Strangers are bad enough, now it is the cops...

[CBEMT]

Gianquitti denied bail in murder of neighbor

WARWICK -- Bail was denied today for Nicholas Gianquitti, the neighbor accused of shooting and killing his neighbor, Cranston firefighter Lt. James A. Pagano, after the defense failed to convince the judge that the charge should be manslaughter and not murder.

District Court Judge Elaine Bucci refused to buy the argument by Gianquitti's lawyers that the shooting was not premeditated, and therefore the crime was manslaughter.

A murder charge requires "malice aforethought." A manslaughter charge under state guidelines requires that bail be allowed.

Bucci, however, agreed with the state prosecutors, who argued that the shooting was indeed a case of murder.

In doing so, the judge cited the 911 tape played at the bail hearing yesterday in which Gianquitti gets on the phone and calmly says he shot Pagano. The judge also noted that Pagano was shot in the back as he walked away, which she said constituted malice.

The decision concluded three afternoons of testimony, including from Pagano's family members, both children and adults, in the bail hearing.

Gianquitti, who briefly served as a Providence police officer, is accused of murdering Pagano on May 18 after a dispute started by a child's stray tennis ball.

Yesterday, Gianquitti cried in court as he listened to the 911 call that his wife placed while Pagano was dying from a single gunshot wound.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer David Scharfenberg

[WendyT]

While I didn't know him, I was in the same room as Lt. Pagano last week, watching him and others sworn in as new officers. I was there for a relative of my fiance being sworn in as a new firefighter.

Freaky.

The worst part was initially the police treated the scene as a barricaded subject and wouldn't allow CFD in to start treatment. Pagano lay in the street dead or dying, and the guys who responded had to just stand there and watch. Eventually two officers drove their car between Pagano and the suspect's house, pulled him in, and drove him out to the ambulance.

I can't imagine what his family is going through. His poor son will probably never want a birthday party ever again.

Standing next to someone who was going to die, that that was going to be the end of his life.

[Dustdevil]

Yesterday, Gianquitti cried in court as he listened to the 911 call that his wife placed while Pagano was dying from a single gunshot wound.

Dumbass. I would have called his wife a whore or something to make him turn around before I shot him.

[PCB]

Dumbass. I would have called his wife a whore or something to make him turn around before I shot him.

You're so much kinder now that you are no longer single. It almost brings a tear to my eye...

PC