys for Defense and Prosecution that the sentencing phase of the trial will be convened on Wednesday, May 14, should a verdict of Guilty of First Degree Murder be returned. The Judge said the attorneys of both sides requested of the judge that the jury be released and allowed to be unsequestered until that date.

When the jurors will take up the matter of sentencing one week from today, they will be asked to decide whether Mr. Alvarez-Hernandez will be sentenced to death by lethal injection or life imprisonment. The death penalty punishment now becomes a possible option with the jury's finding Mr. Alvarez-Hernandez guilty of First Degree Murder, while the possibility of life imprisonment had always been on the table. Mr. Alvarez-Hernandez had previously expressed a willingness to plead guilty to second degree murder and accept a life sentence without parole.

Defense attorneys arriving for the announcement of the verdict shortly before 1:15 PM, appeared to this correspondent, concerned for their client because of the swiftness of the jury's deliberations.

Note: Analysis of the verdict and the direction of the next phase of the trial will be forthcoming on the CitizeNetReporter


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