Exerpted
Murder by sword described in detail
Autopsy revealed more than 50 stab wounds on victim.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
By JENNA PORTNOY
The Express-Times
BETHLEHEM – A city man accused of killing another man with a Samurai sword and setting the victim’s body on fire told police he repeatedly stabbed the victim because “he was hard to kill,” according to testimony Wednesday.
District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez at a preliminary hearing found sufficient evidence against Sonny Thomas to bind over to county court a criminal homicide charge.
Thomas, 48, also faces charges of aggravated assault on 12 police officers who were injured when they responded to the Broadway boarding house where the murder occurred.
Thomas pleaded not guilty to the charges through defense attorneys Bohdan Zelechiwsky and Holly Calantoni.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he plans to announce near the time of Thomas’ formal arraignment, set for March 17, whether the state will seek the death penalty.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek ruled the death of 19-year-old Carlos S. Garcia a homicide by multiple sharp force injury.
Lysek responded to a call from Bethlehem police about 10:10 p.m. Jan. 21, and found Garcia’s body laying face down with a katana-style Samurai sword protruding from his back. The sword is associated with some martial arts and has a curved blade with a broad tip.
The Jan. 24 autopsy revealed more than 50 cut and stab wounds, some of which went all the way through Garcia’s body from back to front. There were also marks on the floor from where the sword impaled Garcia’s body into the floor.
In response to questioning from Morganelli, city police detective Sgt. Mark DiLuzio gave the following account of the incident:
About 9:30 p.m. DiLuzio and another officer responded to an emergency radio report of a man covered in blood and holding a knife at 540 Broadway. When the officers arrived, the building landlord gave them keys to a door leading to about seven boarding rooms as well as common kitchen, bathroom and living areas.
As four officers checked the rooms, they noticed fire and smoke under a locked, closed door. When they banged on the door, someone inside – later identified as Thomas – said, “Get out of here.”
Two officers kicked in the door and saw Garcia’s body on the floor engulfed in 2- to 3-foot tall flames. Thomas refused the officers’ orders to get on the floor, took a step back, went into a fighting stance and said, “I did you guys a favor. I killed a drug dealer.”
He started fighting with the officers, who needed two sets of handcuffs to subdue him. In the scuffle, Thomas struck DiLuzio’s left arm and a leg. Of the 12 police officers treated for smoke inhalation or inhaling chemicals from fire extinguishers, 11 also suffered minor cuts and bruises from Thomas’ attack. Edit: Probably should have shot him.
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Full article at:
http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1109844342209930.xml
Name of town is amusing, paging Joseph and Mary.