Can a murderer be forced to hear about the pain he caused?
Michelle Ruggieri and her family will be getting their day in court later this month — and they want to make sure the Hopatcong man who killed Ruggieri’s daughter is there, too.
To make sure that happens, however, she will have to go to court one more time.
For three years, Ruggieri says, she and her family had to sit "quietly and respectfully" through countless court procedures as Giuseppe Tedesco, 27, defended himself against the charges.
Now it’s time for the Ruggieri family to get justice and Tedesco should be required to attend his sentencing, when family members will describe the suffering he inflicted on them, her mother wrote in legal papers.
"I cannot describe the pain and anguish we have suffered, but I do know that in every fiber of my being, I need him to be present to see and to hear about the pain that he has caused us all.
"We need to say, and he needs to hear, that he can no longer control anyone or anything," Ruggieri wrote in a three-page motion, filed on her behalf by Richard Pompelio, executive director of the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center.
The motion, filed in response to a request filed by Tedesco to skip his sentencing, is expected to be heard Wednesday by Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti, sitting in Newton. Sentencing is scheduled for March 20.
While the judge has issued a gag order to keep Pompelio and Tedesco’s attorney, Anthony Iacullo of Nutley, from talking to the media about the case, an attorney specializing in criminal law said sentencing serves a number of purposes, including giving the victim’s family an opportunity to get some closure.
The public sentencing also serves as a deterrent against crime, said Mitchell Ignatoff of Westwood.
"It tells everyone, ‘If you do this, this is what’s going to happen,’" he said. "The family is entitled to speak and the public is entitled to know."
Ignatoff said he strongly doubted the judge would grant Tedesco a waiver not to appear at his sentencing and questioned whether he had a legal right to be absent from the proceeding.
"His (Tedesco’s) best argument would be, ‘The sentence has already been determined, why be there?’ He’s going to jail for a very long time," he said.
Under a 1991 amendment to the state constitution, crime victims or their immediate families can describe to the trial judge the impact the crime has had on them. Their statements are typically read in court shortly before sentencing.
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The issue of whether a criminal is required to be in court to hear the statements has surfaced before in New Jersey, most notably in 2006, when nurse Charles Cullen was convicted of killing 22 patients at three New Jersey hospitals by giving them lethal levels of medication.
Like Tedesco, Cullen initially waived his right to appear at his sentencing. However, in response to the outcry from victims’ relatives, the judge ordered Cullen to appear. Criminals have no fundamental right to be absent from a court proceeding, he said. Ultimately, Cullen sat through three hours of anguished testimony as those relatives described their anger and grief.
Tedesco was convicted on first-degree murder and lesser weapons offenses on Jan. 10. He faces up to life imprisonment, plus 20 years.
He was found guilty of killing Alyssa Ruggieri, 22, on March 27, 2010, by shooting her six times in her Hopatcong home after she spurned his romantic interests.
During his monthlong trial, Tedesco claimed the killing was in self-defense. He testified that the shooting occurred while he and Ruggieri fell down a flight of stairs at her home while they struggled for his gun.
On the day of his guilty verdict, Tedesco yelled threats at Ruggieri’s brother. In the ensuing scuffle with sheriff’s officers, a corrections officer suffered a broken leg and a mild concussion.
Tedesco had earlier rejected a plea bargain deal that would have required him to plead guilty to first-degree murder and serve 30 years in prison.
Star-Ledger staff writer Kathleen O'Brien contributed to this report.
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