Solitary Confinement at Issue For Suspect in Detective Murders

Attorneys representing a man who could face the death penalty if convicted of killing two Staten Island detectives in 2003 will face off against prosecutors in a Brooklyn court on Friday over their client's long-term stay in solitary confinement. Standing before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, the defense attorneys also are expected to announce what kind of defense strategy they plan to pursue.

The suspect, Ronell Wilson, 23, has been held in an isolation unit at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Red Hook for the past year, spending 23 hours a day in his cell. He is allowed an hour a day for recreation and one personal call a month. Mr. Wilson's trial attorney, Ephraim Savitt, said the court "should intervene to get him into general population because it's interfering with his ability to focus on a death penalty case."

While not all capital clients are segregated, Mr. Savitt said he speculates that Mr. Wilson has been in solitary confinement "primarily because he's facing the death penalty." Other factors he cited are that Mr. Wilson's alleged victims were two detectives, and he has been written up for various infractions during his stay at Rikers Island as well as at the Brooklyn detention center. The infractions in the Brooklyn detention center were non-violent, Mr. Savitt said, while the Rikers write-ups included a physical altercation.

On March 10, 2003, detectives Rodney Andrews, 34, and James Nemorin, 36, were conducting an undercover gun trafficking sting when they were slain execution style, allegedly by Mr. Wilson and four accomplices. Mr. Wilson is the accused gunman.

The other defendants last month submitted guilty pleas to federal racketeering charges. All five, including Mr. Wilson, were reputed to be members of the Stapleton Crew, a gang that allegedly specialized in gun trafficking and drug dealing on Staten Island.

A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons, Carla Wilson, said she could not discuss the defendant's housing status because it was not public information.

Mr. Savitt and Mr. Wilson's capital counsel, Kelley Sharkey, have until Friday to declare "whether there's any mental issue or defect which acts as a mitigator in the context of a capital sentence hearing." They are expected to file the notice that day.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have until February to respond to a series of other motions filed by the defense attorneys, an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, Jack Smith, said.

The federal trial is expected to start September 11.

At the state level, proceedings are scheduled for January 27, a spokesman for the state's Capital Defender Office, Kevin Doyle, said. Mr. Wilson is represented in the state case by Mitchell Dinnerstein of the public defender's office. The state case is likely to be dropped.

"Right now, our case is open, but we have adjourned it in deference to the federal prosecution," the communications director for the Richmond County district attorney's office, William Smith, said. "Should anything occur with the federal case, we would be willing and able to resume our prosecution."