Buffalo Bike Path Rapist admits to 12-15 more rapes

[boco357]

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/137977.html


Altemio C. Sanchez, the Bike Path Killer who previously confessed to murdering three women, has admitted raping between 12 and 15 other local women since 1979, his attorney said Thursday.

Some of those rapes were earlier confirmed by DNA evidence, and investigators had believed that Sanchez committed the others because of similarities.

Sanchez, 49, of Cheektowaga, faces a likely sentence of 75 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Tuesday for the killings, but he cannot be prosecuted for raping the other women because of the statute of limitations.

Defense attorney Andrew C. LoTempio confirmed that Sanchez met with Deputy District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III and several investigators and told them about the unsolved rapes.

“There is apparently another side to Sanchez that prompted him to come forward to give those other women sense of closure,” LoTempio said.

LoTempio said he hopes the district attorney acknowledges to state prison officials that Sanchez cooperated in resolving the unsolved rape cases. Sedita could not be reached to comment.

District Attorney Frank J. Clark would not confirm the meeting.

“There’s a sentencing coming [Tuesday], and I’m going to allow nothing to upstage the sentencing for the murder of three women,” Clark said.

Sanchez admitted to five rapes in Delaware Park, a number of rapes in the Riverside and Black Rock sections near railroad tracks or in deserted areas, one near Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park and one near Frontier Central High School in Hamburg, LoTempio said.

Sanchez also admitted to one other rape on the same Ellicott Creek Trailway in Amherst where he raped and killed Linda Yalem in 1990, LoTempio said.

Authorities last month confirmed that lab tests had tied Sanchez to at least eight area rapes between 1981 and 1994 after Central Police Services DNA experts analyzed 15 slides that Erie County Medical Center provided to the investigators. Clark last month said the task force had put together a list of 22 or 23 rapes that Sanchez was suspected of committing.

[CanadianUMFan]

When was this fellow captured? I just saw the UM segment yesterday but there was no update.

[Corky Kneivel]

Originally Posted by boco357

“There is apparently another side to Sanchez that prompted him to come forward to give those other women sense of closure,” LoTempio said.

Yes there is. The side that anticipates this divulged information to translate into leniency from a sentencing judge and any future parole boards.

How do men like LoTiempo sleep at night? I understand everyone's entitled to a legitimate defense in America but your boy lost. Its done. You don't have to treat us like we're children and dress up obviously transparent pleas for mercy as being any sort of magnanimous gesture from your scumbag client.

I hope some particularly nasty inmates get together and show Mr. Sanchez just how brutal and savage a rape can be...from a whole new vantage point. Maybe they'll discover his other side for him. We need a "prison rape" emoticon for times like this.

[kadrmas15]

Ummm, regardless if he is a rapist or not, the man deserves a proper defense so I feel that his defense attorney is doing his job and doing it to the best of his ability considering the circumstances. For his defense attorney to just say, "well, what the heck, you are a guilty SOB, so lets just throw in the towel" is really not acceptable. By the way, he probably advised his client to plead guilty, looking at the case, he will probably get 75 to life as said above, the best he could hope for would be if the sentencing judge ran the sentences concurrently in which case he would get 25 to life and he would be eligible for parole in his early 70's.

[BuffaloBill]

The judge today did asure the packed courtroom that he would never see the
light of day again from outside a prison. Believe me this BEAST will never be paroled. For the Canadian UMFan you live in Saint Kits, you mean for the past 8 months you never watched any of The Buffalo TV Stations news at any time during the day. Between the related Cappozi case and this story its been part of the local news everyday here since he was captured in Jan of this year. Irv Weinstein would not be proud of you.

[CanadianUMFan]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBill

The judge today did asure the packed courtroom that he would never see the
light of day again from outside a prison. Believe me this BEAST will never be paroled. For the Canadian UMFan you live in Saint Kits, you mean for the past 8 months you never watched any of The Buffalo TV Stations news at any time during the day. Between the related Cappozi case and this story its been part of the local news everyday here since he was captured in Jan of this year. Irv Weinstein would not be proud of you.

Honestly, I don't ever watch Buffalo news at all. I have never even visited Buffalo for that matter.

[Mikado]

Is Irv Weinstein still alive?? ( He must be about 90 now )

Personally, I hope HE GETS an extra 12-15 rapes in prison and see how it feels for himself, to be the victim ( disgusting scum bag! )

[Corky Kneivel]

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

Ummm, regardless if he is a rapist or not, the man deserves a proper defense...

I whole heartedly agree. He deserves a proper defense and I said as much in my post.

And ummm....the man is a SERIAL KILLER.

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

...so I feel that his defense attorney is doing his job...

I wholeheartedly disagree. I don't feel that its the defense attorney's job to make statements to the press like that. Trying to spin his client's admission to further rapes, which oh-so conveniently happens to come immediately before his sentencing. He even admits as much: "LoTempio said he hopes the district attorney acknowledges to state prison officials that Sanchez cooperated in resolving the unsolved rape cases".

Aside from that, what really gets to me is that the rapes he's gone ahead and admitted guilt for...he in no way whatsoever has any fear of being tried for them!!! This whole admission is nothing but a hopefully self-serving gesture, trying to get some good grace out of letting the police close books on several cases. I don't think for one moment he is motivated by compassion for his victims, so all that "there's another side to him" and "closure" bull**** needs to be shelved.

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

...For his defense attorney to just say, "well, what the heck, you are a guilty SOB, so lets just throw in the towel" is really not acceptable...

I'm not really sure what you're getting at because the trial is over. He was found guilty. Its now the sentencing phase. His lawyer has no towel to throw in.

I'm not naive and I understand that this is how the justice system works in this country but what is the defense attorney's true job?

Is it to represent a defendant to the best of his abilities through all phases of court proceedings, or is it to be a spin doctor and snake-oil salesman who talks like a politician while deliberately misrepresenting the actions of his client?

Does he owe it to his client to try every tactic possible to get him out at the earliest possible date, or does he acknowledge that perhaps we are all better served by certain people being separated from society for good and act for the betterment of society?

I ask these questions honestly and would like to know your opinion.

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

By the way, he probably advised his client to plead guilty, looking at the case, he will probably get 75 to life as said above, the best he could hope for would be if the sentencing judge ran the sentences concurrently in which case he would get 25 to life and he would be eligible for parole in his early 70's.

See, thats what I am saying. LoTiempo KNOWS his client is a guilty murdering bastard, and yet he deliberately obfuscates legal maneuvers common amongst criminals convicted of major crimes out of some sense of obligation to "getting him out as soon as possible". I don't know, maybe I'm confusing the issue too much.

[Mikado]

I think your arguements are pretty dead-on Corky....Unfortunately, thats what defense lawyers DO, like it or not! ( They are more interested in getting a guilty man off, rather than seeing justice is done )

[kadrmas15]

Umm, I said above that he pled guilty, there was no trial, because the defendent pleaded guilty, I am assuming on legal advice that he would be found guilty at trial and would have got the same sentence anyway, so he pled guilty, it makes sense, but he wasnt found guilty, he pled guilty, he owned up to what he did before it got to trial.

Mikado, that is just ignorance on your part to assume that only defense attorneys dont care about justice, prosecutors dont care about justice, they are the ones afterall that will do anything to get that conviction and wrongful convictions do happen and happen a lot, more than wrongful acquittals happen so I do not really see what point you are trying to make, I know you hate defense attorney's and think they should be outlawed and the like and all defendents should hang but when you get falsely accused of a murder and your prosecutor buddies are aiming to hang you, maybe you will change your tune on this subject.

[kadrmas15]

Also Mikado according to our US constitution everyone has a right to a proper defense and to a fair and impartial trial, I know you and people like you, like to forget that, but that is how it is. But again, just sheer ignorance on your part to suggest that somehow defense attorneys are the axis of evil and prosecutors somehow can do no wrong, frankly that is BS and it is wrong.

[crystaldawn]

Okay before things get out of hand here lets just stay focused on the case and not go off into defense attorneys vs. prosecutors. We're all entitled to our opinion in this case and we should all respect that.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

**...and the lawyer quietly slips out of the room...**

[Corky Kneivel]

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

Umm, I said above that he pled guilty, there was no trial, because the defendent pleaded guilty,...

Ahhh...gotcha. I feel stupid for not being able to infer that from the article.

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

I am assuming on legal advice that he would be found guilty at trial and would have got the same sentence anyway, so he pled guilty, it makes sense, but he wasnt found guilty, he pled guilty, he owned up to what he did before it got to trial...

Okay now I think this is the crux of the issue here.

It is your contention that his attorney, knowing the case was unwinnable for various factors, advised him to plead guilty and wave his right to trial. This is usually done with the hopes of being spared the death penalty, correct? I am admittedly unaware if the death penalty even exists in the state he is being sentenced in so I'm not contending that is the issue here, just trying to establish that defendants pleading guilty, under the same circumstances as LoTiempo advised Sanchez to, do so out because they are expecting leniency from the judge doing the sentencing.

He is further advised to offer up conclusion to several other unsolved rapes because it offers appears to be further proof that the defendant is trying to make right his many wrongs. And since these rapes are unprosecutable, it can't hurt - it can only help. Regardless of motives, the defendant pleads guilty to the initial crimes he is charged with and spares the state a lengthy and expensive trial while also sparing the family the ordeal of a trial and its inherent publicity. He then cops to the unsolved rapes allowing the police to save time and money and focus on other unsolved crimes.

To me, all of what I described is exactly what should occur and I fully believe that this is an example of a defense attorney providing his client with the best conceivable defense. This should be considered when determining the sentence and I would not object to any sentencing judge granting some sort of mercy for it.

But for me, LoTiempo crossed into "deliberate scumbaggery" territory when he played up to the press the reasons his client did what he did. I don't think that is any part of a defense attorney's job description nor would I label anyone "ignorant" who takes a negative view of the profession when given LoTiempo as an example.

[kadrmas15]

Well, while I feel what he did wasnt in the best taste, it really wasnt any different then when prosecutors trump stuff up, look I see what you are saying and if I had been the defense attorney, I wouldnt have gone about it the way he did, however when you hold a prosecutor accountable for doing and saying dirty things, then I will be happy, it just seems people hold the defense accountable all the time for doing and saying dirty things but not the prosecution and that is wrong.

As for New York, they do have the death penalty but after a 2004 court ruling, it can only be applied in a very limited scope. I believe that two out of three of the murder that this rapist admitted to happened before NY had the death penalty so those would be ineligible, and because after the 04 court ruling, the death penalty in NY state, was ruled mostly unconstitutional so it is very, very difficult to get a death penalty verdict, I believe the only guy on death row currently there is that guy that shot up the Wendy's in Queens a few years ago, oh well, they hardly used the death penalty even when they had it in full statute, as a matter of fact, just 7 men in the state were ever given the death penalty.

It was ruled unconstitutional because of the way the law was written, because this was before NY had life without parole, so if the jury was not unaninamous than the defendent automatically got a sentence of 25 to life, so the court felt juries would be under increased pressure to send someone to death because if they didnt, then the defendant would be eligible for parole in 25 years, however sentencing juries rarely sent someone to death anyway, so I dont know, it was brought back in NY in 1995, but since then the issue has really lost traction, although now they are trying to have the DP expanded to where crimes where fireman, police officers or other public officials, if they are killed, their killers would automatically face death.