GUILTY FL - Kristofer King, 17, stabbed to death, Hudson, 23 March 2006

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/neo-nazi_in_florida_murder_cas.html

"NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- John Allen Ditullio is a walking billboard for the neo-Nazi movement: a large 6-inch swastika tattooed under his right ear, barbed wire inked down the right side of his face, and an extreme and very personal vulgarity scrawled on one side of his neck.

Jurors will never see any of it. A judge has ruled that the state must pay a cosmetologist up to $150 a day during Ditullio's trial on murder and attempted murder charges and apply makeup to cover up the black ink......

.......As is common with defendants on trial, Ditullio's appearance had been scrubbed clean: his hair was trimmed, and his unruly beard was cut into a neat goatee."


And why, may I ask, is the jury not allowed to see Mr. Ditullio as he has chosen to adorn himself? If I were on the jury, I would find this pertinent information, wouldn't most jurors?

Missizzy said:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/neo-nazi_in_florida_murder_cas.html

"NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- John Allen Ditullio is a walking billboard for the neo-Nazi movement: a large 6-inch swastika tattooed under his right ear, barbed wire inked down the right side of his face, and an extreme and very personal vulgarity scrawled on one side of his neck.

Jurors will never see any of it. A judge has ruled that the state must pay a cosmetologist up to $150 a day during Ditullio's trial on murder and attempted murder charges and apply makeup to cover up the black ink......

.......As is common with defendants on trial, Ditullio's appearance had been scrubbed clean: his hair was trimmed, and his unruly beard was cut into a neat goatee."


And why, may I ask, is the jury not allowed to see Mr. Ditullio as he has chosen to adorn himself? If I were on the jury, I would find this pertinent information, wouldn't most jurors?

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This is exactly why they are going to allow them to be covered.
Prejudices the jury based on something other than the evidence of the crime.

But evidence of the crime isn't the question; evidence of who committed the crime is.

Not to go too far astray, but we went through this in the Davidson trial, where the jury wasn't allowed to be told that he had just gotten out of prison for a very similar crime, or that he had put a gun in the face of two other women less than a week before he killed the victims he was being tried for.

I understand the reasoning, and we must be cautious, but IMO, some judges take avoiding prejudice too far when they don't allow juries to see anything about the accused that shows his propensities.

Previous behavior is the strongest indicators of future behavior. So it's a critical variable to consider when trying to decide whether or not someone did something. .../rant

Back to this case... :blush:

What's strange is:

1. He isn't denying he's a neo-Nazi

2. The tattoos they are spending so much time and (taxpayers') money to cover up are ones he got since his arrest for this crime.

The ones he had before (a cross under his eye, and several small ones on his hands) will be left alone. I'm unclear as to why. Is it just a matter of wanting to portray him as, well, as something he is not? i.e., cleaner and more decent a man than he is?

I'm so tired of seeing juries being deceived. :sheesh:

From December 2010:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts...-gets-life-sentence-in-2006-stabbings/1140326

Ditullio, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. In early 2006, he was living with a group of American Nazis near Hudson who hated Patricia Wells, their next-door neighbor, for having an African-American friend and a gay son.

One night, authorities said, Ditullio put on a gas mask and broke into Wells' house, attacking her with a knife. She escaped with injuries to her face and hands, but her son's friend, 17-year-old Kristofer King, died from stab wounds to his skull.

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http://archive.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=162652

After less than 30 minutes of deliberations, a jury recommended life in prison to the man found guilty of killing a gay teen and stabbing a woman in New Port Richey.

The judge followed the jury's recommendation and on Thursday sentenced John Ditullio, 24, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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