We’ve not always found ourselves on the same side of the argument as federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis. But he the judge spoke eloquently this week when he affirmed the death sentence imposed on Ronell Wilson by a jury for the execution-style killings of police officers Rodney J. Andrews and James V. Nemorin.
The two undercover detectives were murdered in a 2003 gun deal gone bad on Staten Island. Wilson was originally convicted for these murders in 2006 and sentenced to lethal injection. But in 2010, a federal appeals court overturned the death penalty phase of that trial. This year a new jury also sentenced him to death, and Judge Garaufis upheld the decision.
In throwing out Wilson’s motion to set aside the new verdict, Judge Garaufis made several points worth repeating. He noted that race was not a factor in the judgment against Wilson, and that Wilson’s trial was “fair, reasonable and comported with the law in all respects.” And the jurors who sentenced him, said the judge, “grasped the seriousness of deciding the ultimate question of punishment: life versus death.”
We agree. In addition to the markedly brutal nature of his murders, Wilson has shown few signs of remorse — and many signs he remains a menace. We would further note that New York becomes a more dangerous place when criminals kill those who uphold the law and keep us safe.
The conviction and sentencing of Ronell Wilson will do nothing to bring back to their families two men who were not only police officers but loving fathers and husbands. But if ever a case cried out for the ultimate penalty, it’s this one.