Antuan Bronshtein
Encyclopedia
Antuan Bronshtein is a Russian immigrant, convicted murderer, and reputed associate of the Russian Mafia
.
awaiting trial on burglary
charges.
Bronshtein was convicted on 27 February 1992 and sentenced to life in prison.
On 2 June 1993 Bronshtein was arrested in the Pennsylvania Corrections Institute in Dallas, Pennsylvania
, and charged with the 11 January 1991 murder of jewelry store owner Alexander Gutman. Bronshtein was convicted of this crime in April 1994 and sentenced to death in August 1994.
Although newspaper coverage at the time of the killings and Bronshtein's trials did not make an explicit connection, both of these killings were later linked to Russian Mafia activity.
signed a death warrant for Bronshtein, authorizing his execution by lethal injection
. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
issued a stay
on 28 July 1997 to allow Bronshtein to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States
, which denied certiorari
without comment on 20 October 1997. Bronshtein's execution was rescheduled for 10 December 1997, and stayed on 3 December 1997, at which point Bronshtein was being held in the supermax
Pennsylvania Greene prison.
On 17 February 1999 Ridge signed another death warrant for Bronshtein, who was now in the Rockview Pennsylvania State Prison, scheduling his execution for 8 April 1999. Because the date set for Bronshtein's execution fell on the last day of passover
, Ridge decided in March to reschedule it. Bronshtein vowed to refuse further appeals, although he continued to maintain his innocence. According to his mother, Maria Pogrevebsky, "He said that in a society of lies and injustice the truth must die. There is no justice in this society, he says." By this time, his case had been taken up by the Philadelphia based Center for Legal Education, Advocacy & Defense Assistance, which claimed that Bronshtein was mentally ill, that his competence
had never been assessed by a court, and that there had been errors in the jury instructions
in one of Bronshtein's trials.
The Center, acting on behalf of Bronshtein's mother and sister, appealed his execution, rescheduled for 4 May 1999, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the grounds that Bronshtein was not competent to refuse further appeals. On 16 April 1999 the court refused to stay the execution. The majority opinion was written by justice Sandra Schultz Newman
, with justice John P. Flaherty, Jr.
dissenting. Bronshtein's final appeal on the state level, which was pending even as he pursued appeals on the federal level, was denied unanimously by the state supreme court in June 2000.
joined with lawyers from the Center in appealing Bronshtein's case on the federal level. The case was brought to Dershowitz's attention by a rabbi from Pittsburgh, who sent him an article stating that Bronshtein had said that he might consider appealing if Dershowitz represented him. Dershowitz filed an affadavit with Bronshtein's appeal claiming that executing him without a proper psychiatric evaluation would be tantamount to assisting in the "judicial suicide of this incompetent prisoner." When Dershowitz agreed to help Bronshtein, Bronshtein agreed to appeal his sentence. At the end of April 1999 he requested and was consequently granted, unopposed by Montgomery County
District Attorney Mary Killinger, a 120 day stay of execution.
On 5 July 2001, United States district court
judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr.
ordered that Bronshtein be retried for the Gutman murder. Reed's decision stated that the trial judge's failure to inform the jury that Bronshtein was already serving a life sentence tainted the trial. If jurors had known this, Reed reasoned, they might not have imposed the death penalty. Reed also found that Bronstein's trial was flawed in that the prosecutor
had misled the jury about Bronshtein's future threat to society, and that the jury had not been instructed that a life sentence in Bronshtein's case would preclude parole.
In April 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit partially reversed Reed. The court upheld Bronshtein's conviction but ordered a new sentencing hearing. Montgomery County DA Bruce L. Castor had argued that federal courts lacked jurisdiction
in Bronshtein's case because Bronshtein had missed a state filing deadline in 1999. Future U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito
wrote the opinion for the Third Circuit, rejecting Castor's reasoning because Pennsylvania had only enforced its filing deadlines sporadically. Alito's opinion, closely analyzed during his confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate, stated that "If inconsistently applied procedural rules sufficed as 'adequate' grounds of decision, they could provide a convenient pretext for state courts to scuttle federal claims without federal review."
The Supreme Court denied certiorari on 21 February 2006, thereby letting the Third Circuit's rejection of Bronshtein's death sentence stand. Alito, by then a sitting justice, recused himself.
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
.
Crimes and convictions
Bronshtein, 19 years old at the time, was stopped near his apartment in Philadelphia on 22 February 1991 while driving a stolen car. Police found a handgun in the car which ballistics tests linked to the murder of Jerome Slobodkin, a Philadelphia jeweler who had been shot to death on 19 February 1991. Bronshtein confessed to the killing, and told police that he had quarrelled with Slobodkin over the price of some stolen watches the jeweler had agreed to buy from Bronshtein. At the time of Slobodkin's murder, Bronshtein was free on bailBail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
awaiting trial on burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
charges.
Bronshtein was convicted on 27 February 1992 and sentenced to life in prison.
On 2 June 1993 Bronshtein was arrested in the Pennsylvania Corrections Institute in Dallas, Pennsylvania
Dallas, Pennsylvania
Dallas is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,557 at the 2000 census. It was created by a charter granted April 21, 1879 from land entirely within Dallas Township. The township had been formed in 1817 and was named for Alexander J. Dallas, who was the 6th...
, and charged with the 11 January 1991 murder of jewelry store owner Alexander Gutman. Bronshtein was convicted of this crime in April 1994 and sentenced to death in August 1994.
Although newspaper coverage at the time of the killings and Bronshtein's trials did not make an explicit connection, both of these killings were later linked to Russian Mafia activity.
State
On 16 July 1997, then governor Tom RidgeTom Ridge
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
signed a death warrant for Bronshtein, authorizing his execution by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the court of last resort for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It meets in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.-History:...
issued a stay
Stay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
on 28 July 1997 to allow Bronshtein to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, which denied certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
without comment on 20 October 1997. Bronshtein's execution was rescheduled for 10 December 1997, and stayed on 3 December 1997, at which point Bronshtein was being held in the supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
Pennsylvania Greene prison.
On 17 February 1999 Ridge signed another death warrant for Bronshtein, who was now in the Rockview Pennsylvania State Prison, scheduling his execution for 8 April 1999. Because the date set for Bronshtein's execution fell on the last day of passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, Ridge decided in March to reschedule it. Bronshtein vowed to refuse further appeals, although he continued to maintain his innocence. According to his mother, Maria Pogrevebsky, "He said that in a society of lies and injustice the truth must die. There is no justice in this society, he says." By this time, his case had been taken up by the Philadelphia based Center for Legal Education, Advocacy & Defense Assistance, which claimed that Bronshtein was mentally ill, that his competence
Competence (law)
In American law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings. Defendants that do not possess sufficient "competence" are usually excluded from criminal prosecution, while witnesses found not to possess requisite competence cannot testify...
had never been assessed by a court, and that there had been errors in the jury instructions
Jury instructions
Jury instructions are the set of legal rules that jurors should follow when the jury is deciding a civil or criminal case. Jury instructions are given to the jury by the jury instructor, who usually reads them aloud to the jury...
in one of Bronshtein's trials.
The Center, acting on behalf of Bronshtein's mother and sister, appealed his execution, rescheduled for 4 May 1999, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the grounds that Bronshtein was not competent to refuse further appeals. On 16 April 1999 the court refused to stay the execution. The majority opinion was written by justice Sandra Schultz Newman
Sandra Schultz Newman
-References:The Honorable Sandra Schultz Newman is a nationally recognized legal professional, prolific writer and speaker, and from 1995 –2006 served as the first female justice elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She currently maintains a private law practice in Alternative Dispute...
, with justice John P. Flaherty, Jr.
John P. Flaherty, Jr.
John P. Flaherty, Jr. was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1978 to 2001 and Chief Justice of the Court from 1996 to 2001. He retired at the end of 2001....
dissenting. Bronshtein's final appeal on the state level, which was pending even as he pursued appeals on the federal level, was denied unanimously by the state supreme court in June 2000.
Federal
Alan DershowitzAlan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
joined with lawyers from the Center in appealing Bronshtein's case on the federal level. The case was brought to Dershowitz's attention by a rabbi from Pittsburgh, who sent him an article stating that Bronshtein had said that he might consider appealing if Dershowitz represented him. Dershowitz filed an affadavit with Bronshtein's appeal claiming that executing him without a proper psychiatric evaluation would be tantamount to assisting in the "judicial suicide of this incompetent prisoner." When Dershowitz agreed to help Bronshtein, Bronshtein agreed to appeal his sentence. At the end of April 1999 he requested and was consequently granted, unopposed by Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
District Attorney Mary Killinger, a 120 day stay of execution.
On 5 July 2001, United States district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr.
Lowell A. Reed, Jr.
Lowell A. Reed, Jr. is a United States federal judge.Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Reed received a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1952 and attended the University of Wisconsin Law School before receiving a J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1958. He was in the United...
ordered that Bronshtein be retried for the Gutman murder. Reed's decision stated that the trial judge's failure to inform the jury that Bronshtein was already serving a life sentence tainted the trial. If jurors had known this, Reed reasoned, they might not have imposed the death penalty. Reed also found that Bronstein's trial was flawed in that the prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
had misled the jury about Bronshtein's future threat to society, and that the jury had not been instructed that a life sentence in Bronshtein's case would preclude parole.
In April 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit partially reversed Reed. The court upheld Bronshtein's conviction but ordered a new sentencing hearing. Montgomery County DA Bruce L. Castor had argued that federal courts lacked jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
in Bronshtein's case because Bronshtein had missed a state filing deadline in 1999. Future U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito
Samuel Alito
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....
wrote the opinion for the Third Circuit, rejecting Castor's reasoning because Pennsylvania had only enforced its filing deadlines sporadically. Alito's opinion, closely analyzed during his confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate, stated that "If inconsistently applied procedural rules sufficed as 'adequate' grounds of decision, they could provide a convenient pretext for state courts to scuttle federal claims without federal review."
The Supreme Court denied certiorari on 21 February 2006, thereby letting the Third Circuit's rejection of Bronshtein's death sentence stand. Alito, by then a sitting justice, recused himself.