Results tagged “paulcortez”

Cellphone records won out in court over the testimony of an eyewitness to murder and charges. The New York Times reports that prosecutors dismissed murder charges against 36-year-old Eric Wright in large part because his cellphone indicated he was nowhere near the killing and conceded that there was reasonable doubt he was not guilty.

Since cellphone technology is just about commonplace there days, the police and prosecutors are relying on cellphone data to help build cases against suspected criminals. The NY Times looks at how more and more cases seems to involve cellphone data.

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.

Deuce Seven on the Williamsburg Bridge, by Will Sherman. And more here.

It's really hard to joke about a sex trial where a female Manhattan Montessori school teacher is accused of the statutory rape and sodomy and two teenage boys, but based on the NY Times' article about juror selection, it seems there are moments of levity.

After a few days of deliberations, a jury found Paul Cortez guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods on November 27, 2005. Cortez, a personal trainer/yoga instructor/ musician/ aspiring actor, now faces 25 years to life in prison.

Closing arguments were made in the trial of Paul Cortez, who is accused of murdering of his ex-girlfriend, Catherine Woods. Cortez's defense attorney Lauren Miranda tried again to suggest that the bloody thumb print, which matches Cortez, was from menstrual blood from lovemaking during Woods' period. She also reiterated that Woods' ex and roommate at the time, David Haughn (who, like Cortez,wears the same size as a bootprint found at the scene), could have been the killer. She called the yoga teacher a "gentle, caring, peaceful" man who had too much going for him to commit the crime.

Testimony in the trial of Paul Cortez, accused of murdering ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods, was completed yesterday after the prosecution questioned Cortez. The prosecution tried to prove that Cortez was jealous of Woods' ex-boyfriend David Haughn, who still lived with Woods even while they were broken up and Woods was dating Cortez. Assistant DA Peter Casolaro said, "Your competition was an inarticulate, uneducated, slow, not-much-to-look-at rube from Ohio, right?" after saying that Cortez was "physically fit, talented and articulate" (Cortez thanked him).

Paul Cortez took the stand in his murder trial yesterday. Accused of viciously slashing his ex-girlfriend, dancer Catherine Woods (whose sideline as a stripper made Cortez unhappy) to death, Cortez and his defense tried to create enough reasonable doubt for jurors to believe his innocence.

Fifty pages of murder suspect Paul Cortez's diary were read aloud by prosecutors. Cortez, who is on trial for the murder of ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods, had kept diaries as a teenager and had been writing in jail as well. Manhattan ADA Paul Casolaro read entries in a monotone, like:

"Don't look back/ She's still not there/ The swan is gone/ She's in the air/I'm not the same/ I just can't bear/ The time you stole/My soul/Oh no/This isn't real/She's still not here/ Release the wheel/Your thoughts ware/ Now pray & kneel/ For the electric chair/ Burns you brains insane"

Continue reading "Murder Suspect's Diary "Burns Your Brains Insane""

The first day of Paul Cortez's murder trial was filled with tears from his alleged victim's father. Jon Woods testified and sobbed on the witness stand as he described his daughter Catherine's passion for dance and how three Columbus police officers arrived came to his home to tell him that his daughter was murdered.

While it's unclear whether Paul Cortez will keep his sometimes-absent lawyer as his defense attorney, there's a big article in the NY Times about Cortez's friends proclaiming his innocence. The 25 year old Cortez is on trial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Catherine Woods. Woods, who moved from Ohio to make it as a dancer in New York ended up working strip club Flashdancers to support herself, was found murdered in her Upper East Side apartment after Thanksgiving 2005. Evidence, including a bloody boot print and numerous cellphone calls to Woods that stopped after her time of death, led police to arrest Cortez.

When a judge threatens you with contempt when you don't show up for your own client's trial, one would think you'd try to get into court to explain yourself. But after not showing up for client Paul Cortez's murder trial on Monday, attorney Laura Miranda still did not appear yesterday, even after Justice Carol Berkman threatened her with a $1,000 fine and/or contempt. So Berkman fined her $1,000, found her in contempt, and questioned her motives.

an excuse to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman, who then said, "I'm supposed to believe this" and later "I'll have [Miranda] arrested."

Today, jury selection begins in a gruesome murder case. After Thanksgiving 2005, a young woman was found with her throat slashed in her apartment. She was Catherine Woods, who moved from Ohio to NYC as an aspiring dancer and worked as a stripper to make ends meet. While she had been living with an ex-boyfriend from Ohio on the Upper East Side, the police zeroed in on another boyfriend Paul Cortez, a personal trainer and yoga instructor. Cortez (pictured) made a number of cell phone calls to Woods (from outside her building), which stopped after her death, and police say a bloody fingerprint found in Woods' apartment matched Cortez. After Cortez was arrested, a police source said that Cortez's diary described "cutting [Woods'] throat" because she wouldn't get quit stripping, in order to cleanse her.

Broadway actor James Barbour, accused of having a relationship with a 15 year old girl "wrote, Unfortunately for Mr. Barbour, the age of consent in New York is 17."

Continue reading ""The Literature of the Criminal Defendant" "

The ex-boyfriend and suspected killer of Catherine Woods - the fresh-faced aspiring dancer from Ohio who turned to stripping to make ends meet - kept a diary where he fantasized about cutting her throat. Yoga instructor Paul Cortez, whom the police suspected shortly after Woods's murder, apparently mixed teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and his dream of trying to save Woods from a sinful life. A police source tells the Post:

"He's talking a lot about Hindi gods and people cutting off each other's heads as sacrifices," said a source familiar with the chilling diary that cops found in the home of yoga-trainer suspect Cortez, 25. "He talks about cutting her throat. It's because she won't change her ways. She won't quit her stripping, and she's living a life of sin.

Continue reading "The Mystical Side of a Jealous, Murderous Boyfriend"

The Manhattan DA's office has announced they will charge Catherine Woods' yoga-instructing boyfriend with her murder. Paul Cortez, who was a person of interest when the young woman with dreams of being a dancer but the reality of being a stripper to make ends meet was found dead in her Upper East Side apartment after Thanksgiving, will be charged later this week. The prosecutors said they found a bloody fingerprint at the crime scene that matched Cortez. Cortez had made several phone calls to Woods prior to the murder, but then none afterward.

The police have taken surveillance camera footage from the Upper East Side neighborhood where murdered dancer-stripper Catherine Woods lived, hoping that some clues will emerge about whether or not boyfriend number 2, Paul Cortez, was seen lurking around her building right before her death. The Post reports that while Cortez told police he made the calls nowhere near Woods, some sources say they were actually made outside her 345 East 86th Street apartment. Plus, Cortez also told friends he was performing on the night of the murder (he was an aspiring rocker, along with being an aspiring dancer) at a club, but the club says they were closed that night. Hmm...

Another new twist in the murder of an Upper East Side dancer-stripper: The second boyfriend, Paul Cortez, apparently made seven phone calls to Catherine Woods before her murder, but none afterwards. Other reports do not pinpoint Cortez as the caller, but Cortez's father told reporters that his son was having problems with his cellphone around Thanksgiving...hmm. The Post reports that a few of Cortez's ex-girlfriends told the police he could be violent, and reporters had staked out Cortez's apartment last night for comments, but he just said, "Just give me a couple days." (The Daily News noted he had just purchased some chicken, rice and beans.)