Its over....

Squiggy

ThunderDick
It started here....

Posted on Tue, Feb. 03, 2004

Killer of N.J. couple on trial for his life

A man has pleaded guilty to the murders. His attorney argued that his life should be spared.
By John Curran
Associated Press


MAYS LANDING, N.J. - A man who killed a retired couple and set fire to their bodies during a random home invasion went on trial for his life yesterday - with his attorney telling jurors he doesn't deserve to die.

Brian Wakefield, 26, of Absecon, pleaded guilty and could face the death penalty for the Pleasantville slayings of Richard and Shirley Hazard on Jan. 18, 2001.

Other possible sentences he could receive are life in prison without parole or life in prison with a minimum of 60 years before he would be eligible for parole.

Jurors yesterday were given an outline of the case against Wakefield and were also urged to consider whether aggravating factors exist that would justify his execution.

Wakefield killed the couple in the commission of a burglary, assistant Atlantic County prosecutor Cary Shill told jurors, and did so to eliminate any would-be witnesses who could identify him.

But public defender Pamela Brause said Wakefield had no specific plan when he entered the house and killed the couple because he lost control - not to escape prosecution.

Wakefield was physically and emotionally abused as a child and suffered neurological damage as a result, Brause said, and should be spared.

The Hazards were retired and lived by themselves in a quiet Pleasantville neighborhood.

Richard Hazard, 70, a former employee of Atlantic Electric Co., was killed first. He suffered a fractured skull and brain contusions and was stabbed in the ribs, face and head.

Shirley Hazard, 65, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker, was ambushed as she walked into her home with an armful of groceries. She was stabbed in the neck, beaten over the head, thrown down a flight of stairs, and repeatedly kicked in the ribs by Wakefield, who told investigators he used the force of "an NFL field-goal kicker" in delivering the blows.

Using cooking oil and liquor, Shill said, Wakefield then set the bodies and the house on fire.

Firefighters summoned when a neighbor saw smoke coming from the house, she noted, found the bodies under a pile of debris in the basement.

Wakefield stole Shirley Hazard's car but was forced to call a taxi after the stolen vehicle broke down near the Hamilton Mall.

The taxi driver, who knew Wakefield by his nickname, "B Love," drove him to the mall. There, during a shopping spree with the Hazards' money and credit cards, Shill said, Wakefield bought $1,300 in jewelry and $130 worth of compact discs.

Again according to Shill, Wakefield then had the taxi driver rent three rooms for him at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, where he hosted a party.

But he left bloody clothing and items from the Hazard home in the cab - including a charm with "No. 1 Grandma" embossed on it - and the driver alerted police.

Today, Brian Wakefield was sentenced to death by lethal injection....
 
You can still face the death penalty in Joisey even after a guilty plea? Most states automatically make it cap out at life if you plead guilty since you're saving the state a gazillion in prosecution $ and time. Judicial mercy for the repentant and all that rot.
 
Holy fuck.......that's heavy stuff:(

I can't even get me head around that situation......

(although If I ever met the guy, I'd prolly find some barbaric way to react)
 
Richard Hazard, 70, a former employee of Atlantic Electric Co., was killed first. He suffered a fractured skull and brain contusions and was stabbed in the ribs, face and head.

Shirley Hazard, 65, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker, was ambushed as she walked into her home with an armful of groceries. She was stabbed in the neck, beaten over the head, thrown down a flight of stairs, and repeatedly kicked in the ribs by Wakefield, who told investigators he used the force of "an NFL field-goal kicker" in delivering the blows.

Using cooking oil and liquor, Shill said, Wakefield then set the bodies and the house on fire.

Sounds like the poster child for the death penalty to me...
 
Aw geez Squiggy. That musta been hell for you to go though. :( Many, many hugs for you from me.
 
I say he deserved to die--in the same manner in which he killed those two people--but it sucks you had to sit through all that.
 
poor ppl........... he got the easy way out.....

He should have to go thru hell just like them....
 
Wow. That's what you had to sit through for jury duty? * respects you very much * :hug:

I'm a believer in the death penalty, and he does sound awful enough to need it. :disgust:
 
The only person who can say whether justice was served or not is Squiggy. My personal belief is this, though...Why did "Mr. Wakefield's" attorney try that tired "abused child" defense? It shows that society, itself, is getting tired of the excuses, but, what about my tirades on personal responsibility, and the attempts of attorneys to limit, or eliminate, personal responsibility in other cases?
 
The only question I have for ya, Squiggy, is did you want to save him, and get swayed? Or did you go into the deliberations knowing that you were gonna vote for injection?
 
Will; not second guess nor question you on THIS & ONLY THIS specific case :D
 
Ok...Its been a week. I guess I've decompressed enough to address the issue...

Preface:

Brian Wakefield, out of jail less than 3 months and already wanted on warrants, decided he was entitled to whatever belonged to an elderly couple and proceeded to invade their home. Without subjecting you to the gruesome details of the event, I'll try to walk you through it. Seventy year old Richard Hazard answered the front door and was immediately assaulted, allowing Wakefield to gain entrance. He blindfolded Mr. Hazard after overpowering him hoping to get his victim to assist in locating any valuables. its not clear how much help, if any, Mr hazard offered. It apparently wasn't enough for Wakefield to spare his life. After beating and stabbing the elderly man to death, Wakefield dragged him down to the basement and proceeded to ransack the home for valuables.
At some point while he was searching and destroying the home, Shirley Hazard, the 65 year old wife of Richard, returned home carrying groceries. She was unexpectedly assaulted as soon as she entered the front door, receiving a disabling blow to the head and face that fractured her skull. Wakefield then carried her to the top of the basement steps and pushed her down the steps. He then dragged her next to her already deceased husband and became upset because she was making 'gurgling noises' and staring at him with the one eye she still had left...He proceeded to kick her in the ribs several times and then stabbed her...He even grabbed a large decorative spoon from the kitchen wall and attacked the dog, a collie, when it began threatening him...
After rifling the house for all he could find, he pushed a couple of bookshelves over on top of his victims and dumped gas on them. He had already uncapped and knocked over all the liquor bottles upstairs to use it as fuel to help burn the house down. He ignited the Hazard's bodies and several other locations before leaving with Mrs. Hazard's car keys and stealing the car.
He drove to his mother's home and offered her the costume jewelry he had just stolen, but she refused it. He proceeded to the mall but the car overheated just shy of the entrance. He walked the last half mile and went on a shopping spree with the proceeds of his act, purchasing clothes and jewelry to the tune of about $2000.
He then called a 'friend' who was a cab driver in Atlantic City and asked to be picked up at the main entrance to the mall. When the cab arrived, he threw the keys to the Hazard's car in the bushes at the mall and they drove to the Tropicana in Atlantic city. He changed into some new clothes and left the old clothes in the cab. The he had the driver book 3 rooms for him because he couldn't use his ID (I assume due to the warrants) and, long story short, he threw a party that night for another friend who was about to begin a jail term. He cashed in Mr Hazard's coin collection at the cashier's cage in the casino...for even exchange no less.
The cab driver was shaken by a few of the things Wakefield had said during the course of getting him to the casino and booking the rooms. He took some things Wakefield had given him, a few old silver dollars, some of the costume jewelry, and the clothes Wakefield had changed out of, to the police and told them he suspected something bad had gone down.
Wakefield was arrested in the wee hours of the morning, alone and asleep, in the hotel room that was trashed during the party.

Particulars:

The following paragraph is supposition based on facts as I saw it.
Wakefield pleaded guilty without a deal from the prosecutor to withdraw the death penalty. The prosecutor didn't need to deal. His case was solid. The plea was designed to keep us from hearing many of the details. What we heard was only what could be used to establish the aggravating and mitigating factors that were involved with the sentencing. Many items that the prosecutor and defense used to question the witnesses were not shown to the jury. And many were denied to us on request during deliberation because they were not entered into evidence but merely 'referred to' during the case. It was a smart move on the part of the defense. But it fell short.
/supposition

The prosecution, while restrained to proof of the aggravating factors, had to lay down a foundation which gave us a pretty thorough understanding of the events of the crime. Very little was contested by the defense other than procedural issues, which were contested at every opportunity. The witnesses for the prosecution all held up well under cross examination and the state's case was presented smoothly, efficiently, and quickly. Wakefield's first response of any kind occured when the cab driver took the stand. Wakefield stared at him with a cold, threatening look the entire time he was testifying. It seemed clear he was wanting to kill again. That, to me, put a rather large dent in any claim of remorse. With few exceptions, Wakefield spent the entire trial staring at and writing on a legal pad that sat in front of him. i'd love to see what he was writing....

Still to come...the case for defense...
 
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