Superior Court Justice Case Study
For a “brutal, cowardly attack” on a 27-year-old man, run over and left for dead, Agustin Caruso pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday and was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison.
In his decision, Superior Court Justice John McMahon said Caruso showed a “cold and callous disregard for the life and welfare of Christopher Skinner.”
Court heard that, according to the agreed statement of facts, 19-year-old Caruso was drunk on vodka and high on cocaine when he left a bar in the Entertainment District with five friends in a black Ford Explorer in the early hours of Oct. 18, 2009.
Skinner had left a bar where he’d been celebrating his younger sister’s birthday and was trying to hail a cab. He asked the people in the car for a ride and when they refused, hit the passenger-side window.
The men in the …show more content…
None of the six people in the car came forward, even as the Skinner family offered rewards for information at annual news conferences on the anniversary of their beloved son’s death.
“Not one of the six had the moral decency to come forward and do the right thing,” said McMahon.
Then, in 2013, police received a tip from Vancouver from the ex-girlfriend of one of the men in the car, court heard. The tip led to police wiretapping the phones of the main suspects for 35 days, during which time Caruso discussed ways to destroy cellphone records, fleeing to avoid prosecution and his plan to blame it on the others in the car if he was arrested.
Caruso was also heard discussing witness intimidation — a retaliatory assault on one of his friends from the car he believed was talking to police — though, the court heard, he never acted on any of it.
It took another two years for Caruso, charged with second-degree murder in November 2013, to plead guilty to manslaughter.
Caruso admitted that he assaulted Skinner, though he was too intoxicated to recall the extent of his participation. But he denies deliberately driving the car over
In his decision, Superior Court Justice John McMahon said Caruso showed a “cold and callous disregard for the life and welfare of Christopher Skinner.”
Court heard that, according to the agreed statement of facts, 19-year-old Caruso was drunk on vodka and high on cocaine when he left a bar in the Entertainment District with five friends in a black Ford Explorer in the early hours of Oct. 18, 2009.
Skinner had left a bar where he’d been celebrating his younger sister’s birthday and was trying to hail a cab. He asked the people in the car for a ride and when they refused, hit the passenger-side window.
The men in the …show more content…
None of the six people in the car came forward, even as the Skinner family offered rewards for information at annual news conferences on the anniversary of their beloved son’s death.
“Not one of the six had the moral decency to come forward and do the right thing,” said McMahon.
Then, in 2013, police received a tip from Vancouver from the ex-girlfriend of one of the men in the car, court heard. The tip led to police wiretapping the phones of the main suspects for 35 days, during which time Caruso discussed ways to destroy cellphone records, fleeing to avoid prosecution and his plan to blame it on the others in the car if he was arrested.
Caruso was also heard discussing witness intimidation — a retaliatory assault on one of his friends from the car he believed was talking to police — though, the court heard, he never acted on any of it.
It took another two years for Caruso, charged with second-degree murder in November 2013, to plead guilty to manslaughter.
Caruso admitted that he assaulted Skinner, though he was too intoxicated to recall the extent of his participation. But he denies deliberately driving the car over