Cops Shot Far Rockaway Teen 11 Times
Video: New School Students, Comrades Toss Trash Pre-Arrest
Straphanger Who Pulled Emergency Brake Comes Forward
Turkey Cruelty Ad Nixed By NBC
Would You Be Comfortable Locked On A Train With A Murderer?
A State Supreme Court judge sentenced 27-year-old Paul Cortez to 25 years to life in prison. Cortez had been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods last month.
His defense team continued to maintain that Cortez was innocent and asked for a lesser sentence. Cortez was silent during the sentencing, apparently based on advice from his appeals lawyer. His trial lawyer Dawn Florio said, "He would like the family to know he did not kill Catherine Woods, and he is very sorry for their loss."
However, Woods' father Jon said, "He is a murderer, deserving nothing less than life in prison. Catherine did not only lose her life, she was robbed of her dignity. Our family's only consolation is the fact that we knew the real Catherine. Our hearts will never be the same." Judge Carol Berkman said she felt bad for Cortez's family, but "The evidence establishes that he is the author of his own tragedy," in a possible reference to Cortez's extensive diaries.
The NY Times reports that Cortez's appeal will "focus on issues of fairness at the trial, including the lack of testing of hair, some with roots attached, that were found tangled in Ms. Woods’s hand after her death." Lawyer Nathan Deshowitz said, "have never heard of a murder case where the victim has hair in her hand and they don’t test it." Additionally, all the papers noted that Cortez, whose long wavy hair during the trial, had cut his hair into a buzzcut for prison yesterday.
Gothamist on the Cortez murder trial.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I think it all came down to that Bloody fingerprint. His excuse for it was lame, at best.
I know he has at least one support coming here that believes he innocent, but as I said above, IMO, it all came down to that Bloody fingerprint which I'm certain his buddies will continue to ignore.
For Mr. Cortez's sake, I hope he's put in solitary...
MAE WEST always said: "Keep a diary and one day it will keep you." Felonious fake firefighter Peter Braunstein carried his diary as he moved towards a new Hurricane Katrina asylum. ["Geez, I lost my I.D. in the New Orleans flooding, officer!"] Starlet Anna Nicole Smith's childishly written diaries from the 1980s sold at an auction for about one million dollars. Will we be hearing about (or bidding on) Paul Cortez's diary on Ebay shortly?
- - come up and see Mae - MaeWest.blogspot.com - -
I dont know why, but after reading all the articles, I still have an inkling of a feeling that he might not be truly guilty. My gut tells me he's not necessarily innocent, but it may have been something that went down with that suspicious David Haughn. It may have been a two person job. how the hell did Mr. Cortez get inside the apartment? I think Cortez and Haughn were both in on this, but Haughn took a turn and ratted out on Cortez. Seems irrational but you could imagine right?
I guess I'm a little biased because I dislike the police because they're pretty corrupt as civil servants. Haughn cooperating with the authorities doesn't do it much justice either in my mind. I'm pretty curious as to the evidence with the hair thing. How crazy would this situation get if the hair was Haughn's???
People: if the hair was exculpatory, then the defense would have tested it. They didn't because they knew whose hair it was.
In any event - as I said in an earlier post - beyond the fingerprint - the phonecalls..
Dozens of calls a day to her - up to including the hour of her death - and not a single one afterwards, though Cortez claimed he didn't learn of her death for 16 hours.
Hopefuly in prison, he becomes some 300lb, HIV-positivie inmate's 'private dancer'.
What a tragic murder. Justice has been served.
He's going to make one fine bitch in prison.
I bet the convicts are cashing in their cigarettes and lubing up right now!
Have a nice life, "sweet ass"!
You people sound like you have experience with prison life. Don't believe everything you hear.
And besides, he's a yoga instructor, he'll just loosen his splinter and that's that.
No thrill for anyone. however, yoga can't help with the mouth.
I hope EVERY open cavity on his body is 'erotically explored', so to speak.
Guys I really don't thing he did this. How many points on the print. I live in the south and we execute innocent people here. We are finding out that the belief that a crime of this magnitude must have been created by someone who you know isn't totally true. I can be committed by someone who thinks they know you. The scene looked like a meat processing plant and that much violence one print, get real. There had to be DNA there somewhere. If my fears are correct the danger might still be there.