On this date, May 21,
2019, a judge imposed the death penalty on a 32-year-old man convicted of the
execution-style murders of a couple during a break-in attempt at their
family-owned car lot. Joseph McAlpin will pay the law’s ultimate penalty in the
2017 shooting deaths of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola inside Mr. Cars on East
185th Street.
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Prosecutors said Joseph
McAlpin committed the murders of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola Kuznik, and
then he and two other men stole a Mercedes and BMW from the dealership.
[PHOTO SOURCE:
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Cleveland
man gets death penalty in Mr. Cars double murder
CLEVELAND,
Ohio -- A judge on Tuesday imposed the death penalty on a 32-year-old man
convicted of the execution-style murders of a couple during a break-in attempt
at their family-owned car lot.
Joseph
McAlpin will pay the law’s ultimate penalty in the 2017 shooting deaths of
Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola inside Mr. Cars on East 185th Street.
Common
Pleas Court Judge Brian J. Corrigan, who presided over the three-week trial, condemned McAlpin to death row after the
jury on Thursday recommended the death penalty in the trial’s second phase.
McAlpin,
who is believed to be the first defendant to represent himself in a
death-penalty trial in Cuyahoga County’s history, thanked Corrigan and the team
of county prosecutors for their patience with him during the trial. He also
apologized to his own family for what he called “ignorant” declarations during
trial that he would only accept full liberty or death.
McAlpin
offered no words to the family of Kuznik and Tomola, who packed the courtroom’s
gallery but chose not to address the court.
“My fight’s going to continue,”
McAlpin, handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit, said. “I
know people are tired of hearing that, but there’s not much else I can say.”
Cleveland City Councilman Michael Polensek, whose ward encompassed the
Collinwood neighborhood where the car lot sat for 40 years, called McAlpin a
“demonic killer” who rocked the entire neighborhood and the business community
across Cleveland.
“This was never about retribution,” Polensek said. “This was about
justice.”
After
the hearing, Polensek told reporters that he felt death by lethal injection was
“too good” for McAlpin.
“As far as I’m concerned he should be burned at the stake for what
he did to that family,” Polensek
said.
Cuyahoga
County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley read a statement from Kuznik’s family after
the hearing in which they thanked law enforcement and the jurors who heard the
case.
“Our hearts will be forever broken, and we are greatly relieved that justice
has been served,” O’Malley said, reading from the statement.
Prosecutors put forth no additional evidence in the second phase of trial, and McAlpin
called a handful of family members to testify on his
behalf.
The
jury reached its recommendation after about deliberating for less than an hour.
McAlpin
has maintained his innocence throughout both phases of the trial.
Corrigan
on Tuesday noted that McAlpin lived a difficult childhood. He shot himself in
the leg with his mother’s gun when he was 5 years old, Corrigan said. He
suffered seizures after he was hit in the head with a brick as a 12-year-old,
and found his mother’s body after she overdosed on heroin when he was 19. He
also suffered sexual abuse.
Corrigan
found that mitigation was not enough to outweigh the aggravated circumstances
of the killings.
The
car lot, which had been owned by members of Kuznik’s family since it opened in
April 1975, closed after the killings.
“These
crimes slowly eat at a community,” O’Malley said. “It’s through sentences like
this that jurors, who are composed of people from our community, are just
saying ‘we’ve had enough.’ People in this county have had enough.”
Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence, cellphone records and testimony from a man
who admitted to helping McAlpin carry out what was supposed to be a simple
burglary to steal cars and titles on April 14, 2017.
It
was Good Friday and the couple, who had Easter baskets for their children in
the back of their car parked outside the lot, were closing up for the day,
prosecutors said. Those baskets remained in the backseat as the car sits in the
custody of Cleveland police as evidence, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors
say McAlpin entered Mr. Cars and shot Kuznik, 47, in the showroom. The bullet
grazed Kuznik’s face before he ran to a backroom, where McAlpin stood over him
and shot him in the top of his head, prosecutors say.
Investigators
found McAlpin’s DNA in Kuznik’s back pocket, where prosecutors said he had put
cash from two car sales earlier in the day. The cash was not found on Kuznik’s
body.
Tomola,
46, tried to run from the building during the robbery. McAlpin shot her in the
back of her head, near an exit, prosecutors said.
McAlpin
also shot and killed the couple’s Doberman Pinscher, Axel, disabled the
business’s surveillance system and stole a BMW sedan, prosecutors said.
Andrew Keener told jurors that he participated in the crime
alongside McAlpin. Keener pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is set
to be sentenced after McAlpin’s trial wraps up. McAlpin’s brother, Jerome
Diggs, has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, and his
case is pending.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2019/05/cleveland-man-gets-death-penalty-in-mr-cars-double-murder.html
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Joseph McAlpin, 32, at
his sentencing Tuesday, May 21, 2019, on aggravated murder and other charges in
the killings of a couple at their Cleveland car lot.
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Sentenced
to death: Judge decides fate of man who murdered couple at car dealership
Posted 6:52 am, May 21,
2019, by Darcie Loreno, Kara
Sutyak and Matt Wright, Updated
at 04:21PM, May 21, 2019
CLEVELAND,
Ohio -- A Cleveland man is heading to Ohio's death row.
Joseph
McAlpin, 32, was found guilty last month of aggravated murder, murder,
aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, grand theft and cruelty to
animals.
A
Cuyahoga County jury last week recommended the death penalty and the judge
upheld that decision on Tuesday.
The
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office said McAlpin and two co-defendants went to
Mr. Cars in the Collinwood neighborhood on April 14, 2017 to steal vehicles.
While the
other two men waited down the street, McAlpin shot and killed Michael Kuznik,
50, and Trina Tomola-Kuznik, 46, according to prosecutors. He's also accused of
killing the family dog before the group stole two cars from the lot.
The couple's 19-year-old son discovered their
bodies inside the family owned business.
The Kuznik family gave the following statement:
"This has been a heartbreaking and
traumatic two years for our family. We sincerely appreciate the outpouring of
support we have received from the community. We would like to thank the
prosecution team and the Cleveland homicide detectives, the Cleveland FBI, for
the dedicated and countless hours they have put into preparing this case. We
would also like to thank the jurors who took time away from their families to
spend weeks diligently listening to testimony and examining evidence. Our
hearts will be forever broken and we are greatly relieved that justice has been
served."
McAlpin's DNA was found in several places at the
crime scene, prosecutors said.
During
Tuesday's sentencing, Cleveland Councilman Mike Polensek spoke. "Lethal injection, for him, is too good. He's a demonic
killer, and, as far as I'm concerned, he should be burned at the stake."
Polensek
asked for justice on behalf of Mike and Trina's family and the entire
community.
After the
sentencing, Polensek said McAlpin "got what he deserved," and said, "At the end of the day justice was served today. The
message has got to be sent clear, you want to commit these violent crimes in
our community, there's a price to pay for it, there's a price, and it's you pay
for it with your life."
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://fox8.com/2019/05/21/judge-to-decide-fate-of-man-who-murdered-couple-at-car-dealership-after-jury-recommends-death/
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Michael Kuznik and Trina
Tomola
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