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Turkey dinner benefits LCCC’s NAACP student scholarship fund

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Federal prosecutors in the capital murder case of Jessie Con-Ui reiterated their opposition to a recent motion from the defense that seeks to have the death penalty taken off the table due to its alleged unconstitutionality, according to court documents filed Wednesday.</p><p>Con-Ui, 37, faces the death penalty in the murder of 34-year-old Corrections Officer Eric J. Williams, a Nanticoke native, at U.S. Penitentiary Canaan on Feb. 25, 2013.</p><p>Prosecutors claim Con-Ui ambushed and then kicked Williams down a flight of stairs before pinning him down, throwing his radio aside and stabbing him more than 200 times with multiple homemade shanks.</p><p>Con-Ui was at Canaan serving an 11-year prison sentence stemming from a 2003 guilty plea for his role in a drug ring run by the New Mexican Mafia. Following that sentence, he was set to begin serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to first-degree murder.</p><p>On Oct. 6, Con-Ui&#8217;s attorneys filed a 168-page motion requesting U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo strike the prosecution&#8217;s attempt to seek the death penalty on several fronts, claiming among them the punishment is &#8220;carried out in an arbitrary and capricious manner that is akin to being struck by lighting.&#8221;</p><p>In a 92-page response, prosecutors in November called Con-Ui&#8217;s motion nothing more than a &#8220;&#8216;boiler plate&#8217; assault on the (Federal Death Penalty Act).&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;As will become self-evident, all of defendant&#8217;s arguments are afflicted by the same basic and fatal flaw, that is, they are in opposition with longstanding legal principles and overwhelming authority to the contrary,&#8221; prosecutors argued, citing several Supreme Court and federal cases that upheld the death penalty.</p><p>In further support of its motion, Con-Ui&#8217;s defense replied to the prosecution&#8217;s response and claimed for the first time the court should strike multiple aggravating factors for capital punishment.</p><p>The factors include the non-statutory aggravating factor of future dangerousness, the statutory aggravating factor of &#8220;especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner of committing the offense&#8221; and the non-statutory aggravating factor of victim impact.</p><p>On Wednesday, prosecutors maintained their stance behind proven legal outcomes that have long upheld the use of the death penalty in past capital cases.</p><p>&#8220;The Supreme Court and numerous other federal courts have repeatedly upheld the use of these aggravating factors in capital cases and, therefore, the defendant&#8217;s request to strike the specified aggravating factors should be summarily denied,&#8221; prosecutors argued.</p><p>Prosecutors asserted the defendant &#8220;failed to cite any federal case that supports his request, and instead cites law review articles, studies and an expert opinion.&#8221;</p><p>According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Con-Ui is currently being held at ADX Florence, a supermaximum U.S. prison in Colorado known for housing notorious criminals as well as inmates that have a history of violence against corrections officers and fellow inmates.</p><p>A hearing on the motion to strike the death penalty is scheduled for next week at the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Con-Ui is scheduled to be tried for Williams&#8217; death in July.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Con-Ui </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_conui-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Con-Ui </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Federal inmate accused of killing corrections officer Eric Williams</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Federal prosecutors continue to oppose removal of death penalty in case of Eric Williams’ murder