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October 12, 2007

Federal Hill murder case resolved after 9 years

PROVIDENCE -- Destie B. Ventre’s extended chess match with the law has come to an end.

He pleaded no contest yesterday to a Federal Hill murder nine years ago and received a 40-year sentence, 17 years of which was suspended.

The plea, accepted by Associate Justice Susan E. McGuirl of Superior Court, came just before Ventre would have stood trial for the fourth time on a charge that he shot a friend dead outside the Acorn Social Club on Spruce Street on June 6, 1998.

He also wounded the murder victim’s companion, for which McGuirl gave him a 10-year concurrent suspended sentence.

According to Michael Healey, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch, Ventre admitted as part of the plea that:

* On June 5, 1998, Richard Cruso, Vincent Leonardo, David Bettencourt, and Lance Verrocchio, who were long-time friends, were at the former Bootlegger’s, a bar near Fox Point Hurricane Barrier. Ventre was also at the bar, with his brother, Ryan Guinto, and a friend, Gregory Warren.

* The two groups left separately when Bootlegger’s closed for the night. They met in downtown Providence, where an argument escalated into a fight involving all of them. The police arrived, but neither side wanted to pursue charges.

* In a later phone call between Cruso and Ventre, they agreed to meet on Acorn Street. Ventre arrived with Guinto at the parking lot of the Acorn Social Club, where Cruso and Leonardo waited.

* Ventre shot Cruso and Leonardo with a handgun, hitting Cruso in the chest and hip. Leonardo was shot in the shoulder. Guinto and Ventre fled before the police arrived.

* Cruso’s death was attributed to cardiac arrest caused by the gunshot wound.

* Ventre and Guinto disposed of the gun and the vehicle they traveled in. They remained at large until July 31, 1998, when they were found at a private residence in Mount Pleasant.

At his first trial in 2000, Ventre claimed self-defense. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. Superior Court Judge John F. Sheehan (now deceased) sentenced him to 50 years in prison.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court overturned that conviction in 2002. The justices said that Sheehan’s jury instructions on the self-defense doctrine were “gravely inadequate.”

-- Journal staff writer Thomas J. Morgan

The attorney general’s office retried the case in November 2004. But that ended in a mistrial when, during deliberations, one juror gave other jurors information he had found on the Internet about the legal definitions of murder, manslaughter and self-defense.

Prosecutors quickly brought Ventre back to trial, and in December 2004, another jury convicted him of second-degree murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. At the time, Attorney General Lynch said, "The message of this verdict is, don’t give up. Retrials and mistrials are facts of life for prosecutors."

In February 2005, Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia of the Superior Court sentenced Ventre to 50 years in prison - including 40 years to serve for second-degree murder and a consecutive 10-year sentence for assault with a dangerous weapon.

But last December, the Supreme Court vacated that conviction and sent the case back to Superior Court for retrial, saying Indeglia may have misled the jury on the question of burden of proof.

“More than anything else, this conviction is a testament to the persistence of Paul Daly, who handled the case from the start, and to the fine work of Providence Police Detective Robert Drohan,” Lynch said. “Although it is justice delayed, I hope the knowledge that the defendant is behind bars for a substantial sentence provides a small measure of solace to Richard Cruso’s family and friends.”

Lynch was referring to Assistant Attorney General Paul F. Daly Jr., who prosecuted the case for the State.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:06 PM | Permalink

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sounds interesting

Joe | October 12, 2007 7:03 PM link

October 12, 2007

Federal Hill murder case resolved after 9 years

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