Men in Insurance Murder Scheme Get Life in Prison

Two insurance agents convicted of a life insurance murder scheme will face life in prison without parole, a jury voted yesterday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

Richard James, 47, and his associate, Ronald Mallay, 61, were convicted in July of engineering two murders, one in New York in 1998 and one in Guyana in 1999, by taking out life insurance policies in the victims' names, hiring someone to do the killing, either by a bullet or poison, and collecting $650,000 from the insurance policies.

Mallay was convicted of taking part in both murders, as well as two additional murders in New York, and James was convicted of the murder in Guyana.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty in the case on the grounds the murders were for hire and murder in aid of racketeering. It was the fourth death penalty case in Brooklyn this year. Only one, involving a man who shot and killed a police officer, has resulted in the death penalty.

The jury, comprised of three women and nine men and ranged widely in age, failed to reach a unanimous verdict for the death penalty. They began deliberations Tuesday morning and reached their verdict within hours, voting seven to five for the death penalty for Mallay, and they were split evenly for James, according to the court. James and Mallay now face life in prison without parole.

One of the jurors, no. 11, said he has always been against the death penalty. "Rest in peace is the easy way out," he said after the proceeding. "I would rather them live in suffering in prison than die. It's not my place to kill someone."

Outside the courtroom, an attorney for James, Ephraim Savitt, said his client was relieved. "He thanked me, thanked me profusely," Mr. Savitt said.