PHILADELPHIA
(AP) - A judge who questioned whether the death penalty is handed down with
racial bias decided to let prosecutors seek the death penalty against three
Hispanics who are alleged drug gang members.
U.S.
District Judge Louis H. Pollak ruled Tuesday there was no evidence of bias
when prosecutors declined in another case to seek death sentences for a
convicted mob boss of Italian heritage and three co-defendants.
Lawyers
for Carlos Llera-Plaza, Victor Rodriguez and Wilfredo Martinez Acosta had
alleged that the similarities between the cases - allegations of criminal
organizations using violence to achieve their goals and murdering rivals
who got in their way - indicate that race was the key factor distinguishing
the two.
The
men, all from Puerto Rico, are accused of operating a multimillion-dollar
cocaine and crack ring between 1996 and 1998 and are linked to four murders,
three of them in Philadelphia.
In
his ruling, Pollak said prosecutors did not seek the death penalty against
Joseph Merlino and his associates because those murders had been ordered by
Ralph Natale, Merlino's predecessor and the government's star witness.
``The
Natale factor clearly differentiates Merlino from the case at bar,'' Pollak
wrote.
Merlino,
boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Italian mob, was convicted of
racketeering and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Jules
Epstein, defense attorney in the current case, did not immediately return a
call seeking comment Thursday.
Jury
selection, which began in July, is not complete, in part because of various
pretrial motions. The trial is expected to last three months.
