Thursday, June 28, 2012

DA Martin & Judge Steinberg give Michael Randolph's killer an eventual FREE PASS











LVS attended the 6/28 bail hearing for Michael Randolph's confessed killer, Andrew Gesslein (in handcuffs), see Criminal Docket and Miscellaneous Docket.

Not surprisingly … 


 DA Jim Martin's press agent The Morning Call "newspaper" in its coverage is skillfully diverting the public's attention away from the relevant and damaging issues by sensationalizing a predictable Andrew Gesslein lie that was revealed in court today [read "newspaper" account].

Much more revealing are the inconvenient facts that were exposed in court today that The Morning Call "newspaper" is purposefully not covering.

For example ...

* Andrew Gesslein's employer, former cop Pat Badolato/Eye In The Sky is poised to welcome licensed NRA firearms instructor and confessed killer Andrew Gesslein back to his old security/bouncer job with open arms as soon as he's bailed out of Lehigh County Prison. Wrongful death litigators, take note.

* Andrew Gesslein's work resume includes the job title "Fugitive Recovery Specialist" (a.k.a. "bounty hunter"), a job that's way more rough & tumble than security/bouncer and one that took Andrew Gesslein all over the country and educated him on the many ways that bail-jumping criminals can elude re-capture.

* Since 2003, Andrew Gesslein has been on disability for a "bad back" Q. How could bounty hunter Andrew Gesslein specialize in recovering badass fugitives w/ a bad back? Somebody should ask the disability payments office, maybe they know.

* A pal named "Beasley" is currently holding Andrew Gesslein's dozen-plus guns for him. Beasley "might sell the guns" for Andy. Or maybe Beasley won't. Nobody knows for sure. The Express-Times claim about Andrew Gesslein's guns being sold to pay his bail is head scratching fiction that'll probably disappear from their article shortly [LVS emails corrections to the ET's Colin McEvoy regularly which he and his editors execute immediately but they never say thank you to us].

* Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Robert L. Steinberg tipped his outcome hand two seconds into the hearing by telling everyone that because DA Jim Martin hadn't charged Andrew Gesslein with a possible death sentence offense or a possible life in prison sentence crime like 2nd degree murder [Note: like George Zimmerman got for killing Trayvon Martin], there are no legal grounds to deny Andrew Gesslein bail [Note: Voluntary Manslaughter, the comparatively sweetheart charge Andrew Gesslein is facing (for now) was originally listed as a "Non-Bailable Offense" on Andrew Gesslein's Criminal Docket. Voluntary Manslaughter is a bailable offense].

But anyways, let the courtroom play acting charade begin.

* First to testify was Pretrial Officer Ashley Stumpp from Lehigh County Pretrial Services. Regular readers of LVS will recall that these are the folks who somehow allowed my daughter Sheena's killer Robert LaBarre to leave the country and enjoy a 10-day vacation in Belize Central America while he was out on $0.00 bail for killing my daughter Sheena. When asked by First Assistant DA Steven Luksa if she knew if Andrew Gesslein had a passport or not, Ashley Stumpp was stumped and testified that she "didn't know" which means that she obviously hadn't asked Andrew Gesslein this highly relevant question regarding flight risk and determining flight risk is probably Pretrial Services' most important function.

* Ashley Stumpp was further stumped by the question, "Do you know how many guns Andrew Gesslein owns?" Ashley Stumpp didn't know the answer, which turned out to be "between 12 and 14 guns," even though determining a defendant's danger to the community is probably Pretrial Services' 2nd most important function.

On top of all this, it was revealed today in court that Andrew Gesslein had (for years) misled his wife Edna (and who knows who else) into believing that he had been a police officer in Bergen County, New Jersey. Edna testified today that her husband had paperwork that verified it but that she had forgotten it at home. But Andrew Gesslein's arresting officer and an Allentown Police Detective both testified today that they contacted Bergen County NJ police authorities, and they had no record of an Andrew Gesslein ever being a police officer in New Jersey.

Incredibly, Ashley Stumpp (shamelessly stumping for confessed killer Andrew Gesslein) then recommended to Judge Steinberg that Andrew Gesslein be granted bail ... "10% bail" in the amount of only $150,000, meaning that all Andrew Gesslein would need to put up would be $15,000 of his own money (10% of $150k) to get out of jail.

To date, supporters of Andrew Gesslein have raised $10,000 ... so all they need to raise is $5,000 more and Andrew Gesslein goes free to await a trial in a year or two, or more likely, a 'bargain' plea deal from DA Jim Martin a coupla years down the road after the case is nice and ice cold, and involving a criminal charge even lower and more insulting than voluntary manslaughter.

Judge Steinberg asked First Assistant DA Steven Luksa if he opposed bail for Andrew Gesslein and DA Luksa responded that he "did not oppose it."

* Judge Steinberg then asked DA Luksa what bail amount he would recommend for Andrew Gesslein and DA Luksa inexplicably and curiously blurted out, "a million dollars," when he could have more realistically requested $250,000 or $500,000.

Judge Steinberg had the authority, and the obligation, in our opinion, to set a bail amount for Andrew Gesslein high enough to keep him incarcerated until trial, and/or high enough to ensure his not being a flight risk or a danger to the community. After all, confessed killer Andrew Gesslein is looking at a sentence of 10 to 20 years in the State Penitentiary if convicted of Voluntary Manslaughter, and at sentencing, he would get credit for the mere year or two of time already served in Lehigh County Prison.

* By agreeing with Ashley Stumpp's alarmingly incompetent and low bail recommendation of $15,000, knowing that Team Gesslein is only $5,000 away from having their $15,000, Judge Robert L. Steinberg and DA Jim Martin gave Andrew Gesslein an eventual free pass out of jail at an insulting bargain price.

It's only a matter of time, and not much money, until confessed killer Andrew Gesslein is set free.

LVS has a phone call in to First Assistant District Attorney Steven Luksa for comment, so far no response.
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