bloody murder
removing myself further & further. but the thoughts remain. late, in the dark, when its quiet. whenever somebody mentions italy... like the san pedro murder on tv the other night... :
Ventre to face murder trial in Italy for killing of San Pedro woman
LOS ANGELES - An Italian judge has ordered that Carlo Ventre stand trial on a voluntary murder charge for the 1998 slaying of San Pedro resident Toni Dykstra, a lawyer said Monday.
Los Angeles-based lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents the Dykstra family and traveled to Rome to monitor Ventre's hearing, said his trial is slated to begin March 1. She said Italian lawyers told her that the judge did not state a reason for his ruling. She said that Ventre was in court and remains free. "It was the best we could hope for," Allred said in a telephone interview, adding that the judge had the option of dismissing charges against Ventre or holding him for trial on a lesser charge. "It was an uphill battle."
Toni Dykstra's twin sister, Teri Martinez, said the legal battle took such a long time that she didn't think Ventre would ever face a trial. "We're thrilled," said Martinez, who was not at the hearing. "Even though it took seven years to get to this point, we're here."
Dykstra, 29, was killed in Ventre's apartment after traveling to Italy to retrieve their daughter, Santina, whom Ventre allegedly kidnapped. Ventre, 57, an Italian native, has said in the past that Dykstra attacked him with an ax, and he pushed her away in self-defense. She fell, striking her head on a fireplace. Her friends and family have said that Ventre repeatedly threatened Toni Dykstra's life.
An autopsy by Italian authorities appeared to back his account, and led Allred to doubt that prosecutors there would ever bring charges against Ventre. But Allred had the autopsy findings reviewed by an Illinois-based medical examiner, who found several questionable conclusions and bias against Dykstra and for Ventre. Also, an immigration judge in 2002, quoting from a secretly taped jailhouse interview, said Ventre told a confidential informant "he was afraid someone had found out that the autopsy report in Italy had been fixed ... (and) that it had been arranged to be favorable" to Ventre. Allred said she presented the statements made by U.S. Immigration Court Judge Rose Peters to the prosecutors handling the Ventre murder case. The lawyer who has championed the prosecution of Ventre for years considered Monday's decision a milestone.
"I just truly believe there has to be justice for Toni and her three children," Allred said. "Now we're on the path to justice. It's a very important day."
Despite a custody agreement prohibiting it, Ventre, a one-time toilet seat salesman from Downey, allegedly took Santina to Italy with him in 1998. Toni Dykstra followed him and was able to secure custody of the girl, who was then 2-years-old, in an Italian court and was preparing to bring her back to California.
But on July 28, 1998, the day before she was supposed to return home, she was found dead in Ventre's apartment outside Rome. Italian authorities investigated but there was little progress in the case. More than a year after Toni Dykstra's killing, her parents were able to obtain custody of Santina and returned her to California. Ventre followed them but was arrested in December 1999 by federal agents as he landed and Los Angeles International Airport. He was charged with international child kidnapping. He eventually pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to nearly one year in prison. But on the day of his release, at Allred's urging, federal immigration officials took him into custody for possible deportation.
During his time in detention at Terminal Island, he allegedly tried to hire a man to kill Dykstra's parents and kidnap Santina, who now is in the custody of his brother who lives in Las Vegas. The man Ventre allegedly solicited was a confidential informant for the government and their conversation was secretly recorded. Ventre was ordered deported in 2002 and after his appeals were exhausted he was returned to Italy earlier this year. Italian police questioned him about the Dykstra killing when he returned, and he was released. Allred said she was in court on Monday for the hearing, but Ventre objected to her presence and she and members of the media were ordered out. She said Ventre's trial would be conducted before two judges and five members of the community and it will be open to the public. It could take up to a year to complete.
Italian lawyers handling the case there told Allred that it is difficult to tell exactly how much prison time Ventre could face if convicted, she said.
"The answer is: It depends," she said. "There are lots of possibilities with sentences."
Prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office have filed murder solicitation and kidnapping solicitation charges against Ventre and said they will ask that he be extradited for prosecution if he is acquitted or gets a light prison term in Italy.
Matt Krasnowski
Dec 20,2005