‘Cash Feenz’ receives 40 years for guilty plea; Defendant must give testimony

By CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 8/20/09




1.) Alleged “Cash Feenz” double murder defendant Paul Nunes pleads guilty Wednesday in the 2006 slayings of Alexis and Jeffrey Sosa in a Lee
County courtroom. Photo copyright the Cape Coral Breeze.

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Alleged "Cash Feenz" defendant Paul Nunes changed his plea Wednesday to guilty in the 2006 Cape Coral double murder of Jeffrey and Alexis Sosa, less than a week before co-defendant Kemar Johnston is scheduled to begin trial in Lee County.

The 21-year-old, on reduced charges of two counts each of second-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated battery and one count of arson, will be sentenced to 40 years in prison pending his truthful testimony in the upcoming trials of co-defendants Johnston and Kenneth Lopez.

If gone to trial and found guilty, Nunes faced death.

"Obviously it's difficult to have that call made, but it's the decision that's in his best interest and he's going to do the best he can now," said Nunes' attorney, David Peckins of Miami. "We discussed it with him and he felt it was in his best interest to avoid going to trial and possibly getting the death penalty."

Both Nunes' mother and a younger female family member shared long, tearful hugs with Nunes following his guilty plea.

Family members declined to comment on Nunes' decision Wednesday.

"He's been in custody three years and I don't think he's had a chance to hug his mom in that time," Peckins said. "It meant a lot to him."

Peckins said Nunes is prepared to testify truthfully about the night the Sosas were killed in upcoming trials, as per a plea agreement with the state forged days earlier.

"Your right to a trial and your right to an appeal ends here today," presiding Lee Circuit Judge Thomas Reese told Nunes during Wednesday morning's hearing. "But with 40 years, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

Reese insisted several times that Nunes be sure he wished to plead guilty. If Nunes does not comply with the state on the terms of the agreement, he can be sentenced from 50 years up to four consecutive life sentences plus 45 years in prison.

A similar agreement was struck between the state and co-defendant Alexis Fernandez for 26 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea and his testimony, days before the trial of co-defendant Roderick Washington in May.

Nunes is one of 10 defendants charged in the incident, during which the Sosas were tied and tortured at Johnston's home, then taken to a north Cape industrial site where they were shot and Alexis was burned in the trunk of a car. He is one of six to plead guilty.

Two others, Ashley Toye and Washington, have gone to trial and been found guilty. Both have been sentenced to serve life in prison.

When asked again how he would plead, Nunes told Reese, "I plead guilty."

Nunes' sentencing has been set for Nov. 16.

Jury: Washington guilty in torture and slayings; ‘Cash Feenz’ member to get life

By CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze and Naples Daily News 7/14/09

Thirty years in prison the first time.

A lifetime the second.

That is the order in which Roderick Washington's guilt was determined for his role in the 2006 tortures and killings of Alexis, 18, and Jeffrey Sosa, 14, over the course of two murder trials.

Washington, 19, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon during his first trial in May, and was sentenced to serve two consecutive 15-year prison terms.

The alleged member of the "Cash Feenz" rap group accused in the brutal slayings will now face a mandatory life prison sentence for two counts each of first-degree murder and kidnapping.

A 10-man, 2-woman jury determined Washington's guilt over the course of three hours Monday.

The decision stands in staunch contrast to the May trial when the jury deadlocked on the murder and kidnapping charges after nearly a day and a half behind closed doors.

Washington shared a silent nod with a family member in the courtroom gallery as he was fingerprinted and escorted into custody.

Outside the courtroom on the eighth floor of the Lee County Justice Center annex building, a woman burst into sobs and embraced her child.

Members of the Washington family declined to comment on his conviction.

Despite defense attorney Paul Sullivan's protests that the state's witnesses were unreliable party-goers and co-defendants who would say anything to keep their plea deals, the jury relied on the collective testimony to adjudicate Washington guilty on all counts.

"We're obviously very pleased with the verdict," said Assistant State Attorney Marie Doerr. "We've felt all along that Mr. Washington was a major player in these Cash Feenz tortures and murders. We're pleased that they took three hours to come back and find a verdict of guilty on these four serious charges."

Doerr said that bringing in additional witnesses and tightening loose ends in the few months between trials likely strengthened their case against Washington, possibly a factor in the second jury's notably quicker decision.

Witnesses pegged Washington as holding a gun to the Sosas as they were bound, carved with knives, covered with bleach and shocked with a Taser at the birthday party of co-defendant Kemar Johnston.

They also said he helped place the Sosas in the trunk of a car used to transport them to a north Cape Coral industrial site where they were fatally shot.

Co-defendants, including Alexis Fernandez, Iriana Santos, Melissa Rivera and Michael Balint, along with several party-goers, were hazy on various details of the evening the Sosas were killed, but remembered distinctively Washington wielding a .22-caliber rifle and, at one point, a pistol.

Washington's part in the kidnapping of the Sosas makes him a principal to their murders, regardless of premeditation, because of the inherent danger of holding another human being against their will.

Washington will be sentenced Monday before Lee Circuit Judge Thomas Reese.

He has 30 days from the date of his sentencing to appeal the decision.

Washington is the second Cash Feenz defendant to be found guilty in the 2006 double murder, after Ashley Toye who was previously sentenced to life without parole.

Co-defendants Kemar Johnston, Kenneth Lopez and Paul Nunez still await trial in the case.

Melissa Rivera, Iriana Santos, Alexis Fernandez, Cody Roux and Michael Balint have each pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and will receive prison sentences varying between 14 and 26 years in exchange for their testimony during the trials of their remaining co-defendants.

Cape man guilty on all counts in ’05 shooting death; Jurors deliberate for nearly 4 hours

by CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 4/17/09

Dave Gaphoor embraced his mother, removed his coat and let the bailiff take his fingerprints after a 12-person Lee County jury found him guilty Thursday of first-degree felony murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Gaphoor has been convicted as a principle in the 2005 shooting death of Jose Gomez, 25, which occurred during an armed robbery in which Gaphoor took part.

Several others were injured, including Rigoberto Vasquez, who state attorneys argued was shot in the stomach by Gaphoor, and later in the arm by co-defendant Anibal Morales; Jose Reyes-Garcia, who was shot in the arm by Morales; and Salatiel Vasquez, who was beaten with a tire iron.

The jury returned from approximately three hours and 45 minutes of deliberations at 8 p.m. with the verdict finding Gaphoor guilty on all counts.

At the tail end of a three-day trial and years of preparation by state and defense attorneys, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Marcus said he believed the jury made the right decision.

"I'm very pleased with the verdict," he said Thursday. "This is a tough case. It was very emotional for the jurors, but I think it was the right decision given the evidence and the facts of the case."

Defense council declined to comment, though assistant public defenders Kathleen Fitzgeorge and Connie Kelly were visibly upset after the reading of the verdict, attempting to comfort family members and friends of Gaphoor.

Tracy Barrett, whose twin sister Stacy Francis is the mother of Gaphoor's young son, said she does not believe Gaphoor is capable of the violent acts depicted by witnesses and the state during the trial.

"I feel like it was the wrong verdict," she said, citing a lack of physical evidence placing Gaphoor at the scene of the robbery. "They couldn't even put him at the crime scene at all. The Lee County Sheriff's department did not do a good job in processing evidence. I really do feel like he was framed."

Due to a lack of what Marcus called "scientific evidence" linking Gaphoor directly to the robbery, jurors were asked to cautiously regard the testimony of co-defendant Elizabeth Reed, who placed Gaphoor at the crime scene, along with that of eyewitness Eduardo Pardo-Martinez and other evidence presented during trial.

"There is no DNA evidence or fingerprint evidence connecting anyone to this crime," he said during his closing arguments. "Does that mean no one did it? Of course not. You cannot turn a blind eye on the facts of this case."

Kelly argued the description Pardo-Martinez gave to detectives better fit co-defendant Miguel Pedraza, who is serving a life prison sentence in Gomez's slaying.

Additionally, she argued, Reed is untrustworthy because she cut a deal with state prosecutors for 10 years in prison and 15 years probation in exchange for a guilty plea and her testimony.

"Elizabeth Reed ... is a liar, but she is not an idiot," Kelly said. "She knew exactly what she had to say, how she had to spin it, when she needed to embellish ... to ensure she kept her deal. The state and law enforcement officers utterly failed in their duty to prove this case beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt."

Though jurors disagreed with Kelly as to the state being unable to prove its case, Barrett and Francis said they think Reed's testimony cannot be trusted.

"She would say whatever it is they wanted her to say to get her plea deal," Francis said.

She added that she is upset Gaphoor can no longer be there for his son and other children.

"He has a 2-year-old son he's never met until yesterday," Francis said. "(Gaphoor's children) had to hear this awful thing, that their father is gone for life."

Gaphoor was the last of five defendants in the case to stand trial.

In February, Morales was convicted of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery. The state dropped an attempted home invasion robbery charge against him.

Morales is scheduled to be sentenced Monday along with Reed.

Christopher Neuberger was acquitted of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery in a February jury trial.

Gaphoor will be sentenced June 21 before Lee Circuit Judge Mark Steinbeck. He faces life in prison.

Cape man guilty of DUI manslaughter in 2005 crash; Verdict reached in less than an hour

by CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 4/3/09

A Cape Coral man was found guilty Thursday on multiple felony counts for a 2005 crash that left one person dead and two others hospitalized.

A Lee County jury convicted Bradley Todd Hill, 39, in connection to the death of Hilary Walters, 32, of Cape Coral. He was found guilty of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide, DUI causing property damage and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury, according to State Attorney's Office spokesperson Samantha Syoen.

After several days of trial before Lee County Senior Circuit Judge Jack Schoonover, the jury found Hill guilty on all counts after only 56 minutes of deliberation, she said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Orion Wright.

On Oct. 8, 2005, Hill ran a red light at Santa Barbara Boulevard and Trafalgar Parkway while under the influence of alcohol, slamming into the side of a Chevrolet Camero.

The driver of the Camero, Rachel Daniels, 29, of Cape Coral, and passenger Bradley White, 35, of New York, were injured in the crash. White, who was ejected from the car during the collision, and Daniels were taken to Lee Memorial Hospital and later released.

Walters, the rear seat passenger in the Camero, also was ejected during the crash. She died on scene from her injuries, according to officials.

Hill claimed at the time of the accident that he had the right of way and did not run a red light.

Syoen said Thursday that Hill remains in police custody without bond.

A sentencing date had not been set.