Gianquitti trial: Paganos say 'justice was served' by verdict
4:41 PM Wed, Apr 01, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Surrounded by friends, the Pagano family addressed the media from the Providence Superior Court courthouse's Benefit Street steps at 3:18 this afternoon. "I am extremely happy," said Anthony Pagano, the father of slain Cranston firefighter James Pagano. "They [jurors] were able to read through that fabricated story that he [Nicholas Gianquitti] made up." He "got what he deserved," Pagano said. "We hold no malice to [the Gianquitti] family." Twenty minutes earlier, a jury had found his son's killer guilty of second-degree murder and firing a gun during the commision of a violent crime. Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause ordered Gianquitti held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions, in Cranston, pending sentencing. Gianquitti has been held in the ACI since his arrest. A second-degree murder conviction carries a penalty of at least 10 years in prison, and up to life. Pagano's father, Anthony Pagano, told reporters the verdict "was some sort of closure to the family ... Justice was served." When asked how the family felt as they heard the testimony, his wife, Rosealba Pagano, said, "It was tense; but when you tell the truth, it's not hard." "Was it torture?" a reporter asked. "It was torture for us to hear those lies," Rosealba Pagano said. Pagano was a good man, not a man trying to pick a fight, his family said. And, Anthony Pagano noted, "Jim Pagano wasn't 6' 1". He may have been 230, but he wasn't 6'1", believe me." The verdict, Pagano's widow, Adriana Pagano, said, "doesn't bring my husband back, but justice was served." Gianquitti, 40, of 16 Daisy Court in Cranston, and Pagano, then 44, of 10 Daisy Court, had sparred over the manner in which Gianquitti spoke to Pagano's children and nephews when the children hit his car with a stray tennis ball as they played baseball on the Cranston cul-de-sac on May 18, 2008. The Paganos were celebrating their youngest son's birthday. As the confrontation escalated, James Pagano punched Gianquitti and Gianquitti shot at Pagano twice, fatally hitting him once. Pagano died from a single gunshot to the torso, according to autopsy results. Dr. Alexander Chirkov, the state's assistant medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, testified last week that the bullet entered through Pagano's lower back and traveled at a 45-degree angle, tearing through Pagano's aorta, pancreas and liver. Gianquitti, who briefly served as a Providence police officer before retiring on disability, said he shot Pagano because he feared for his life as Pagano charged into his house. The jury didn't believe him and convicted him of second-degree murder, meaning jurors believed the killing was intentional but not premeditated nor committed in the "heat of passion." 
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Self defense? he shot him in the back! pagano was leaving. justice has truly been served. hopefully he (gianquitti will get the max. sentence- life.
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i hate to make it appear that im "picking a fight" but if jim pagano wasn't at the gianquitti home to pick a fight WTH was he throwing a punch and yes, by legal definition breaking into the sacred place we americans call a home???
no ill will to the surviving paganos family but jim pagano did not have the legal authority to break that sacred bond of the home PERIOD!. he was a public official and knew darn well what legal recourse to take (call legal officials.. POLICE) but yet he chose to be a tough guy and assualted a man IN HIS OWN HOME and we can only assume with years and years and years to assume what his intentions were. mr. giantquitty did not have that luxery...
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