Gianquitti trial: Defense's closing argument
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In closing arguments, defense co-counsel Mark Dana told the jury Nicholas Gianquitti shot at his neighbor in self-defense. "The state wants to portray him as a cold-blooded murderer," Dana said in deliberate, measured tones. "The facts do not reflect that. Nothing could be further from the truth." Gianquitti, 40, of 16 Daisy Court in Cranston, was charged with gunning down his next-door neighbor, James Pagano, a Cranston fire lieutenant, following an argument over the manner in which Gianquitti spoke to Pagano's children and nephews after they hit Gianquitti's car with a stray tennis ball while playing baseball on the Cranston cul-de-sac. Gianquitti, who briefly served as a Providence police officer before retiring on disability, has said he shot Pagano because he feared for his life as Pagano came into his house. Dana reminded the jury of testimony that Pagano was eating when his daughter told him that Gianquitti had sworn at the children as they played baseball on the street and "bolted for the door." "When he did so, he was a man on a mission," Dana said. Dana dropped his voice before he paused briefly. "BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG," he broke the silence with a quick succession of loud strikes to the clerk's desk with his open hand, just as, in his view, Pagano would have banged on the Gianquitti's door on May 18, 2008. When Pagano told Gianquitti, "Good thing you didn't open the door," Dana said, he didn't mean that he wanted to discuss what happened. Rather, Dana said, Pagano meant, "Good thing because if you opened the door, I would have assaulted you." And the minute Gianquitti opened the door, coming face to face with the enraged Pagano, "the barrage started." "Don't (expletive) swear at my kids," Dana repeated Pagano's words. "All eyes were on 16 Daisy Court. "This was a man enraged," Dana said. "Evidence is uncontradicted, the rage that man felt." The prosecution, he said, will tell you that Gianquitti knew he had a gun. "That is not the testimony," Dana said, "The testimony is, 'I had no idea that that gun was on me until I was down' " the stairs. (Gianquitti testified he had put the pistol on a holster that morning before he left his house, as he always did, and kept it on during the day as he cleaned his house.) Pagano entered the house and went for Gianquitti, Dana said. "If he wanted to just hit Mr. Gianquitti before, now he wants to hurt him," he said, telling the jury: "Put yourselves in the position of Mr. Gianquitti." "Nicholas Gianquitti knew that if that man got to him, he was going to die, or worse, his wife upstairs or his daughter upstairs were going to die," Dana said. "I suggest to you that this is classic self-defense," Dana said, adding, "Look at the entry of the wound." An autopsy found that the bullet entered through Pagano's lower back. Gianquitti testified that Pagano came down the stairs partially turned, leading with his left hip. As for the second shot, which did not strike Pagano, Dana said, "the second shot took place somewhere in those steps. That much we know." (The police and forensic experts could not determine the exact location of the gun at the time Gianquitti fired.) "Unfortunately, the forensic evidence wasn't there," Dana said, referring to gunshot residue tests that were not done. "That would have been the evidence (needed) to determine the distance of those two individuals." Moreover, Dana said, as Pagano lay on the ground, Gianquitti told his wife to call 911. "This is not the act of a murderer. Murderers do not try to save their victims' lives." Get the latest blog posts from the trial. Extra:Our continuing report on the shooting of James Pagano. 
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I need to contact Mrs. Gianquitti. Can anyone help me? Thank You
Dennis Mills
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