Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) => Topic started by: Oscar on July 08, 2010, 04:36:06 PM

Title: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Oscar on July 08, 2010, 04:36:06 PM
Son's trial begins in `hit' on parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/08/1720439/sons-trial-begins-in-hit-on-parents.html), by David Ovalle and Mara Rudolph BY DAVID OVALLE AND MARA RUDOLPH,  Miami Herald, July 8, 2010
Title: Son's trial begins in 'hit' on parents
Post by: Ursus on July 08, 2010, 04:46:09 PM
The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.08.10

Son's trial begins in 'hit' on parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/08/1720439/sons-trial-begins-in-hit-on-parents.html)

Christopher Sutton is accused of dispatching a hit man to kill his parents in their luxury Coral Gables home in 2004. His mother died and his father was blinded.

BY DAVID OVALLE AND MARA RUDOLPH
[email protected]

It began as a murder mystery: In the black of night, a mysterious assassin slipped into a luxurious Coral Gables house, pumping a volley of bullets into wealthy lawyer John Sutton and his wife Susan.

The investigation ended, a Miami-Dade prosecutor told jurors Wednesday, with the unraveling of a murder plot fueled by greed, hate and revenge -- planned by the Suttons' own son.

Accused of a twisted tale worthy of a Greek tragedy, Christopher Sutton finally went to trial Wednesday, six years after he was charged with masterminding the plan that left his mother dead and his father blind.

Enraged that his parents shipped him off to an abusive boarding school in Western Samoa -- and standing to inherit his father's wealth -- Sutton seethed for years, complaining often to his girlfriend, prosecutor Carin Kahgan told jurors.

"How his parents had taken two years of his life. How his parents deserved to pay. How he could find someone to kill his parents,'' Kahgan said. "Like a broken record, on and on and over and over.''

Sutton, 31, is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Seated in the audience for the next few weeks will be his father, John Sutton -- no stranger to courtrooms, he is still a practicing civil attorney even though blind.

During the trial, prosecutors will paint the picture of a black-sheep son bent on vengeance and money who dispatched his friend, Garrett Kopp, to kill his parents.

The defense will portray Kopp as the sole culprit, shifting blame to Sutton to avoid a harsh sentence.

Defense attorney Bruce Fleisher, in his opening statement, said Kopp broke into the Sutton house while in a drug-influenced stupor, looking for cash and narcotics.

"He was doing a lot of drugs. He needed drugs to use, needed drugs to sell, and he needed money,'' Fleisher said of Kopp. "He knew where to get them because Chris kept things at his parents' house.''

Kopp knew the layout of the house because, as Sutton's pal, he had visited the home before. Surprised by Susan and John Sutton, Kopp shot the couple and escaped, Fleisher said.

Sutton is facing life in prison.

The shooting was initially a whodunit.

In dramatic prose, Kahgan laid out the shooting that took place about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 22, 2004, at the house on the 4700 block of Orduna Drive.

"Shrouded in black, the gunman left his car and headed out in the stillness of a Sunday night down the tree-lined streets of Coral Gables, in the shadow of the country club where he parked his car,'' Kahgan said.

Sutton, Kahgan explained, had earlier taken Kopp on a walk-through of the house.

The dog rarely barked. The back sliding door was never locked.

Kopp wielded a 9mm Glock pistol.

"He was on a mission, a mission to murder John and Susan Sutton,'' Kahgan said.

Shots rang out, cutting down Susan Sutton as she talked on the phone in the master bedroom. Kopp shot John Sutton in the torso and face. Gravely wounded, Sutton called 911.

"I need police and an ambulance,'' he groaned in agony during the emergency call played in court Wednesday.

Kopp escaped. Police swarmed the normally quiet neighborhood.

Suspicion soon fell on Sutton, who when first approached by a Miami--Dade detective, immediately offered up an alibi -- he was at the movies with his girlfriend -- without being asked for one, Kahgan said.

Phone records showed a call from Kopp to Sutton immediately after the shooting.

Shortly after the murder, Kopp was arrested for an unrelated assault case in Homestead, and his gun was confiscated by police. Ballistics tests showed the weapon was the same one used in the Sutton shooting.

Kopp told authorities that Sutton and he planned the crime for months -- Sutton even gave him $50 to buy at Walmart black clothes to wear during the crime, Kahgan said.

In February 2008, Kopp pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to a prison term of 30 years in exchange for testimony against Sutton.

Witnesses also told police Sutton hated his parents for shipping him off to the Paradise Cove program in Western Samoa, a boot camp style program with a history of abuse complaints from participants.

His parents even obtained a court order to ensure he stayed there after he turned 18.

Fleisher downplayed Sutton's anger toward his parents, and disputed the idea that he had any plans to cash in on his father's demise.

"The state says there is a financial motive in this case -- I disagree,'' Fleisher said. "John Sutton and Susan Sutton were very good parents to Chris.''


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Whooter on July 08, 2010, 05:52:17 PM
Link to Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/08/1720439/sons-trial-begins-in-hit-on-parents.html)


HenrikKnudsen wrote on 07/08/2010 04:31:26 PM:
The camp was shot down by the authorities in Samoa based on work by the US Consulate. The firm behind the camp did also get camps and school shut down in the Czech republic, Mexico and Costa Rica. When she was a senator, Clinton aided the Jewish community in New York to save a kid from a camp in Jamaica. I have found photo of kids hogtied in dog cages down in Mexico at another camp.

There is no question that such a treatment would create a very sick mind and because I do find the hit on the parents wrong despite their choice of treatment solution, I hope that a guilty verdict will put him in a real hospital for a very long time so he can recover and understand his actions.

miamigal427 wrote on 07/08/2010 04:02:50 PM:
I grew up with the Sutton's younger daughter. Her parents were like my parents throughout my childhood. It breaks my heart over and over again to hear about the case. Mr. Sutton and his daughter are 2 very strong people who deserve the best in life. Chris was always troubled child/teen.I remember his terrible anger fits and abuse His parents loved him very much though. I hope he is given the punishment he deserves.

rosafadul wrote on 07/08/2010 03:41:28 PM:
I haved the pleasure of knowing Mr. Sutton and I can tell you honestly this man is not only the kindest human being but a wonderful and honest lawyer. What he has encountered over the last couple of years, his son should pay. He took the life of his mother and left his father blind. Justice must always prevail even thou it will never bring back Mr. Sutton his sight, his wife and his son. May god bless Mr. Sutton and his family.
 
•   
rbquinn wrote on 07/08/2010 03:38:45 PM:
Christopher is an ungrateful adopted child!

Littlemiss wrote on 07/08/2010 01:48:39 PM:
Wow if his parents obtained a court order to leave him in Samoa till he was 18,the guy must have been really bad to the bone. Poor Damien.

•   
jacksonprivatei wrote on 07/08/2010 01:04:52 PM:
Replying to HenrikKnudsen (07/08/2010 07:34:26 AM):
"Everyone who search for "Paradise Cove" on the Internet will learn about a torment to a degree which you never would be something any parent would impose on their child.

Even 10-15 years later the survivors of this place is tormented by nightmares and they will have to live with it the rest...":
Oh really ? You have no idea what this SON put them through. I wouldn't judge unless you knew the whole story.
•   
dee65 wrote on 07/08/2010 11:15:44 AM:
Having children is the luck of the draw some are good, some are bad and some in between. The parents may have made a bad choice in sending their "troubled" child to paradise cove but that is NO excuse for murdering them. He was born a bad seed and probably thought that because he was an only child that his parents "owed" him he could get away with it. Parents don't "owe" anything to their children especially an inheritance, make your money I'll spend mine how I please. Rich or poor kids who kill their parents don't make a distinction between right and wrong, they want to place blame on the parents or society but never themselves. I say give him life, I'm sure right now he's tormented by the fact his friend didn't finish the job and he's father is still living. I hope his father realizes its not anything he may have done some are just bad from the get go.
 
•   

Kopp would testify Mother Teressa hired him to kill the Suttons for 30 years instead of the "needle"!



...
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: DannyB II on July 08, 2010, 10:28:21 PM
THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS, have a training school.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: wdtony on July 10, 2010, 05:05:00 AM
I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. It's really sad. The kid suffers, the parents suffer and the program is not held accountable at all.

I guess this program didn't deliver.... can the father sue the program for failing to help his son or has the name and location of the program changed a few times since?
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Ursus on July 10, 2010, 11:00:48 AM
Quote from: "wdtony"
I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. It's really sad. The kid suffers, the parents suffer and the program is not held accountable at all.

I guess this program didn't deliver.... can the father sue the program for failing to help his son or has the name and location of the program changed a few times since?
It was Paradise Cove in Western Samoa (run by WWASPs). So... while the program no longer exists, the father could still get in on the Turley lawsuit if he so wished...

Somehow, I kinda doubt that John Sutton sees his son's experience in Samoa as a contributing factor to this tragic event.

"Witnesses also told police Sutton hated his parents for shipping him off to the Paradise Cove program in Western Samoa, a boot camp style program with a history of abuse complaints from participants."[/list]
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Pile of Dead Kids on July 10, 2010, 11:12:09 AM
Mom dead, dad blinded?

PWNED HARD!

I was going to give Chris 150 out of a possible 200 points. But then I realized just how utterly pwned this guy is; wife dead, son in prison for life, never to see again. Extra credit! 225/200 for Chris Sutton. Excellent work and a gold star!

But he fucked up, obviously. If he wanted to stay out of prison, he shoulda just made *sure* they were dead, burned the bodies and fed the skeletons through a rock crusher, and feigned some surprise and asked to help find the real killer. (Worked for OJ, didn't it?) Oh well, I'm sure this tale will be a lesson for others.

Anyone want the name "Pile of Dead Parents"?
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Whooter on July 10, 2010, 07:46:30 PM
Quote from: "Pile of Dead Kids"
Mom dead, dad blinded?

PWNED HARD!

I was going to give Chris 150 out of a possible 200 points. But then I realized just how utterly pwned this guy is; wife dead, son in prison for life, never to see again. Extra credit! 225/200 for Chris Sutton. Excellent work and a gold star!

But he fucked up, obviously. If he wanted to stay out of prison, he shoulda just made *sure* they were dead, burned the bodies and fed the skeletons through a rock crusher, and feigned some surprise and asked to help find the real killer. (Worked for OJ, didn't it?) Oh well, I'm sure this tale will be a lesson for others.

Anyone want the name "Pile of Dead Parents"?

Definitely a lesson, I agree.  I dont think anyone would want to follow in the footsteps of this kid or OJ.    All the program could do was to buy his parents a few more years together, the kid was an evil seed from day one and the whole thing was just unfortunate.  Everyone loses.



...
Title: Comments for "Son's trial begins in 'hit' on parents"
Post by: Ursus on July 13, 2010, 02:59:14 PM
I see that Whooter posted some of the comments above. Seems a shame not to post them all, given that there are not that many... So here they are:

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Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/08/1720439/sons-trial-begins-in-hit-on-parents.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1) left for the above article, "Son's trial begins in 'hit' on parents (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=369700#p369046)" (by David Ovalle and Mara Rudolph, 07.08.10, The Miami Herald):


HenrikKnudsen wrote on 07/08/2010 07:34:26 AM:
BHarrison wrote on 07/08/2010 08:17:54 AM:
miamiisgettingscummier wrote on 07/08/2010 08:20:37 AM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/08/2010 10:47:32 AM:
mht103 wrote on 07/08/2010 11:12:17 AM:
dee65 wrote on 07/08/2010 11:15:44 AM:
jacksonprivatei wrote on 07/08/2010 01:04:52 PM:
Quote
Replying to HenrikKnudsen (07/08/2010 07:34:26 AM):
"Everyone who search for "Paradise Cove" on the Internet will learn about a torment to a degree which you never would be something any parent would impose on their child.

Even 10-15 years later the survivors of this place is tormented by nightmares and they will have to live with it the rest...":
Oh really ? You have no idea what this SON put them through. I wouldn't judge unless you knew the whole story.[/list]
Littlemiss wrote on 07/08/2010 01:48:39 PM:
rbquinn wrote on 07/08/2010 03:38:45 PM:
rosafadul wrote on 07/08/2010 03:41:28 PM:
miamigal427 wrote on 07/08/2010 04:02:50 PM:
HenrikKnudsen wrote on 07/08/2010 04:31:26 PM:
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: mandelduke on July 14, 2010, 06:08:05 PM
I just had some one e-mail me from prison in California, he is in there for murder.  His friend found a post of mine about Green River, she said when he read it he was touched to say the least. He was at Woods Bend in Kentucky in the med 70ts I was at Green River Bays Camp.  They were the to worst  in Kentucky .  He wants to correspond with me, but still to this day its hard to talk about.  Believe me when you live through a place like that, you are capable of anything.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: BuzzKill on July 16, 2010, 12:02:41 PM
I'm in Kentucky and would like to know what you can tell me about these places you've mentioned.  What was their stated propose and where are they at, as in near what city or in which county; who was the "warden"; Do you know if they are still in operation; and if you are up to it, what day to day life was like there.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Ursus on July 16, 2010, 12:18:04 PM
Quote from: "BuzzKill"
I'm in Kentucky and would like to know what you can tell me about these places you've mentioned.  What was their stated propose and where are they at, as in near what city or in which county; who was the "warden"; Do you know if they are still in operation; and if you are up to it, what day to day life was like there.
Green River Boys Camp KENTUCKY
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=14610 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=14610)[/list]
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Oz girl on July 19, 2010, 01:37:30 AM
I googled green river boys camp and there is still an address and phone number yet no website.
Green River Boys Camp in Cromwell, Kentucky (ky)
Name: Green River Boys Camp
Street: 354 Boys Camp Road
Cromwell, ky 42333-9607
Phone: (270) 526-3826

Cases like this always make me feel conflicted and depressed. On one hand this guy committed a pretty brutal and callous act and it seems money was at least part of the motivation. So i don't think it is so easily excused. Particularly since it was quite some time after he got out and it was not a spur of the moment crime of passion. On the other hand I dont know why his parents sent him to paradise cove but it clearly it had a tragic effect for everyone. maybe the ends justifying the means mentality reinforced some kind of sociopathy that he was already capeable of or maybe the place created a monster. I note a lot of kids coming out of places like this claim that they became capeable of anything when they hear of cases like this, but then most don't actually cross that line and commit murder. At any rate i feel for all involved in this case including the father. At the end of the day the blood of this family is in part on wwasps hands
Title: Trial Begins For Man Accused In Attack On Parents
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 12:09:26 AM
Back to the subject of the OP... A short piece of video news coverage can be seen at the link to this earlier article:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jun 28, 2010 8:56 am US/Eastern

Trial Begins For Man Accused In Attack On Parents (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1776327.html)

MIAMI (CBS4) ? Jury selection is scheduled to get underway Monday in Miami-Dade for the trial of a man accused of arranging for the murder of his parents.

Christopher Sutton is accused of convincing his former roommate Garrett Kopp to break into his parents' home and kill them.

In August 2004, John and Susan Sutton, both 57, were ambushed inside their home at 4725 Orduna Dr., east of the Riviera Country Club. John was left blind after being shot six times with a 9mm gun in his face and torso. His wife Susan was killed in the couple's master bedroom.

The crime went unsolved for months until detectives eventually picked up Kopp through forensic evidence linked to the crime. During questioning Kopp 'implicated' Sutton in the shootings. The two men once lived in the same South Miami apartment complex. Police picked up Sutton and charged both men with first degree murder.

In 2008, Kopp pled guilty to the murder and in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence agreed to testify against Sutton.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Coral Gables murder trial to begin Wednesday
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 12:24:00 AM
Here's another one, with a fairly brief synopsis of the situation:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Wednesday, 07.07.10

Coral Gables murder trial to begin Wednesday (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/07/1719189/coral-gables-murder-trial-to-begin.html)
BY DAVID OVALLE · [email protected]

Opening statements are set to begin Wednesday in the murder trial of Christopher Sutton, who is accused of hatching a plot to murder his father and mother in their luxury Coral Gables home.

Miami-Dade prosecutors say Sutton, 31, dispatched a gunman to kill John and Susan Sutton inside their home in August 2004.

The gunman fatally shot Susan Sutton, while John Sutton -- a prominent Miami-Dade civil lawyer -- was wounded and left blinded.

The attacker, Garrett Kopp, 26, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kopp is expected to testify against Sutton.

Sutton, charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, is facing life in prison. Trial will begin in front of Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Trial Underway For Man Accused In Murder Plot
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 10:32:54 AM
Video news coverage, including some court room scenes, can be seen at the link.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 7, 2010 6:10 pm US/Eastern

Trial Underway For Man Accused In Murder Plot (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1791493.html)

Reporting: Gary Nelson

MIAMI (CBS4) ? It was all about money, prosecutors say. A murderous plot that left a Coral Gables woman dead, her husband - a prominent attorney - maimed and blinded, and their son charged with being behind it.

Opening statements began in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Wednesday in the murder and attempted murder trial of Christopher Sutton. The 31-year-old "son of privilege" is accused of plotting the murders of his parents out of greed and payback for his strict upbringing.

The trigger-man in the August, 2004 murder and mayhem in a Coral Gables mansion has previously plead guilty and will testify in this trial against the son. Garrett Kopp will tell jurors that he pumped multiple bullets into attorney John Sutton and Sutton's wife Susan as they slept in their beds, after being hired to do the deed by the couple's son.

In opening statements, prosecutor Carin Kahgan told a twelve member jury that the victims were shot multiple times by Kopp, who pumped slugs into them from a 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol at their home on Orduna Drive in the Gables.

Susan Sutton, hit in the head, chest and abdomen, bled to death in her bed. Her husband, despite multiple wounds that left him blinded in both eyes, survived and called 911.

After Garrett Kopp was arrested, a gun he had proved to be the weapon used in the Sutton shootings. Kopp told police that Christopher Sutton enlisted him to kill his parents because he wanted to inherit their wealth and was angry that they had sent him to an expensive and demanding reform school as a teenager. Kopp is serving 30 years in a deal that includes his testifying for the state.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton offered police an alibi even before being asked for one, prosecutors say.

"Without being asked a question, the defendant said he went to dinner, saw a movie, and even offered to show the detective the tickets, even before she asked him where he was," prosecutor Kahgan told jurors.

The defense will argue that there is no hard evidence to connect Christopher Sutton to the crime.

"There is no forensic evidence that links Chris Sutton to these crimes. No DNA, no ballistics, no fingerprints, nothing," said defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

Fleisher told jurors that the triggerman, Kopp, "invented" Sutton's alleged part in the murder and attempted murder in order to deflect blame from himself and cut a deal with the state.

The defense attorney said Kopp, who had known the Sutton family since he was a teenager, was familiar with the victims' home and had motive to try to rob them.

"He was in a drugged haze," Fleisher told jurors. "He needed drugs, he needed drugs to use, he needed drugs to sell, he needed money, and he knew where to find it."

The defense will try to show that Kopp acted alone in what was going to be a robbery, but was botched when the victims awoke and surprised him.

Prosecutors, though, say they will present witnesses who heard Christopher Sutton wish his parents dead. A co-worker where Sutton worked at a plumbing company will testify that Sutton once asked him if he knew where he could hire someone to kill his parents.

The first witness to take the stand was 911 operator Steve Ellinport, who took the call for help from John Sutton, who was bleeding profusely from his wounds, and blinded.

"Somebody came in a shot me," Sutton can be heard saying in the 911 call. "They shot me in the head."

When the dispatcher asked Sutton who did it, he replied, "I don't know. I can't see."

The trial is expected to last about three weeks before Circuit Judge Stanford Blake.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Secret Dwarf Hooker on July 23, 2010, 12:15:32 PM
guilty (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery)
Title: Comments for "Trial Underway For Man Accused In Murder Plot"
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 01:23:51 PM
Comments (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1791493.html#addComments) left for the above article, "Trial Underway For Man Accused In Murder Plot (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370691#p370667)" (by Gary Nelson; Jul 7, 2010; CBS4.com):


By captainmidnight posted Wed Jul 07 2010 08:18:11


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Anne Bonney on July 23, 2010, 01:30:12 PM
Edited to remove the article so that it can be posted in the proper chronological order by Ursus shortly.
Title: Trial: 'Parents deserved to pay' by death
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 02:07:14 PM
UPI.com · U.S. News
Trial: 'Parents deserved to pay' by death (http://http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/07/08/Trial-Parents-deserved-to-pay-by-death/UPI-54941278610614/)
Published: July 8, 2010 at 1:36 PM

MIAMI, July 8 (UPI) -- A black-sheep son asked a friend to kill his rich parents as payback for sending him to a boarding school, a prosecutor argued in a Florida murder trial.

Christopher Sutton, 31, accused of plotting to murder his father and mother in their luxury Coral Gables, Fla., home, allegedly seethed for years, enraged his parents shipped him off to an abusive boarding school in Western Samoa in the South Pacific, prosecutor Carin Kahgan told Miami-Dade Circuit Court jurors.

Standing to inherit his father's wealth, Sutton masterminded a plan that left his mother dead and his father blind, Kahgan alleged.

He is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder and faces life in prison.

Sutton complained incessantly to his girlfriend "how his parents had taken two years of his life, how his parents deserved to pay, how he could find someone to kill his parents," Kahgan alleged.

He expressed his vengeance "like a broken record, on and on and over and over," The Miami Herald quoted Kahgan as saying in opening arguments.

Defense attorney Bruce Fleisher said in his opening statement that Sutton's friend Garrett Kopp was solely responsible for the Aug. 22, 2004, shootings and that Kopp sought to shift the blame to Sutton to avoid a harsh sentence.

Kopp, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kopp is expected to testify against Sutton, the Herald said.

Fleisher described the break-in of the Sutton house before the shootings as Kopp acting in a drug-influenced stupor, looking for cash and narcotics.

"He needed drugs to use, needed drugs to sell, and he needed money," the Herald quoted Fleisher as saying.


© 2010 United Press International, Inc.
Title: Triggerman In Sutton Murder Trial Takes The Stand
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 03:11:37 PM
Video news coverage at the link...

Also, pic of Christopher Sutton would appear to be not so recent, judging by his appearance in various news clips I've seen thus far...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 9, 2010 1:22 pm US/Eastern
Triggerman In Sutton Murder Trial Takes The Stand (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1795762.html)
© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Reporting: Gary Nelson

(http://http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/31/2010/07/07/175x131/CSutton.jpg)
Christopher Sutton · Miami-Dade Police/CBS

MIAMI (CBS4) — The confessed triggerman in the murder trial of Christopher Sutton – the "son of privilege" accused of plotting the murders of his parents out of greed and payback for his strict upbringing -- took the stand Friday morning and implicated Sutton.

Garrett Kopp said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Prosecutors questioned Kopp and asked, "When you went into the Sutton's home without permission, what was your intention? To shoot them. Both of them?"

"Yes," Kopp replied.

Prosecutors added, "Did you tell the police that was part of a plan between yourself and the defendant to shoot John and Susan Sutton?"

"Yes," Kopp said.

It was all about money, prosecutors say. A murderous plot that left a Coral Gables woman dead, her husband - a prominent attorney - maimed and blinded, and their son charged with being behind it.

Defense Attorney Bruce Fleisher said Kopp concocted the murder-for-hire claim in order to avoid the death penalty. The defense argues that Kopp just robbed them to pay for drugs.

Opening statements began in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Wednesday in the murder and attempted murder trial of Sutton.

Kopp has previously plead guilty and as expected testified against Sutton. Garrett Kopp told jurors that he pumped multiple bullets into attorney John Sutton and Sutton's wife Susan as they slept in their beds, after being hired to do the deed by the couple's son.

In opening statements, prosecutor Carin Kahgan told a twelve member jury that the victims were shot multiple times by Kopp, who pumped slugs into them from a 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol at their home on Orduna Drive in the Gables.

Susan Sutton, hit in the head, chest and abdomen, bled to death in her bed. Her husband, despite multiple wounds that left him blinded in both eyes, survived and called 911.

After Garrett Kopp was arrested, a gun he had proved to be the weapon used in the Sutton shootings. Kopp told police that Christopher Sutton enlisted him to kill his parents because he wanted to inherit their wealth and was angry that they had sent him to an expensive and demanding reform school as a teenager. Kopp is serving 30 years in a deal that includes his testifying for the state.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton offered police an alibi even before being asked for one, prosecutors say.

"Without being asked a question, the defendant said he went to dinner, saw a movie, and even offered to show the detective the tickets, even before she asked him where he was," prosecutor Kahgan told jurors.

The defense will argue that there is no hard evidence to connect Christopher Sutton to the crime.

"There is no forensic evidence that links Chris Sutton to these crimes. No DNA, no ballistics, no fingerprints, nothing," said defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

Fleisher told jurors that the triggerman, Kopp, "invented" Sutton's alleged part in the murder and attempted murder in order to deflect blame from himself and cut a deal with the state.

The defense attorney said Kopp, who had known the Sutton family since he was a teenager, was familiar with the victims' home and had motive to try to rob them.

"He was in a drugged haze," Fleisher told jurors. "He needed drugs, he needed drugs to use, he needed drugs to sell, he needed money, and he knew where to find it."

The defense will try to show that Kopp acted alone in what was going to be a robbery, but was botched when the victims awoke and surprised him.

Prosecutors, though, say they will present witnesses who heard Christopher Sutton wish his parents dead. A co-worker where Sutton worked at a plumbing company will testify that Sutton once asked him if he knew where he could hire someone to kill his parents.

The first witness to take the stand was 911 operator Steve Ellinport, who took the call for help from John Sutton, who was bleeding profusely from his wounds, and blinded.

"Somebody came in a shot me," Sutton can be heard saying in the 911 call. "They shot me in the head."

When the dispatcher asked Sutton who did it, he replied, "I don't know. I can't see."

The trial is expected to last about three weeks before Circuit Judge Stanford Blake.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Comments for "Triggerman In Sutton Murder Trial..."
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 03:17:46 PM
Comments (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1795762.html#addComments) left for the above article, "Triggerman In Sutton Murder Trial Takes The Stand (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370759#p370757)" (by Gary Nelson; Jul 9, 2010; cbs4.com):


By wowkc posted Sat Jul 10 2010 11:00:21


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Father To Testify Against Son In Murder Trial
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 03:26:03 PM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 12, 2010 8:33 am US/Eastern
Father To Testify Against Son In Murder Trial (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1799383.html)

MIAMI (CBS4) — A Coral Gables attorney who was left maimed and blind when a man broke into his home six years ago and shot him and his wife could take the stand Monday to testify against the man who hired the shooter; the attorney's own son.

Christopher Sutton is accused of hiring his friend Garret Kopp to kill his parents out of greed and payback for his strict upbringing.

During Friday's proceedings, Kopp took the stand and implicated Sutton.

Kopp said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Prosecutors questioned Kopp and asked, "When you went into the Sutton's home without permission, what was your intention? To shoot them. Both of them?"

"Yes," Kopp replied.

Prosecutors added, "Did you tell the police that was part of a plan between yourself and the defendant to shoot John and Susan Sutton?"

"Yes," Kopp said.

Kopp told jurors that he pumped multiple bullets into attorney John Sutton and Sutton's wife Susan as they slept in their beds. Susan Sutton, hit in the head, chest and abdomen, bled to death in her bed. Her husband, despite multiple wounds that left him blinded in both eyes, survived and called 911.

Kopp has previously pleaded guilty and was given a 30 year sentence, instead of the death penalty, in exchange for his testimony against Sutton.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton offered police an alibi even before being asked for one, prosecutors say.

"Without being asked a question, the defendant said he went to dinner, saw a movie, and even offered to show the detective the tickets, even before she asked him where he was," prosecutor Carin Kahgan told jurors.

Sutton's defense attorney Bruce Fleisher said Kopp concocted the murder-for-hire claim in order to avoid the death penalty. The defense argues that Kopp just robbed them to pay for drugs. Fleisher adds that there is no hard evidence to connect Christopher Sutton to the crime.

"There is no forensic evidence that links Chris Sutton to these crimes. No DNA, no ballistics, no fingerprints, nothing," said defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

Fleisher told jurors that the triggerman, Kopp, "invented" Sutton's alleged part in the murder and attempted murder in order to deflect blame from himself and cut a deal with the state.


CBS4's Gary Nelson contributed to this report



© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Graphic Photos Kick Off Tuesday In Sutton Trial
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 03:47:08 PM
Video news coverage at the link in the article header...

This same article also appeared in The Miami Herald under the header of "Gruesome photos kick off trial of man accused of hiring gunman to kill parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/13/1728405/gruesome-photos-kick-off-trial.html)" (credited to CBS4.com). There are seven photos from the actual trial at that link (photos not referential to the article header; Adobe Flash Player). The Herald article also inspired one comment, which has, unfortunately, been subsequently deleted.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 13, 2010 7:17 pm US/Eastern
Graphic Photos Kick Off Tuesday In Sutton Trial (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1802139.html)

MIAMI (CBS4) — Jurors grimaced as prosecutors Tuesday displayed graphic photos from the autopsy of Susan Sutton. She and her husband John were shot repeatedly in August of 2004 by a confessed gunman who claims he was hired by their son, Christoper.

Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Emma Lew testified that Susan Sutton was shot six times at her opulent Coral Gables home. She was shot in the head, torso and arm, Lew testified. The angle of the bullet wounds suggested that Sutton was lying on her back when she was shot, with the shooter firing from the foot of her bed in the dead of night. Sutton may have experienced several seconds of terror as the volley of bullets struck her. One of the shots hit her in the forearm, suggesting she had raised it in an effort to ward off the onslaught.

Lew testified that a later round that tore through Sutton's jaw and lodged in her brain most likely caused instant death.

"She probably became unconscious right away with that wound," the coroner told jurors.

Earlier, a trauma surgeon testified that John Sutton was shot in the head by a round that destroyed his eyes, leaving him permanently blinded, but a survivor of the murder and mayhem. Sutton could take the stand against his son as early as this afternoon.

Christopher Sutton is accused of hiring his friend Garret Kopp to kill his parents out of greed and payback for his strict upbringing.

Miami-Dade Homicide detective Arthur Nanni detailed cell phone records Tuesday that show the defendant and confessed triggerman had called each other hundreds of times, including calls the day of the shootings.

During Friday's proceedings, Kopp took the stand and implicated Sutton. Kopp said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Kopp told jurors that he pumped multiple bullets into attorney John Sutton and Sutton's wife Susan as they slept in their beds – a claim Lew backed up Tuesday.

Kopp has previously pleaded guilty and was given a 30 year sentence, instead of the death penalty, in exchange for his testimony against Sutton.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton offered police an alibi even before being asked for one, prosecutors say.

"Without being asked a question, the defendant said he went to dinner, saw a movie, and even offered to show the detective the tickets, even before she asked him where he was," prosecutor Carin Kahgan told jurors.

Sutton's defense attorney Bruce Fleisher said Kopp concocted the murder-for-hire claim in order to avoid the death penalty. The defense argues that Kopp just robbed them to pay for drugs. Fleisher adds that there is no hard evidence to connect Christopher Sutton to the crime.

"There is no forensic evidence that links Chris Sutton to these crimes. No DNA, no ballistics, no fingerprints, nothing," said defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

Fleisher told jurors that the trigger-man, Kopp, "invented" Sutton's alleged part in the murder and attempted murder in order to deflect blame from himself and cut a deal with the state.


CBS4's Gary Nelson contributed to this report.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Father Testifies Against Son At Murder Trial
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 03:54:48 PM
There's video news coverage at the link, which includes some courtroom footage.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 14, 2010 7:26 pm US/Eastern

Father Testifies Against Son At Murder Trial (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1803969.html)
Dad Was Wounded, Mom Killed By Alleged Hitman
Son Is Accused Mastermind

(http://http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/31/2010/07/07/175x131/CSutton.jpg)
Christopher Sutton Miami-Dade Police/CBS

MIAMI (CBS4) ? Holding the arm of a court employee, John Sutton was escorted to the witness stand Wednesday to testify against his son. Sutton is blind. He was blinded in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire plot that left his wife dead and his son accused of being behind it.

"I see a black shirt, black hat, black pants, and all of a sudden, bam!" Sutton told a Miami-Dade jury in recounting the night in 2004 that he and his wife, Susan, were shot in their beds at their upscale Coral Gables home. "In an instant, bam! And I woke up and I was on the floor."

Susan Sutton, shot six times, was killed. John Sutton, also shot multiple times, was blinded and would undergo months of surgeries to repair the devastating wounds to his head and face. "I knew I was in big trouble," Sutton said of the moments after he was shot. "I knew my head and face were a mess."

The Sutton's son, Christopher, is charged with hiring a hitman to kill his parents. He allegedly despised them for his strict upbringing and wanted to inherit their fortune. The triggerman previously pleaded guilty and testified against Christopher.

John Sutton testified that his son was a problem kid, a constant discipline problem.

"We started having problems, it was one problem after another," the father said. "It became too difficult to deal with...We were at our wit's end."

Sutton said his son was deeply resentful over being sent to a school for teenagers with behavior problems. "He was most unhappy and upset," the father said. The parents got a court order to keep their son in the reform school beyond his 18th birthday. "We were not satisfied that he was following the rules of the program, or that we could handle him on his return," Sutton testified.

"We wasted 30 months of his life," Sutton quoted his son as saying after he returned from the school on the Pacific island of Samoa. "That was his phrase: 'You wasted my life there.'"

Sutton testified that his son, who refused to work or attend school regularly, made increasing monetary demands on his parents and that in the days before the shootings the father, an attorney, had come into a large sum of money from the settlement of a lawsuit.

Christopher Sutton's eyes appeared to well with tears at times as his father testified against him.

John Sutton said he learned in his hospital bed a week after the shootings that his wife had been killed.

"I remain upset I didn't go to her funeral," he said. "They said, 'you're crazy.' I said, 'you guys could have taken me on a stretcher.'"

The elder Sutton says he has tried to "make the best of what happened, although there's not much best about it."

"I've gone snow-skiing blind. I only hit one tree," he said chuckling. "You have to go on with life."

As Sutton was taken by the arm and guided from the courtroom, he could not see that his son, Christopher, did not look at him.

Last week, Kopp took the stand and implicated Sutton. Kopp said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Miami-Dade Homicide detective Arthur Nanni detailed cell phone records Tuesday that show the defendant and confessed triggerman had called each other hundreds of times, including calls the day of the shootings.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton's defense attorney Bruce Fleisher said Kopp concocted the murder-for-hire claim in order to avoid the death penalty. The defense argues that Kopp just robbed them to pay for drugs. Fleisher adds that there is no hard evidence to connect Christopher Sutton to the crime.


CBS4's Gary Nelson contributed to this report.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Blind Dad Testifies Against Son in Murder Plot
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 04:09:32 PM
Video news coverage available at the link:


-------------- • -------------- • --------------

NBC·MIAMI
Blind Dad Testifies Against Son in Murder Plot (http://http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Blind-Dad-Testifies-Against-Son-in-Murder-Plot-98449484.html)
Christopher Sutton allegedly hired a friend to kill his parents
By TODD WRIGHT
First Published: Jul 14, 2010 3:44 PM EDT · Updated 6:05 PM EDT, Wed, Jul 14, 2010

John Sutton may have been left without sight from an attempt on his life by a hit man, but he told a Miami-Dade jury he wasn't blind to his son's rage leading up to the attack.

Prosecutors claim Sutton's son, Christopher, hired a hit man in 2004 to kill his parents because he was upset they sent him to boarding school in Samoa. The hit man killed his mom, Susan Sutton, and left John Sutton blind.

Christopher Sutton is on trial for conspiracy to commit murder and faced his father's take on what happened Wednesday.

"We started having problems. It was one problem after another," John Sutton said. "He became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

On Tuesday, the jury saw a graphic demonstration from a medical examiner of how and where the bullets entered Susan Sutton's body as she slept in her bed that night. She was shot six times by Garret Kopp, the triggerman who has already testified against Christopher in the trial.

Sutton's defense attorneys claim Kopp invented the murder-for-hire story to avoid the death penalty. Kopp was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but avoided a death sentence in exchange for his testimony.

Kopp and Sutton were friends, prosecutors said.

John Sutton was shot in the face several times but miraculously survived the attack. He told jurors about living in the moment as the shooting happened.

"In an instant, Bam! I woke up and I was on the floor," he said. "I knew I was in big trouble."

Prosecutors allege Christopher Sutton let Kopp in the home that night to carry out the contract killing. The troubled son had spent almost three years in a boarding school and was resentful that his wealthy parents sent him away, prosecutors said.


© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Pile of Dead Kids on July 23, 2010, 04:36:39 PM
Quote from: "Ursus"
"He became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

Even now, with his vision blown out of his head and his wife a corpse, he continues to repeat the same bullshit.

Amazing.
Title: Coral Gables lawyer, blinded in shooting, testifies...
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 04:40:30 PM
The Miami Herald
Posted on Wednesday, 07.14.10
Coral Gables lawyer, blinded in shooting, testifies at son's murder trial (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/14/1730002/coral-gables-lawyer-blinded-in.html)

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

A Coral Gables lawyer testified Wednesday against his son, who is accused of hatching a murder plot that left the attorney blinded by a gunman's bullets.

John Sutton, a civil attorney, was severly wounded and blinded in the August 2004 attack after a gunman entered his Coral Gables home and shot him and his wife. Susan Sutton was killed in the attack as she lay in her bed.

Their son, Christopher Sutton, is on trial for murder and attempted murder. Prosecutors say Sutton dispatched his pal, Garrett Kopp, to kill his parents inside their home.

Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, testified during the trial that Sutton hatched the plan as part of a scheme to inherit John Sutton's wealth. Prosecutors say that Sutton also hated his parents because they had sent him to an abusive boarding school in Western Samoa.

Sutton's defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, contends that Kopp broke into the house on his own accord, looking for money and drugs he believed were in the house.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "Coral Gables lawyer, blinded in shooting..."
Post by: Ursus on July 23, 2010, 05:09:35 PM
Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/14/1730002/coral-gables-lawyer-blinded-in.html) left for the above article, "Coral Gables lawyer, blinded in shooting, testifies at son's murder trial (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370768#p370768)" (by David Ovalle, 07.14.10, The Miami Herald):


originalrat2 wrote on 07/14/2010 12:18:51 PM:
jimenezag wrote on 07/14/2010 03:06:03 PM:
Quote
Replying to originalrat2 (07/14/2010 12:18:51 PM):
"How come the same lawyers seem to get all the appointments to represent defendants in murder cases in Miami-Dade? That's tax dollars for appointments which the Public Defender seems to not handle in 80% of the murder cases. They claim a conflict. So why the same people getting tax money all the...":
Not every defense attorney is certified to handle a murder case. You have to have specific experience. Thus there are only a handful of attorneys on the wheel that get the case if the PD conflicts out of the case. They also take the case for a lot less money than a regular private attorney would. There is no conspiracy and it's not about winning. It's about representing the client to the best of your abilities so that his or her constitutional rights are not violated.[/list]
MarkUM wrote on 07/14/2010 04:12:32 PM:
jeffa wrote on 07/14/2010 04:20:28 PM:
Quote
Replying to MarkUM (07/14/2010 04:12:32 PM):
"This poor man. God I feel for him. Blinded by his own son, loses his wife to his own son, and now has to testify against his own son. Can't say I'd be able to handle such a thing.":
Mark,
Have you heard any evidence other than the person that should have got the death penalty claiming the son did it???[/list]
originalrat2 wrote on 07/14/2010 05:06:36 PM:
originalrat2 wrote on 07/14/2010 11:15:40 PM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/14/2010 11:21:52 PM:


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: DannyB II on July 23, 2010, 07:48:30 PM
Quote from: "Pile of Dead Kids"
Quote from: "Ursus"
"He became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

Even now, with his vision blown out of his head and his wife a corpse, he continues to repeat the same bullshit.

Amazing.

Spoken from the mouth of a disturbed young patho that beats up mothers and disgraces 15 year old girls, now he is beating up a blinded father that was shot in the face by his son. A father that was at his wits end with his out of control son.
Pile of Dead Kids, in case anyone is not up to date, just got through maybe a week ago posting a 15 year old girls, private information on a porn site because her parents would not listen to his advice, not to send her to a program. I know, I don't get it either.
This is the unstable and provocative poster we have to deal with here, so I would suggest placating him at this time with a subtle "roll of the eyes" maybe. Please be careful here.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Ursus on July 24, 2010, 07:31:22 PM
Quote from: "DannyB II"
Quote from: "Pile of Dead Kids"
Quote from: "John Sutton, quoting Sue Scheff,"
"He became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."
Even now, with his vision blown out of his head and his wife a corpse, he continues to repeat the same bullshit.

Amazing.
Spoken from the mouth of a disturbed young patho that beats up mothers and disgraces 15 year old girls, now he is beating up a blinded father that was shot in the face by his son. A father that was at his wits end with his out of control son.
Pile of Dead Kids, in case anyone is not up to date, just got through maybe a week ago posting a 15 year old girls, private information on a porn site because her parents would not listen to his advice, not to send her to a program. I know, I don't get it either.
This is the unstable and provocative poster we have to deal with here, so I would suggest placating him at this time with a subtle "roll of the eyes" maybe. Please be careful here.
LOL. And this last spoken by someone who considers Anne Bonney's avatar to be the equivalent of porn (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30611&p=365333#p365333) and who has consequently degraded, derided and harassed her on a public forum for said choice. Geez Louise...

Incidentally, Danny, most folks do not consider the social satire site Encyclopedia Dramatica (http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Dramatica) to rise quite to the level of "porn" even if and/or when they consider it to be in "bad taste." I admit that some of the material can be a bit much sometimes.
Title: Man testifies against son in parent-killing trial
Post by: Ursus on July 24, 2010, 07:37:36 PM
Back to the story at hand...

Video news coverage at the title link below:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

7NEWS - WSVN.com
Man testifies against son in parent-killing trial (http://http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21001683049560/)
Posted:  07/15/10 at 6:05 am EDT · Last Updated:  07/15/10 at 3:34 pm EDT

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A father took the stand inside the Metro Justice Building on Wednesday to testify against his own son, who allegedly hired a friend to kill his parents in August of 2004.

Prosecutors said Christopher Sutton hatched the plot with Garret Kopp to have John and Susan Sutton killed. According to police, Kopp entered the couple's Coral Gables home, fatally shot Christopher's mother and then fired at her husband's head.

John, a civil attorney, survived the attempt on his life but was left blind. "In those very brief moments, I see the door shut, and all of a sudden I see a black hat, a black shirt, black pants and bam," he said, before an audience that included his son.

"I knew I was in very deep, deep trouble. I knew I was really, really hurt, and I wasn't very clear, I said something about my head, and frankly I don't know now how I knew it was my head, but I knew I was really in bad shape," John said. "There's nothing there in my right eye. In my left eye I only have a little light and dark. In second place, after my eyes, would be my sinuses, my nose and my lip."

Prosecutors claim that the younger Sutton wanted revenge against his parents because they sent him to a boarding school in the Samoas that he did not like and that Christopher believed he was going to get some money.

Kopp has accepted a plea deal with the state that would see him spend 30 years in jail in exchange for testimony against Christopher, who faces a first degree murder charge. The defense, who will follow the prosecution in questioning, argue that Kopp acted alone amidst a drug-infused haze.

Christopher has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

The defense will continue to call witnesses on Thursday.


Copyright 2010 by Sunbeam Television Corp.
Title: Comments for "Man testifies against son in parent-killing tr
Post by: Ursus on July 24, 2010, 07:41:30 PM
Comments (http://http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21001683049560/) left for the above article, "Man testifies against son in parent-killing trial (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370868#p370868)" (07/15/10, WSVN.com):


myopinion73 · 1 week ago
holmesrip2 · 3 days ago


Copyright 2010 by Sunbeam Television Corp.
Title: World of love couldn't prevent murder, dad testifies...
Post by: Ursus on July 24, 2010, 08:06:25 PM
Two photos, one of father and one of son, are posted at the link (Adobe Flash Player)...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.15.10

World of love couldn't prevent murder, dad testifies at son's trial (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/15/1731064/a-world-of-love-couldnt-prevent.html)
A Coral Gables lawyer, blinded in a 2004 slaying attempt, testified about his son, who is accused of hatching a plot to murder his parents. The defendant's mother was killed.

BY DAVID OVALLE · [email protected]

His vision destroyed, his right eye disfigured and his family devastated, Coral Gables lawyer John R. Sutton has nevertheless lost none of his courtroom presence.

But this time, Sutton captivated jurors from the witness stand in a Miami courtroom, testifying Wednesday about the son accused of plotting to murder him and his wife, and the August 2004 night they both were shot -- his wife fatally -- by a mysterious hit man.

In heartfelt, charming and often chilling words, Sutton testified:

• That his son Christopher, adopted when he was just days old, enjoyed all the love and support of his well-heeled family through the years -- including many family trips, generous allowances and help finding work.

• About why he shipped his son, then a teen, to a tough reform school in Samoa: "He wanted to set the rules, to show he was the boss. We'd take him to school, and he'd go in the front door and out the back. With the passage of time, it became more and more difficult.''

• On settling into bed to watch on TV the night of the shooting, when a figure appeared at the bedroom door: "I see a black hat, black shirt and black pants and -- bam! Next thing, I remember being on the floor.''

After a frantic and dazed struggle to call police and blindly escape his house -- his wife lay dead in another bedroom -- Sutton recalled awakening in the hospital, his head throbbing, his mind confused, his body shattered by bullets.

"I was obliterated,'' he said, demonstrating for jurors where the bullets struck his face, blinding him.

Sutton was the final, and perhaps most anticipated, witness in the state's case against Christopher Sutton, 31, who is accused of plotting his parents' murders. The defense case for Christopher Sutton, charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, begins Thursday.

Christopher Sutton's former pal, Garrett Kopp, testified last week that Christopher hired him to assassinate John and Susan Sutton in a scheme to inherit the lawyer's wealth. Kopp is serving 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to the crime.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton hated his parents because of the Samoa experience.

John Sutton's testimony -- in particular that he was shot without any confrontation -- may be key to refuting Sutton's defense: mainly that Kopp, a drug-crazed burglar, acted on his own and implicated his pal to avoid the death penalty.

The defense contends that Kopp believed his friend kept a drug stash at his parents' home on Orduna Drive, and that he broke in to steal it.

But prosecutors used John Sutton to shoot down the drug allegation. Sutton testified that Christopher did not have ready access to their house after his parents, suspicious of his lifestyle, never gave him a key.

"We had some trust problems,'' Sutton told prosecutor Kathleen Hoague.

Sutton also testified that his son's old bedroom, where Susan Sutton was fatally shot as she lay covered by a comforter, no longer had any of Christopher's furniture where drugs could be hidden.

Neither side asked Sutton whether he believed his son plotted the shooting.

Sutton painted a tortured picture of a son afforded lots of love and opportunities, but who constantly rebelled.

Much of his testimony revolved around the decision in the late 1990s to send Christopher to Paradise Cove, a controversial reform school in Samoa.

After much research, the Suttons sent two retired police officers to escort Christopher to the airport.

"He was most unhappy and upset,'' Sutton said.

In Samoa, Sutton said, he believed Christopher was happy and had made friends.

"He was an amazing volleyball player. They played volleyball on the beach,'' Sutton said.''

But Sutton admitted that a special court order was needed to keep his son there past his 18th birthday. After his return, Christopher Sutton sometimes groused about the 30 months spent in Samoa, he said.

Mostly, Sutton recalled, he and his wife butted heads with Christopher about finances and his listless lifestyle after his return from Samoa.

The Suttons paid rent for Christopher, who was supposed to work or attend college. His son pressed him for a bigger allowance, Sutton said. An argument also erupted about Christopher's misuse of money slated to pay his auto insurance.

After the shooting, Christopher Sutton pressed his recovering father to give him control over the family finances, and to sell the Coral Gables house, he testified.

Defense attorney Bruce Fleisher cross-examined Sutton cordially, asking about father-son trips to football games and family getaways to the Keys and Bimini.

The apparent strategy: to support the defense claim that Christopher Sutton loved his parents and had no reason to want them dead.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "World of love couldn't prevent murder..."
Post by: Ursus on July 24, 2010, 10:30:07 PM
Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/15/1731064/a-world-of-love-couldnt-prevent.html) left for the above article, "World of love couldn't prevent murder, dad testifies at son's trial (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370883#p370873)" (by David Ovalle, 07.15.10, The Miami Herald):


arideinthepark wrote on 07/15/2010 08:35:40 AM:
feelquiet wrote on 07/15/2010 09:35:00 AM:
sybilwolf wrote on 07/15/2010 10:41:11 AM:
Quote
Replying to feelquiet (07/15/2010 09:35:00 AM):
"Indeed a tragedy. This is the first time I've seen an article mention that he was adopted.

In the nature vs nurture debate, I think there has to be room for the "bad seed". Not just with adoptions, but even with biological parents, some kids are just naturally bad, and no amount of love or...":
I remember reading that he was adopted when this happened.

Scary, though. The house is across the canal from my boyfriend's back yard![/list]
rbquinn wrote on 07/15/2010 04:55:07 PM:
Observer101 wrote on 07/15/2010 04:55:58 PM:
Observer101 wrote on 07/15/2010 05:00:19 PM:
jlleon7 wrote on 07/15/2010 05:38:14 PM:
jlleon7 wrote on 07/15/2010 05:39:50 PM:
byemiami wrote on 07/15/2010 06:53:16 PM:
escuchar wrote on 07/15/2010 07:14:55 PM:
axl wrote on 07/15/2010 07:34:01 PM:
Quote
Replying to jlleon7 (07/15/2010 05:38:14 PM):
"It seems to me the son is not guilty. I have read no credible evidence that he committed this crime. The gentleman who framed the son sounds guilty to me.":
It seems to me that you are a total moron. Unless you've been in the courtroom throughout the trial, you really have no way of knowing if Sutton is guilty or not. And your comment that the family needs counseling is so stupid that it doesn't even deserve to be called moronic.[/list]
sfdb wrote on 07/16/2010 02:56:43 PM:
Quote
Replying to laxl (07/15/2010 07:34:01 PM):
"It seems to me that you are a total moron. Unless you've been in the courtroom throughout the trial, you really have no way of knowing if Sutton is guilty or not. And your comment that the family needs counseling is so stupid that it doesn't even deserve to be called moronic.":
Well said.[/list]
Bermuda1 wrote on 07/16/2010 11:52:22 PM:
EyemNotFree wrote on 07/19/2010 06:25:09 PM:
EyemNotFree wrote on 07/19/2010 06:27:23 PM:
Quote
Replying to Bermuda1 (07/16/2010 11:52:22 PM):
"John Sutton is a fine, courageous man. He is also an amazing lawyer. My heart goes out to him for the loss of his wife and his serious injury. He is truly remarkable to carry on after this terrible tragedy.":
He is a lawyer. . .
An enemy of the Constitution of the USA and the Bill of Rights[/list]
EyemNotFree wrote on 07/19/2010 06:29:47 PM:
Quote
Replying to laxl (07/15/2010 07:34:01 PM):
"It seems to me that you are a total moron. Unless you've been in the courtroom throughout the trial, you really have no way of knowing if Sutton is guilty or not. And your comment that the family needs counseling is so stupid that it doesn't even deserve to be called moronic.":
Who wants to be in the courtroom? It is an evil place. Anybody that has to go to court needs counseling after the forced lying rituals.
I do not trust god.[/list]
fredo161 wrote on 07/20/2010 02:01:16 PM:
foxtail wrote on 07/21/2010 09:44:19 PM:
Quote
Replying to arideinthepark (07/15/2010 08:35:40 AM):
"a tragedy..no matter what the outcome of the trial.":
What were the classes that the boy attended growing up? Special classes?
Did his school record indicate problems as a child? Sounds like he has difficulty with authority figures or his father would not have researched a school such as the one he did. There is more here that meets the eye on the surface. This was a problem child ...on more than ONE occasion[/list]


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Pile of Dead Kids on July 25, 2010, 06:32:28 AM
Quote
"He was an amazing volleyball player. They played volleyball on the beach,'' Sutton said.

Even now! Even still! These quotes get me every time. The sheer inability of these people to take hints is unearthly, as if they really are possessed. What the fuck is powering these programs to own these people's minds like this?

You sent him there, he hated you afterwards, and then he sent somebody to blow the back of your fucking head out, and you're still going on about how great the place was! What the fuck?!
Title: Jailbird's Testimony Helps Son In Murder Case
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 10:20:43 AM
Video news coverage at the link...

Hitman Garrett Kopp's former prisonmate testifies for the defense. There's also brief mention of Nick Gallagher, who apparently knew Christopher Sutton through time shared at Paradise Cove.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 15, 2010 6:39 pm US/Eastern

Jailbird's Testimony Helps Son In Murder Case (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1806157.html)
Jailmate Says Confessed "Hitman" Acted Alone
Son Is Accused Mastermind

Reporting: Gary Nelson

MIAMI (CBS4) — The man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his parents in their opulent Coral Gables home, got help from a jailbird, according to the defense team which opened its case Thursday. The jailhouse witness bolstered the defense claim that the confessed gunman in the case acted alone.

Christopher Sutton is charged with master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life.

Three-time convicted felon Junior Cime appeared in court wearing an orange prison uniform. He had been brought to testify from the Okeechobee Correctional Institution where he is serving time for armed robbery.

Cime testified that, in a prison conversation, admitted shooter Garrett Kopp said he entered the Sutton home in August of 2004 with the intention of committing a burglary and was surprised to find the house occupied.

"He was looking for cocaine," Cime quoted Kopp as saying in their prison discussions. "He told me that he found out there was someone in the house and he confronted that person and the person did not comply."

"Did he tell you what happened next?" asked defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

"He shot the person," Cime replied.

Cime's testimony supports the defense claim that Kopp, an on-again, off-again pal of Christopher Suttons thought the son kept cash and drugs in the house and went there with theft, not murder in mind.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton arranged to have his parents murdered because he hated them for sending him to reform school, and wanted to inherit their wealth.

Earlier Thursday, Nick Gallagher, a friend of the defendant testified that he never heard Sutton say that he wanted to harm his parents. Gallagher testified that he got to know Sutton at a reform school that their parents had sent them to for behavioral problems. Gallagher said Sutton did well at the school, but admitted on cross examination that Sutton was angry at his parents for sending him there.

After the shootings, Gallagher said John and Christopher Sutton stayed at his home in Virginia "for about a week" while the father sought specialized treatment for his wounds at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Gallagher said Christopher was "caring" and "attentive" to his father during the visit.

Jurors also heard from Eric Pope, a friend of Sutton since childhood, who said that Christopher doted on his father after the shootings, caring for the elder Sutton at a condominium in Coconut Grove. "He rearranged his life to take care of him," Pope said.

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder. Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

On Wednesday, Sutton's father testified against his son. John Sutton, a civil attorney, was severely wounded and blinded in the August 2004 attack after a gunman entered his home and shot him and his wife. Susan Sutton was killed in the attack as she lay in her bed.

He told jurors about the night of the attack.

"I see a black shirt, black hat, black pants, and all of a sudden, bam!" Sutton told a Miami-Dade jury. "In an instant, bam! And I woke up and I was on the floor."

"I knew I was in big trouble," Sutton said of the moments after he was shot. "I knew my head and face were a mess."

Sutton testified that his son was a problem kid, a constant discipline problem.

"We started having problems, it was one problem after another," the father said. "It became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

Sutton said his son was deeply resentful over being sent to a school for teenagers with behavior problems. "He was most unhappy and upset," the father said.

The parents got a court order to keep their son in the reform school beyond his 18th birthday. "We were not satisfied that he was following the rules of the program, or that we could handle him on his return," Sutton testified.

"We wasted 30 months of his life," Sutton quoted his son as saying after he returned from the school on the Pacific island of Samoa. "That was his phrase: 'You wasted my life there'."

Sutton testified that his son, who refused to work or attend school regularly, made increasing monetary demands on his parents and that in the days before the shootings the father, an attorney, had come into a large sum of money from the settlement of a lawsuit.

Christopher Sutton's eyes appeared to well with tears at times as his father testified against him.

John Sutton said he learned in his hospital bed a week after the shootings that his wife had been killed.

"I remain upset I didn't go to her funeral," he said. "They said, 'you're crazy.' I said, 'you guys could have taken me on a stretcher.'"

The elder Sutton says he has tried to "make the best of what happened, although there's not much best about it."

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Miami-Dade Homicide detective Arthur Nanni detailed cell phone records that show the defendant and confessed triggerman had called each other hundreds of times, including calls the day of the shootings.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.


CBS4's Gary Nelson contributed to this report.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Accused parent killer Christopher Sutton testifies
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 02:12:43 PM
There are two versions of this Miami Herald article by David Ovalle. This must have been the earlier one:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Friday, 07.16.10

Accused parent killer Christopher Sutton testifies (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733836/accused-parent-killer-christopher.html)

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

(http://http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/07/16/19/7655120.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG)
Christopher Sutton, on trial for the attempted murder of his father and the murder of his mother, took the stand, Friday, July 16, in Miami-Dade Criminal Court, Judge Stanford Blake's courtroom. Sutton cried while he was questioned by his lawyer about the time he spent in Samoa, after being sent there by his parents during high school. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Christopher Sutton, accused of hiring a hit man to murder his parents in Coral Gables in 2004, denied Friday ever wanting to harm them because they shipped him to a tough boarding school in Samoa.

Sutton, 31, took the stand Friday morning in his own defense.

He is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting that killed his mother, Susan Sutton, and left his father, lawyer John R. Sutton, wounded and blind.

Sutton, during questioning from defense lawyer Bruce Fleisher, spent the morning describing his experiences after being shipped off to the Paradise Cove program in Samoa.

He told jurors about how his parents sent two men to whisk him away from a friend's house, then take him on a series of plane rides that ended days later on an isolated beach in Samoa.

"I was effectively, hostilely arrested by two strangers,'' he recalled.

At Paradise Cove, Sutton said, the boys lived in grass huts, slept on mats and were forced to do push-ups as punishment for not following the rules. They were assigned "categories.'' As a newcomer, he was on the lowest level, unable to even go to the bathroom without being accompanied by a supervisor, he said.

When he first arrived, Sutton testified, he was reeling.

"I was in what they call denial,'' he cried, weeping so dramatically that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake called a break.

But Sutton said the program became less rigid as the years progressed, and he eventually made friends and came to realize the program benefited him.

His relationship with his parents, upon his return to the United States, was fine, he said. "I was very happy to see my parents. I cried when I got off the plane. Lots of hugs and kisses,'' he said.

After talk of Paradise Cove, Sutton's testimony took a darker tone when he admitted that, after his return, he began selling drugs.

Prosecutors say that Sutton, still seething about being sent to Samoa and wanting his father's wealth, dispatched a hit man to kill his parents inside their home.

One of his drug buyers, pal Garrett Kopp, testified last week that Sutton hired him to shoot and kill the Suttons inside their home. But Sutton's defense lawyer claims Kopp, a drug-addled burglar, was acting on his own when he broke into the home and shot the husband and wife.

Sutton was continuing his testimony Friday afternoon.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "Accused parent killer Christopher Sutton..."
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 02:23:30 PM
Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733836/accused-parent-killer-christopher.html#Comments_Container) left, such as there are remaining (at least three did not make it past the moderator), for the above article, "Accused parent killer Christopher Sutton testifies (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370914#p370914)" (by David Ovalle, 07.16.10, The Miami Herald):


sariaa wrote on 07/16/2010 03:07:42 PM:


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Accused Christopher Sutton takes the stand
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 02:44:08 PM
Here's the later article:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Friday, 07.16.10

Accused Christopher Sutton takes the stand (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1734523/accused-christopher-sutton-takes.html)
Christopher Sutton, accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wealthy parents in Coral Gables, took the stand in his own defense on Friday.

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

(http://http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/07/16/19/7655120.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG)
Christopher Sutton, on trial for the attempted murder of his father and the murder of his mother, took the stand, Friday, July 16, in Miami-Dade Criminal Court, Judge Stanford Blake's courtroom. Sutton cried while he was questioned by his lawyer about the time he spent in Samoa, after being sent there by his parents during high school. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Despite being whisked off to a tough reform school in Samoa against his will, Christopher Sutton testified on Friday that he never wished any harm on his parents.

"I was very happy to see my parents,'' Sutton told jurors of his homecoming more than a decade ago. "I cried when I got off the plane. Lots of hugs and kisses.''

But Sutton's testimony, in his trial for allegedly hiring a hit man to murder his parents, took a darker tone when he had to admit to long-selling drugs to the man who shot his mother and gravely wounded his father inside their Coral Gables house in August 2004.

Sutton's much-anticipated testimony supported the defense theory of the case: that a drug-addled Garrett Kopp -- the admitted shooter -- broke into the Sutton family home on his own accord to find a drug stash.

On the stand, Sutton said he had hidden two pounds of marijuana and some Xanax in boxes that stored his childhood train set in his former bedroom at his parent's house. The night they were shot, Kopp -- slurred and mumbling -- kept calling to bug him for drugs.

"I told him I didn't have access to it,'' Sutton told jurors. "I left it in my room in my parent's house.''

Prosecutors will cross-examine Sutton, 31, on Monday. He is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting that killed his mother, Susan Sutton, and blinded his father, lawyer John R. Sutton.

SEETHING OVER PAST

Prosecutors say Sutton, still seething about being shipped off to Samoa in 1995 as a troubled teen, wanted his parents dead to cash in on their wealth.

Kopp testified last week that Sutton hired him for the assassination, securing him a pistol and even showing him how to get into the Gables house through the back sliding glass door. Observers had long expected Sutton -- who before trial wanted to represent himself in court -- to testify in his own defense.

Looking different from the goateed dope peddler arrested in 2005, Sutton -- husky and balding -- on Friday wore a white dress shirt, droopy black slacks and thin eyeglasses. He explained little about his teenage outbursts that put him at odds with his parents, though he said they didn't approve of his "gothic'' or "rocker'' attire.

Questioned by defense lawyer Bruce Fleisher, Sutton described how his parents sent two men to snatch him and take him on a series of plane rides that ended days later on an isolated Samoa beach.

At the Paradise Cove reform program, Sutton said, the boys lived in grass huts, slept on mats and had to do push-ups as punishment for not following the rules. They were assigned "categories.'' As a newcomer on the lowest level, he was unable to even go to the bathroom without being accompanied by a supervisor, he said.

The first few months was a shock, Sutton testified. "I was in what they call denial,'' Sutton cried, weeping so dramatically that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake called a break.

MOTIVE TO KILL

But later, Sutton became more upbeat, proudly showing off pictures of his family, including his late mother, visiting him in Samoa.

The defense contends that Sutton harbored no animosity toward his parents, meaning he had no motive to kill. Sutton testified that as the years passed at Paradise Cove, he realized the program benefited him. But he admitted he grew angry upon learning he had to stay past his 18th birthday.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "Accused Christopher Sutton takes the stand"
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 05:37:34 PM
Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1734523/accused-christopher-sutton-takes.html) left for the above article, "Accused Christopher Sutton takes the stand (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=370918#p370918)" (by David Ovalle, 07.16.10, The Miami Herald):


zekedog wrote on 07/17/2010 09:48:42 AM:
anr1929 wrote on 07/17/2010 12:39:22 PM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/20/2010 05:27:27 PM:


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Sobbing Son Pleads Case to Jury
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 05:43:02 PM
There are three pieces of video news coverage accessible at the article link.:


-------------- • -------------- • --------------

NBC·MIAMI
Sobbing Son Pleads Case to Jury (http://http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Sobbing-Son-Pleads-Case-to-Jury-98627539.html)
Christopher Sutton took the stand in his own defense during murder plot trial

By TODD WRIGHT
First Published: Jul 16, 2010 3:13 PM EDT · Updated 4:52 PM EDT, Fri, Jul 16, 2010

The man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his parents while they slept told jurors Friday that he was the real victim in the case.

With tears in his eyes, Christopher Sutton talked about his troubled childhood and his parents' decision to send him to a boarding school in Samoa.

Prosecutors claim Sutton sought revenge against his parents over that decision and hired a friend to kill them. His mother, Susan Sutton died after being shot six times and John Sutton was left blinded from the attack, which occurred inside the family's Coral Gables home in 2004.

"My grades were always an issue," Sutton testified. "I got C's. I had about a C average. That was never good enough. Once I started with the body piercings and tattoos; the rift continued."

The man who carried out the killing, Garret Kopp, testified earlier this week that Sutton was the mastermind behind the plot. Sutton refuted the allegation and said Kopp was a drug addict who wanted to steal from the wealthy family.

Sutton told jurors he sold Kopp drugs before and told him where the safe was, but never told his friend to kill his parents.

Kopp has already been sentenced to 30 years for the murder, but avoided the death penalty for testifying against Sutton.


© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Title: Son At Center Of Murder Plot Sobs On The Stand
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 05:53:46 PM
I don't know who "Smith" is (starting the 6th paragraph); I suspect that's a typo and reporter Gary Nelson had meant to indicate (Christopher) "Sutton."

There's also video news coverage of the trial at the article link.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 16, 2010 6:26 pm US/Eastern

Son At Center Of Murder Plot Sobs On The Stand (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1808309.html)
Christopher Sutton Is Accused Mastermind

Reporting: Gary Nelson

(http://http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/31/2010/07/16/175x131/suttoncries.jpg)
Christopher Sutton cries on the stand, accused of master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life. CBS

MIAMI (CBS4) — The man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his parents in their opulent Coral Gables home took the stand at his murder trial. Christopher Sutton is charged with master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life.

Sutton testified that the confessed triggerman, Garret Kopp, was a drug addict who was familiar with the layout of the Sutton home and knew that Sutton kept pot and Xanax in his room at his parents' home.

Sutton said he sold dope to Kopp, who was a regular customer and that Kopp had called him the night of the shootings wanting Xanax.

"I told him I didn't have access to it, that it was in my room at my parent's house," Sutton said.

During his testimony, Sutton broke down in tears while he talked about the tough reform school his parents sent him to. His defense team has argued that the shootings were part of a botched burglary in which Kopp acted alone.

Smith said he wasn't the uncontrollable kid that he's been made out to be by the state. But, he said he had typical issues for kids.

"My grades were always an issue," Sutton testified. "I got C's. I had about a C average. That was never good enough. Once I started with the body piercings and tattoos; the rift continued."

Sutton wept as he testified in his own defense Friday. The father he allegedly tried to have killed listened, unmoved. Sutton broke down as he recalled the Pacific Island boot camp his parents sent him to when he was 16.

When the defense asked him how much time he spent there, he said in between sobs, "About four or five months."

Sutton said he was angry and resentful over being sent away to the boot camp-style school. He also said he came to recognize that he had behavioral problems that needed help. "I was in denial," Sutton said while crying.

The state claimed Sutton murdered his parents because he hated them for sending him away and also wanted to inherit their fortune.

Defense attorneys introduced photos of Sutton with his mom, dad, and little sister during visits to the school. In the photos, the family appeared smiling and happy. The purpose was to show Sutton had gotten over his anger.

Sutton testified that when he finally got out of the program, he was delighted to return home.

"I was happy. I was very, very happy to see my parents," Sutton testified. "I cried when I got off the plane. There were hugs and kisses. I was happy to be home and be with my parents."

A day earlier, Sutton's defense team had opened its case with a jailhouse witness who bolstered the defense claim that the confessed gunman in the case acted alone.

Three-time convicted felon Junior Cime appeared in court wearing an orange prison uniform. He had been brought to testify from the Okeechobee Correctional Institution where he is serving time for armed robbery.

Cime testified that, in a prison conversation, admitted shooter Garrett Kopp said he entered the Sutton home in August of 2004 with the intention of committing a burglary and was surprised to find the house occupied.

"He was looking for cocaine," Cime quoted Kopp as saying in their prison discussions. "He told me that he found out there was someone in the house and he confronted that person and the person did not comply."

"Did he tell you what happened next?" asked defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

"He shot the person," Cime replied.

Cime's testimony supports the defense claim that Kopp, an on-again, off-again pal of Christopher Sutton, thought the son kept cash and drugs in the house and went there with theft, not murder in mind.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton arranged to have his parents murdered because he hated them for sending him to reform school, and wanted to inherit their wealth.

Earlier Thursday, Nick Gallagher, a friend of the defendant testified that he never heard Sutton say that he wanted to harm his parents. Gallagher testified that he got to know Sutton at a reform school that their parents had sent them to for behavioral problems. Gallagher said Sutton did well at the school, but admitted on cross examination that Sutton was angry at his parents for sending him there.

After the shootings, Gallagher said John and Christopher Sutton stayed at his home in Virginia "for about a week" while the father sought specialized treatment for his wounds at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Gallagher said Christopher was "caring" and "attentive" to his father during the visit.

Jurors also heard from Eric Pope, a friend of Sutton since childhood, who said that Christopher doted on his father after the shootings, caring for the elder Sutton at a condominium in Coconut Grove. "He rearranged his life to take care of him," Pope said.

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder. Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

Sutton's father testified on Wednesday that the problems he had with Christopher never seemed to end.

"We started having problems, it was one problem after another," the father said. "It became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

Sutton said his son was deeply resentful over being sent to a school for teenagers with behavior problems. "He was most unhappy and upset," the father said.

The parents got a court order to keep their son in the reform school beyond his 18th birthday. "We were not satisfied that he was following the rules of the program, or that we could handle him on his return," Sutton testified.

"We wasted 30 months of his life," Sutton quoted his son as saying after he returned from the school on the Pacific island of Samoa. "That was his phrase: 'You wasted my life there'."

Sutton testified that his son, who refused to work or attend school regularly, made increasing monetary demands on his parents and that in the days before the shootings the father, an attorney, had come into a large sum of money from the settlement of a lawsuit.

John Sutton said he learned in his hospital bed a week after the shootings that his wife had been killed.

"I remain upset I didn't go to her funeral," he said. "They said, 'you're crazy.' I said, 'you guys could have taken me on a stretcher.'"

The elder Sutton says he has tried to "make the best of what happened, although there's not much best about it."

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Miami-Dade Homicide detective Arthur Nanni detailed cell phone records that show the defendant and confessed triggerman had called each other hundreds of times, including calls the day of the shootings.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Man accused of plotting to kill parents takes stand
Post by: Ursus on July 25, 2010, 06:06:24 PM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

7NEWS WSVN.com
Man accused of plotting to kill parents takes stand (http://http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21001699538916/)
Posted:  07/17/10 at 7:05 am EDT · Last Updated:  07/17/10 at 9:56 am EDT

MIAMI (WSVN) -- The man accused of plotting to kill his parents is taking the stand in his murder trial.

Sutton took the stand Friday morning to try and convince the jury that he had nothing to do with the murder of his mother and the attempted murder of his father.

During tearful testimony, Christopher Sutton recalled the days he spent in a boarding school in Samoa. "How were you feeling physically during that time?" asked his attorney Bruce Sleischer, during testimony.

Sutton struggled to hold back tears and replied, "I was what they call, in denial" before breaking down and crying.

In August 2004, at his parents' Coral Gables home, his mother Susan Sutton was shot to death while his father John Sutton took a bullet in the head that left him blind. Prosecutors said the younger Sutton hatched the murder plot with Garret Kopp, who, according to police, entered the couple's home to kill Christopher's parents.

Kopp has accepted a plea deal with the state that would see him spend 30 years in jail in exchange for testimony against Christopher, who faces a first degree murder charge. Prosecutors claim that Sutton wanted revenge against his parents because they sent him to the boarding school, an experience he said he did not like.

But, the defense said, a stint in boarding school does not merit murder. "It kind of got to the point where I was told to follow the rules or I could leave if I chose to, and so I kind of was like, 'I'm going to chose the highway instead. It was always 'My way or the highway,'" recalled Sutton on the stand.

Prosecutors also claim Christopher stood to gain financially from his parents' deaths. The defense argues that Kopp acted alone to get money and was in a drug-induced haze when he broke into the house in search of money and drugs.

The defense said Kopp and the younger Sutton knew each other though a relationship that centered around drugs. "Do you recall speaking to Garret Kopp a few days before the shooting, which occurred on August the 22nd?" Sleischer asked Sutton in court.

"Not counting the day of the shooting, I think the last time we spoke on the phone was about the 18th," he responded.

"And did he call you or did you call him?"

"On the 18th, I can't recall."

"And when you spoke with him, is there something that he wanted?"

"Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"Drugs."

On Wednesday, the elder Sutton, who is a civil attorney, took the stand and recalled the moment he was shot. "In those very brief moments, I see the door shut, and all of a sudden I see a black hat, a black shirt, black pants and bam," he said, before an audience that included his son. "That's what happened."

The prosecution is scheduled to cross examine the accused Monday morning.


Copyright 2010 by Sunbeam Television Corp.
Title: Trial Continues For Son At Center Of Murder Plot
Post by: Ursus on July 26, 2010, 10:10:49 AM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 18, 2010 10:19 pm US/Eastern

Trial Continues For Son At Center Of Murder Plot (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1811703.html)
Christopher Sutton Is Accused Of Masterminding A Plot To Murder Parents

Reporting: Gary Nelson

MIAMI (CBS4) — The trial of the man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his parents in their opulent Coral Gables home continues Monday when the defense is expected to wrap up their direct examination of Christopher Sutton.

Sutton is charged with master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life.

Sutton testified Friday that the confessed triggerman, Garret Kopp, was a drug addict who was familiar with the layout of the Sutton home and knew that Sutton kept pot and Xanax in his room at his parents' home.

Sutton said he sold dope to Kopp, who was a regular customer and that Kopp had called him the night of the shootings wanting Xanax.

"I told him I didn't have access to it, that it was in my room at my parent's house," Sutton said.

During his testimony Friday, Sutton broke down in tears while he talked about the tough reform school his parents sent him to. His defense team has argued that the shootings were part of a botched burglary in which Kopp acted alone.

Smith said he wasn't the uncontrollable kid that he's been made out to be by the state. But, he said he had typical issues for kids.

"My grades were always an issue," Sutton testified. "I got C's. I had about a C average. That was never good enough. Once I started with the body piercings and tattoos; the rift continued."

Sutton wept as he testified in his own defense Friday. The father he allegedly tried to have killed listened, unmoved. Sutton broke down as he recalled the Pacific Island boot camp his parents sent him to when he was 16.

When the defense asked him how much time he spent there, he said in between sobs, "About four or five months."

Sutton said he was angry and resentful over being sent away to the boot camp-style school. He also said he came to recognize that he had behavioral problems that needed help. "I was in denial," Sutton said while crying.

The state claimed Sutton murdered his parents because he hated them for sending him away and also wanted to inherit their fortune.

Defense attorneys introduced photos of Sutton with his mom, dad, and little sister during visits to the school. In the photos, the family appeared smiling and happy. The purpose was to show Sutton had gotten over his anger.

Sutton testified that when he finally got out of the program, he was delighted to return home.

"I was happy. I was very, very happy to see my parents," Sutton testified. "I cried when I got off the plane. There were hugs and kisses. I was happy to be home and be with my parents."

A day earlier, Sutton's defense team had opened its case with a jailhouse witness who bolstered the defense claim that the confessed gunman in the case acted alone.

Three-time convicted felon Junior Cime appeared in court wearing an orange prison uniform. He had been brought to testify from the Okeechobee Correctional Institution where he is serving time for armed robbery.

Cime testified that, in a prison conversation, admitted shooter Garrett Kopp said he entered the Sutton home in August of 2004 with the intention of committing a burglary and was surprised to find the house occupied.
"He was looking for cocaine," Cime quoted Kopp as saying in their prison discussions. "He told me that he found out there was someone in the house and he confronted that person and the person did not comply."

"Did he tell you what happened next?" asked defense attorney Bruce Fleisher.

"He shot the person," Cime replied.

Cime's testimony supports the defense claim that Kopp, an on-again, off-again pal of Christopher Sutton, thought the son kept cash and drugs in the house and went there with theft, not murder in mind.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton arranged to have his parents murdered because he hated them for sending him to reform school, and wanted to inherit their wealth.

Earlier Thursday, Nick Gallagher, a friend of the defendant testified that he never heard Sutton say that he wanted to harm his parents. Gallagher testified that he got to know Sutton at a reform school that their parents had sent them to for behavioral problems. Gallagher said Sutton did well at the school, but admitted on cross examination that Sutton was angry at his parents for sending him there.

After the shootings, Gallagher said John and Christopher Sutton stayed at his home in Virginia "for about a week" while the father sought specialized treatment for his wounds at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Gallagher said Christopher was "caring" and "attentive" to his father during the visit.

Jurors also heard from Eric Pope, a friend of Sutton since childhood, who said that Christopher doted on his father after the shootings, caring for the elder Sutton at a condominium in Coconut Grove. "He rearranged his life to take care of him," Pope said.

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder. Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

Sutton's father testified on Wednesday that the problems he had with Christopher never seemed to end.

"We started having problems, it was one problem after another," the father said. "It became too difficult to deal with. We were at our wit's end."

Sutton said his son was deeply resentful over being sent to a school for teenagers with behavior problems. "He was most unhappy and upset," the father said.

The parents got a court order to keep their son in the reform school beyond his 18th birthday. "We were not satisfied that he was following the rules of the program, or that we could handle him on his return," Sutton testified.

"We wasted 30 months of his life," Sutton quoted his son as saying after he returned from the school on the Pacific island of Samoa. "That was his phrase: 'You wasted my life there'."

Sutton testified that his son, who refused to work or attend school regularly, made increasing monetary demands on his parents and that in the days before the shootings the father, an attorney, had come into a large sum of money from the settlement of a lawsuit.

John Sutton said he learned in his hospital bed a week after the shootings that his wife had been killed.

"I remain upset I didn't go to her funeral," he said. "They said, 'you're crazy.' I said, 'you guys could have taken me on a stretcher.'"

The elder Sutton says he has tried to "make the best of what happened, although there's not much best about it."

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Miami-Dade Homicide detective Arthur Nanni detailed cell phone records that show the defendant and confessed triggerman had called each other hundreds of times, including calls the day of the shootings.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Pile of Dead Kids on July 26, 2010, 10:38:57 AM
Quote
Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

 :rofl:  :tup:
Title: Accused Son Admits Parents "Deserved to Pay"
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 12:21:25 AM
There are three pieces of video news coverage accessible at the article link:


-------------- • -------------- • --------------

NBC·Miami
Accused Son Admits Parents "Deserved to Pay" (http://http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Accused-Son-Admits-Parents-Deserved-to-Pay-98771659.html)
Testimony continues in murder plot against Sutton's parents

By TODD WRIGHT
First Published: Jul 19, 2010 3:00 PM EDT · Updated 9:53 PM EDT, Mon, Jul 19, 2010

The Coral Gables man accused of ordering a hit on his wealthy parents (http://http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Blind-Dad-Testifies-Against-Son-in-Murder-Plot-98449484.html) told a Miami-Dade jury that his mom and dad deserved to pay for sending him to a strict boarding school just months before the attack.

Christopher Sutton, facing questions from prosecutors, admitted he told his former fiance that he would get revenge for what his parents did to him. Prosecutors claim that revenge would come in the form of a hit ordered on John and Susan Sutton as they lay asleep in bed.

In 2003, the parents sent their son to a school in Samoa designed for troubled teens against his will.  Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton never got over his anger and in August 2004, he had his friend Garret Kopp shoot both his parents.

Susan Sutton died after being shot six times. John Sutton survived the attack but is permanently blind after being shot in the face.

"Didn't you repeatedly tell Julia Driscol that your parents deserved to pay for taking those years from your life?" asked prosecutor Carin Kahgan.

"Yes," replied Sutton.

It was Sutton's second day of testimony. On Friday, he cried while being questioned (http://http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Sobbing-Son-Pleads-Case-to-Jury-98627539.html) about his troubled teen years when he was sent away.

Defense attorneys allege Kopp was a drug addict who wanted to rob the Suttons, but ended up having to shoot them after being surprised they were in the house.

Kopp has already been sentenced to 30 years for the shooting, but avoided the death penalty in exchange for his testimony against his former friend.


© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Title: Closing Arguments In Murder Plot Set For Tuesday
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 12:29:43 AM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 19, 2010 6:06 pm US/Eastern

Closing Arguments In Murder Plot Set For Tuesday (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1812106.html)
Christopher Sutton Is Accused Of Masterminding A Plot To Murder Parents

Reporting: Gary Nelson

MIAMI (CBS4) — Testimony has concluded in the trial of Christopher Sutton. He is charged with with master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life in their opulent Coral Gables home.

Monday afternoon, prosecutors called Sutton's sister, Melissa, to the stand to help bolster their claim the gunman entered the house through a malfunctioning sliding glass that those in the Sutton family knew about and Sutton told the gunman about.

Melissa testified that the family had used the door to "break-in" to the house when they accidentally locked themselves out.

Prosecutors also used the afternoon rebuttal case to call the sister of murder victim Susan Sutton, Christopher's mother. Mary Maier testified that Christopher spoke hatefully of his mother, even in the days following her murder and before his arrest by police.

The state also re-called Christopher's father, John Sutton, to the stand. The elder Sutton talked about a condo he put his son up in the Grove and recalled having breakfast with him there just weeks before the shootings.

Monday morning, Sutton denied ever saying that his parents had to "pay" for how they had treated him or that he wanted them dead. He also said he never said he would hire someone to kill them or do it himself.

Sutton's version contradicts earlier testimony from his former girlfriend, Julie Driscoll. She testified that Sutton said his parents should die for what they did to him and he could hire someone to do it or do it himself.

Sutton also said he refused to give a detailed statement to police when they questioned him following the murders because he did not want to give them information about his drug dealing. He also testified he never had dealings with the confessed triggerman, Garrett Kopp, except when the two got together for drug deals.

During his testimony Friday, Sutton broke down in tears while he talked about the tough reform school his parents sent him to. His defense team has argued that the shootings were part of a botched burglary in which Kopp acted alone.

Smith said he wasn't the uncontrollable kid that he's been made out to be by the state. But, he said he had typical issues for kids.

Sutton wept as he testified in his own defense Friday. The father he allegedly tried to have killed listened, unmoved. Sutton broke down as he recalled the Pacific Island boot camp his parents sent him to when he was 16.

Sutton said he was angry and resentful over being sent away to the boot camp-style school. He also said he came to recognize that he had behavioral problems that needed help. "I was in denial," Sutton said while crying.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton arranged to have his parents murdered because he hated them for sending him to reform school, and wanted to inherit their wealth.

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder. Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

The parents got a court order to keep their son in the reform school beyond his 18th birthday. "We were not satisfied that he was following the rules of the program, or that we could handle him on his return," Sutton testified.

"We wasted 30 months of his life," John Sutton quoted his son as saying after he returned from the school on the Pacific island of Samoa. "That was his phrase: 'You wasted my life there.'"

The elder Sutton says he has tried to "make the best of what happened, although there's not much best about it."

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

The judge in the case sent the jury home for the day. Closing arguments will begin first thing Tuesday morning.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Jury Adjourns For Night In Murder For Hire Trial
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 12:34:43 AM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 20, 2010 8:04 pm US/Eastern

Jury Adjourns For Night In Murder For Hire Trial (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1814042.html)
Christopher Sutton Is Accused Of Masterminding A Plot To Murder His Parents

Reporting: Gary Nelson

MIAMI (CBS4) — A jury deciding if a young man is guilty of master-minding the shooting that killed his mother Susan and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life while they were in their Coral Gables home has sent word it wants to retire for the night.

The jury started to deliberate just before 4 p.m. Tuesday after a full day of closing arguments.

Prosecutors staked their case on Sutton's motive being greed, and anger over being sent away to a reform school when he was younger.

"What motive did Christopher Sutton have to want both his parents dead? Money," said assistant state attorney Carin Kahgan. "That man, the defendant, had profound anger, hatred, and greed. His parents were worth nothing more to him than a means to get money."

"The only person in this room with the motive to murder John and Susan Sutton is the defendant, Christopher Sutton," Assistant State Attorney Kathleen Hoague said.

Kahgan recounted the testimony of Sutton's former girlfriend, Julie Driscoll, who said he told her "over and over" about his desire to kill his parents. "He went over how much money they had. He said his parents deserved to die. You heard her say that," Kahgan told jurors.

Defense attorney Bruce Fleisher cast the case differently, saying the confessed killer worked alone in a botched, drug-crazed robbery.

"We want you to judge your verdicts on the facts of the case," Fleisher said. "We want you to judge your verdict on what happened in this case."

Fleisher said the confessed gunman Kopp, after being told by police that he was facing the death penalty, lied about Kopp's involvement to keep from going to the electric chair.

"He sat here and he told you exactly what happened. He gave Christopher up to save himself," he said. "Is there enough evidence in this case to convict my client? The answer is no," Fleisher said.

Fleisher said Julie Driscoll's story was elicited by cops who threatened her with murder charges if she didn't incriminate Sutton. "They coerced her; they forced her. They threatened her for 14 hours before she gave them what they wanted to hear."

Monday, prosecutors called Sutton's sister, Melissa, to the stand to help bolster their claim the gunman entered the house through a malfunctioning sliding glass that those in the Sutton family knew about and Sutton told the gunman about.

Melissa testified that the family had used the door to "break-in" to the house when they accidentally locked themselves out.

Prosecutors also used the afternoon rebuttal case to call the sister of murder victim Susan Sutton, Christopher's mother. Mary Maier testified that Christopher spoke hatefully of his mother, even in the days following her murder and before his arrest by police.

The state also re-called Christopher's father, John Sutton, to the stand. The elder Sutton talked about a condo he put his son up in the Grove and recalled having breakfast with him there just weeks before the shootings.

Monday morning, Sutton denied ever saying that his parents had to "pay" for how they had treated him or that he wanted them dead. He also said he never said he would hire someone to kill them or do it himself.

Sutton's version contradicts earlier testimony from his former girlfriend, Julie Driscoll. She testified that Sutton said his parents should die for what they did to him and he could hire someone to do it or do it himself.

Sutton also said he refused to give a detailed statement to police when they questioned him following the murders because he did not want to give them information about his drug dealing. He also testified he never had dealings with the confessed triggerman, Garrett Kopp, except when the two got together for drug deals.

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder. Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Comments for "Jury Adjourns For Night In Murder For Hire Tri
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 12:43:28 AM
Comments (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1814042.html) left for the above article, "Jury Adjourns For Night In Murder For Hire Trial (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371075#p371073)" (by Gary Nelson; Jul 20, 2010; CBS4.com):


By shotta2k3 posted Tue Jul 20 2010 22:22:25


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Christopher Sutton guilty in attack on parents
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 10:41:16 AM
There were a few articles from the Miami Herald that were forwarded to the following article (the original having been yanked), which appears to be a brief summary prior to the more in-depth version published the following day.

Twenty pics, mostly court room scenes and closeups, at the link (Adobe Flash Player)...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Wednesday, 07.21.10

Christopher Sutton guilty in attack on parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1739558/jurors-hear-closing-arguments.html)

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

(http://http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/07/16/19/7655120.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG)
The testimony of Christopher Sutton -- accused of sending a hit man to murder his parents in their Coral Gables house in August 2004 -- was a fitting set-up for Tuesday's closing arguments. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Christopher Sutton is guilty of hatching a plot to murder his wealthy parents inside their Coral Gables home in August 2004, jurors decided Wednesday.

Sutton, 31, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder charges in the shootings of John and Susan Sutton.

In the attack, Susan Sutton was killed, while John Sutton, a civil attorney, was blinded.

Prosecutors say Sutton, wanting his parent's wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their Orduna Drive house.

The gunman, Garrett Kopp, pleaded guilty, agreed to spend 30 years in prison and testified against Sutton at trial.

Sutton's defense attorney argued that Kopp was a drug-addled burglar who broke into the house on his own looking for a drug stash belonging to Sutton.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "Christopher Sutton guilty in attack on parents
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 11:34:08 AM
Given that the original article had to do with the jurors hearing closing arguments (replaced by The Miami Herald before I had a chance to see it), the first comments were made before the verdict was in.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1739558/jurors-hear-closing-arguments.html) left for the above article, "Christopher Sutton guilty in attack on parents (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371099#p371097)" (by David Ovalle, 07.21.10, The Miami Herald):


TheOriginalMiddlePath wrote on 07/21/2010 09:39:54 AM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/21/2010 12:06:57 PM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/21/2010 12:12:54 PM:
holmesrip2 wrote on 07/21/2010 12:15:27 PM:
nmfish wrote on 07/21/2010 12:53:55 PM:
lagordita wrote on 07/21/2010 12:59:31 PM:
raulcarbonell wrote on 07/21/2010 01:11:38 PM:
BHarrison wrote on 07/21/2010 01:23:54 PM:
BHarrison wrote on 07/21/2010 01:25:38 PM:
Quote
Replying to lagordita (07/21/2010 12:59:31 PM):
"An eye (literally) for any eye.":
Gosh, are YOU a Muslim? Personally, I believe in capital punishment; but your comment appears to be more out of the Muslim religion, huh?[/list]
lagordita wrote on 07/21/2010 04:42:22 PM:
Quote
Replying to BHarrison (07/21/2010 01:25:38 PM):
"Gosh, are YOU a Muslim? Personally, I believe in capital punishment; but your comment appears to be more out of the Muslim religion, huh?":
What's it to YOU?[/list]
dsa61 wrote on 07/21/2010 08:13:06 PM:
jehanne wrote on 07/21/2010 08:20:11 PM:
Ignignokt wrote on 07/21/2010 08:27:59 PM:
resalazar73 wrote on 07/21/2010 08:54:52 PM:
Quote
Replying to BHarrison (07/21/2010 01:25:38 PM):
"Gosh, are YOU a Muslim? Personally, I believe in capital punishment; but your comment appears to be more out of the Muslim religion, huh?":
"An eye for eye" is also in the Christian Bible. Don't be so closed minded. Or just stupid.[/list]
avernus1 wrote on 07/21/2010 09:35:30 PM:
swampsista wrote on 07/21/2010 09:48:13 PM:
swampsista wrote on 07/21/2010 09:52:33 PM:
stevenleonard wrote on 07/21/2010 10:25:35 PM:
gruis wrote on 07/21/2010 10:41:33 PM:
Quote
Replying to swampsista (07/21/2010 09:48:13 PM):
"How did the killer know about the "drug stash?" I don't think the average person would have known, say randomly or just walking down the street--so I think it is a safe bet that the son had something to do this and was rightfully found guilty.":
You sir are a true genius[/list]
mung wrote on 07/21/2010 11:18:14 PM:
Quote
Replying to BHarrison (07/21/2010 01:25:38 PM):
"Gosh, are YOU a Muslim? Personally, I believe in capital punishment; but your comment appears to be more out of the Muslim religion, huh?":
Eye for an eye is a phrase in several mitzvot in the Torah, so Judaism, Christianity and Islam all adopted it (though it is later repudiated in the Gospels).[/list]
chicorichmondheights wrote on 07/22/2010 02:41:14 AM:
dee65 wrote on 07/22/2010 09:59:48 AM:
Quote
Replying to BHarrison (07/21/2010 01:23:54 PM):
"Based upon what I've seen and read in the news reports, there doesn't seem to be very much for the jury to deliberate, except for what his punishment should be. This guy is somewhat of a banner child against the potential problems of adopting a child. A defense attorney's obligation is to get the...":
So he should also be the banner child against having children PERIOD. How many biological children have done the same? Many, so his being adopted has nothing to do with him killing his parents. The Menendez brothers weren't adopted so that argument is null. What is a valid point is that when you have children whether biological or adopted its the luck of the draw and all we as parents can do is pray that the upbringing we give them will make them productive citizens of the world and not sociopaths.[/list]
dee65 wrote on 07/22/2010 10:02:13 AM:
Quote
Replying to BHarrison (07/21/2010 01:23:54 PM):
"Based upon what I've seen and read in the news reports, there doesn't seem to be very much for the jury to deliberate, except for what his punishment should be. This guy is somewhat of a banner child against the potential problems of adopting a child. A defense attorney's obligation is to get the...":
Uhm have you ever read the Bible?[/list]
dee65 wrote on 07/22/2010 10:08:04 AM:
Quote
Replying to chicorichmondheights (07/22/2010 02:41:14 AM):
"well, there you have it ...you can convict anybody of anything in this town except cops.":
Huh? This isn't just ANYTHING, he murdered his MOTHER and his FATHER was left blind, what does that have to do with cops? If you have something against cops don't bring it up in a thread that has nothing to do with abuse of authority. He committed/instigated a CRIME and now he will pay that's all that needs to be said.[/list]
byemiami wrote on 07/22/2010 06:48:50 PM:
Quote
Replying to chicorichmondheights (07/22/2010 02:41:14 AM):
"well, there you have it ...you can convict anybody of anything in this town except cops.":
What the hell is a cop hater like you doing making pathetic remarks on this topic. You are probably an ex con who probably,like Chritopher,blames everyone else for your miserable existance.[/list]


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Man Found Guilty In Parents' Murder For Hire Plot
Post by: Ursus on July 27, 2010, 02:07:45 PM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

CBS4.com
Jul 21, 2010 11:40 pm US/Eastern

Man Found Guilty In Parents' Murder For Hire Plot (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1816446.html)
Christopher Sutton Masterminded A Plot To Murder His Parents
His Father Said This Is A "Lose-lose" Situation

Reporting: Gary Nelson

(http://http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/31/2010/07/16/175x131/suttoncries.jpg)
Christopher Sutton cries on the stand, accused of master-minding the shooting that killed his mother, Susan, and left his father, John, wounded and blinded for life. CBS

MIAMI (CBS4) — A Miami-Dade jury has found Christopher Sutton guilty of plotting a 2004 murder that left his mother dead and his father blind in their Coral Gables house.

Wednesday night the jury found the 31-year-old man guilty of first degree murder and attempted murder charges.

The jury appeared to be in no rush to judgment. On Tuesday they asked to hear the call Sutton's father John made to 911 the night he and his wife were shot in their beds. The 911 call was the first exhibit entered into evidence during the 2 week trial.

The jury started to deliberate just before 4 p.m. Tuesday after a full day of closing arguments. They deliberated for about 4 hours before going home for the night.

Christopher's father John Sutton was upset but satisfied that justice was served.

"This is unfortunately a lose-lose situation, but at least it's completed," Sutton told the media after the verdict was read.

Sutton believes his son has stolen his faith in the past, and had been planning to kill him for nine years in the past. He said his son previously tried loosening the wheel on his car.

"This is a series of plans and schemes that came together and all fell into that particular awful night, five years and 11 months ago," he said.

Christopher Sutton declined to address the court after the verdict, or even look at his father while the elder Sutton spoke.

"I am convinced that justice in this system will always prevail, and prevailed here," said his father.

Christopher's sister Melissa also thanked the court while sobbing: "Thank you for ending all of this; it needs to be over."

But the loudest sob came from the father of the hit man, Mitch Kopp: "I am so sorry my son had anything to do with this."

And despite the tragedy his family life has become, John Sutton forgives: "Mr. Kopp Sr. did not do it, he did not do the shooting, probably as I did, he did the best he could with what he had."

Prosecutors staked their case on Sutton's motive being greed, and anger over being sent away to a reform school when he was younger.

"What motive did Christopher Sutton have to want both his parents dead? Money," said assistant state attorney Carin Kahgan. "That man, the defendant, had profound anger, hatred, and greed. His parents were worth nothing more to him than a means to get money."

"The only person in this room with the motive to murder John and Susan Sutton is the defendant, Christopher Sutton," Assistant State Attorney Kathleen Hoague said.

Kahgan recounted the testimony of Sutton's former girlfriend, Julie Driscoll, who said he told her "over and over" about his desire to kill his parents. "He went over how much money they had. He said his parents deserved to die. You heard him say that," Kahgan told jurors.

Defense attorney Bruce Fleisher cast the case differently, saying the confessed killer worked alone in a botched, drug-crazed robbery.

"We want you to judge your verdicts on the facts of the case," Fleisher said. "We want you to judge your verdict on what happened in this case."

Fleisher said the confessed gunman, Garrett Kopp, lied about his involvement to keep from going to the electric chair.

"He sat here and he told you exactly what happened. He gave Christopher up to save himself," he said. "Is there enough evidence in this case to convict my client? The answer is no," Fleisher said.

Fleisher said Julie Driscoll's story was elicited by cops who threatened her with murder charges if she didn't incriminate Sutton. "They coerced her; they forced her. They threatened her for 14 hours before she gave them what they wanted to hear."

The defense also tried to raise doubt in the prosecution's case by calling a Miami-Dade homicide detective who acknowledged that investigators thought business enemies might have been behind the shooting and murder.

Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said John Sutton, an attorney, told police that he thought he and his wife may have been targeted by someone from whom he had won a big court settlement.

The gunman allegedly hired by Christopher Sutton testified against him last week. Garrett Kopp, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence, said he entered the Sutton home on the night of August 22, 2004 with the intention of shooting and killing them as part of a plot devised by Sutton.

Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton left a sliding door open to allow Kopp to get into the house the night of the shootings, and went out with his girlfriend to eat and catch a movie.

Sutton has received three life sentences without the possibility of parole, even though according to his defense attorney, he plans to appeal.

CBS4's Gary Nelson and Natalia Zea contributed to this report.


© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
Post by: Pile of Dead Kids on July 27, 2010, 02:33:36 PM
Quote
"This is unfortunately a lose-lose situation, but at least it's completed," Sutton told the media after the verdict was read.

Every fucking time this guy opens his mouth...

Okay! Let's recap!

You sent your son to torture camp for 30 months, he sent a hit man to kill you and your wife, your wife is fucking buried and you're permanently blind, and all you'll say about it is that it's a lose-lose situation?!

I'd imagine that more of his brain must have been damaged than just his vision. But he sounds so much like some of the various other trolls on this board that he probably really did start this way. There's no person in there. These program parents are just shells. Whatever spark of consciousness he used to have decided to go on permanent vacation long, long ago.
Title: Son found guilty in murder plot trial
Post by: Ursus on July 28, 2010, 10:11:15 AM
Video news coverage at the link...

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

7NEWS - WSVN.com
Son found guilty in murder plot trial (http://http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21001745216970/)
Posted:  07/22/10 at 6:05 am EDT · Last Updated:  07/22/10 at 7:07 am EDT

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A South Florida jury has found a man accused of hiring a hit on his parents guilty.

"As to count one, guilty of first degree murder as charged in the indictment," Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Stanford Blake announced in court. "Guilty of attempted first degree murder. Guilty of attempted first degree felony murder. Guilty of burglary with assault."

On Wednesday, a jury found Christopher Sutton guilty of the attack that claimed his mother's life and seriously injured his father.

Blinded by the bullet blamed on his own son, John Sutton addressed the court. "We're now at five years, 11 months," he said as he talked about the time that has passed since the murder of his wife.

Tuesday morning, prosecutors rested their case in the weeks-long trial.

In August 2004, at the Coral Gables home of Christopher Sutton's parents, his mother Susan Sutton was shot to death while his father, civil lawyer John Sutton, took a bullet to the head that left him blind. Prosecutors said the younger Sutton hatched the murder plot with Garret Kopp, who, according to police, entered the couple's home to kill the parents.

Kopp accepted a plea deal with the state that would see him spend 30 years in jail in exchange for testimony against Sutton, who faces first degree and attempted murder charges. Prosecutors claim Sutton wanted revenge against his parents because they sent him to an abusive boarding school in Samoa when he was younger. The defense argues Kopp acted alone in search of money while in a drug-induced haze when he broke into the home.

During her closing arguments, prosecutor Carin Kahgan said, "Garret Kopp is not here to get Citizen of the Year award. He is a confessed killer. That does not mean that you reject his testimony automatically, especially in view of the fact that the physical evidence in this case supports exactly what Garret Kopp said happened in that house."

During his final statements to the jury, defense attorney Bruce Fleischer, said, "This is a high profile case, which involved the Coral Gables Police Department and the Miami-Dade Police Department. They needed to solve this murder and this attempted murder. The police in this case convinced John Sutton that his son was guilty of this crime based upon the testimony of Garret Kopp and based upon the testimony of Juliette Driscoll and the statements that they made to the police."

Driscoll was the defendant's former fiancé. Her testimony that Sutton told her he wanted revenge for his stint at the boarding school, along with Kopp's testimony, were key to the prosecution's case.


Copyright 2010 by Sunbeam Television Corp.
Title: Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents
Post by: Ursus on July 29, 2010, 10:07:21 AM
Here's the previously mentioned (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371097#p371097) more in-depth article from The Miami Herald; (same) twenty pics at the link (Adobe Flash Player):

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.22.10

Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery)
Miami-Dade jurors convicted Christopher Sutton of hatching the murder plot that left his mother dead and his father blind. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

Minutes after John R. Sutton's adopted son was convicted of masterminding the bloody attack that left Sutton blind and his wife dead, a reporter asked if he still considered Christopher Sutton his son.

He paused, saying finally: "I cannot answer that question.''

At the same time, jailers whisked Christopher Sutton from the courtroom. He passed within a few yards of his father, never giving him so much as a glance.

The heart-wrenching scene capped an emotional three-week trial that left family, jurors and even the judge choked up.

After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors convicted Sutton, 31, on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake immediately sentenced Sutton to three life terms.

Sutton did not address the court or shed a tear.

Prosecutors say Sutton, wanting his parent's wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their Coral Gables house in August 2004.

As Judge Blake read the guilty verdicts, two jurors cried. So did Melissa Sutton, Sutton's sister. Both were adopted by the Suttons as newborns.

Even Blake, a family court judge who returned to the criminal courthouse to try the case, teared up as he imposed the sentence.

During trial, prosecutors Carin Kahgan and Kathleen Hoague painted Sutton as a brat who dealt drugs, spoke openly of hating his parents, and pushed pal Garrett Kopp into shooting his well-heeled parents.

"We put on a tremendous amount of evidence,'' Kahgan said after the conviction.

The state's winning theory: that Sutton believed he deserved his father's wealth after his parents shipped him off to the Samoan Paradise Cove program, where he spent 29 months in the mid '90s.

Testifying in his own defense, Sutton cried when recounting his arrival at Paradise Cove. Jurors heard that boys there were hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and deprived of food. But Sutton testified that the program eased up after a while, and he came to appreciate his time there.

For prosecutors, hired gunman Kopp was the key witness. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a 30-year prison term.

On the stand, Kopp told how he committed the shootings and said he was hired by Sutton, who gave him a gun, showed him how to break into the house and gave the green-light on Aug. 22, 2004.

Mitchell Kopp, his father, who was key in convincing his son to cooperate with prosecutors, stayed for the verdict Wednesday and tearfully shook Melissa Sutton's hand after the verdict.

"Both the families lost a son,'' he said afterward.

Sutton's defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, had argued that Kopp was a drug-addled burglar who broke into the house on his own looking for a drug stash belonging to Sutton. Jurors did not buy it.

Fleisher said Christopher Sutton thanked him for his work in representing him. "He was upset. He had tears in his eyes. I think everyone had tears in their eyes.''

John Sutton stood up in court but did not directly rip into his son. Instead, with the boom of a seasoned lawyer, he praised Fleisher's professionalism and hailed the prosecutors for putting his son away.

"The state has never seen better,'' said of the prosecutors.

In the hallway afterward, Sutton said he believed the shooting was a "scheme hatched over a long time,'' and insisted he and his wife did their best to educate their adopted son.

"Those other people that went to Samoa, they didn't kill people,'' he said.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Comments for "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot..."
Post by: Ursus on July 29, 2010, 11:16:35 AM
Comments (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery) left for the above article, "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371256#p371250)" (by David Ovalle, 07.22.10, The Miami Herald):


nancydavisl wrote on 07/22/2010 08:13:16 AM:
ramundo wrote on 07/22/2010 09:52:21 AM:
gowani wrote on 07/22/2010 11:18:24 AM:
nmfish wrote on 07/22/2010 12:23:58 PM:
originalrat2 wrote on 07/22/2010 02:03:57 PM:
axl wrote on 07/22/2010 07:58:12 PM:
anr1929 wrote on 07/23/2010 00:14:23 AM:
Quote
Replying to nmfish (07/22/2010 12:23:58 PM):
"A couple of things that were not mentioned but I'm sure were contributing factors to Chris's resentment and anger towards his parents were the gang rapes in Samoa and the fact that his father tried to prevent his release upon his 18th birthday. It's a program for kids but even after he became a...":
No wonder his father tried to prevent his return to the US. Look what happened: mother dead and father blind.[/list]
HenrikKnudsen wrote on 07/23/2010 06:42:34 PM:
HenrikKnudsen wrote on 07/23/2010 06:51:36 PM:
bromah wrote on 07/23/2010 07:00:19 PM:
bromah wrote on 07/23/2010 07:04:03 PM:
Quote
Replying to originalrat2 (07/22/2010 02:03:57 PM):
"gowani, It's people like you who make creatures like this flourish. You make excuses for everything they do except put the blame right where it belongs, on their backs. What his parents did was forced upon them by this creature who wouldn't do anything in an acceptable manner. Upon returning he...":
sorry sir you know nothing of the particulars. perhaps you should actually read the details of this case before commenting. while you are at it go and read about paradise cove, the place that would feed teenagers nothing but bowls of rice, hog tie them and leave them in a shed in the sun if they misbehaved or would beat a person into submission. forced exercise is nothing to what they actually did there.[/list]
o3o2 wrote on 07/26/2010 01:31:35 AM:
Quote
Replying to gowani (07/22/2010 11:18:24 AM):
"We must all remain responsible for our actions, however provoked we may have been. On the other hand, severe abuse can be regarded as an explantion even if not an excuse. Being hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and being deprived of food qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. It...":
You seem to avoid the fact that Christopher must have done something to get put into this Paradise Cove programme in Samoa. Were his parents at their wits end with him and had found no other solution to his behaviour? Behaviour that presumably got him placed into Paradise Cove? He sounds like a bad egg that could not get out of his own way to help himself.[/list]


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Re: Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parent
Post by: Anne Bonney on July 29, 2010, 11:23:06 AM
My comment in blue

Quote from: "Ursus"
Here's the previously mentioned (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371097#p371097) more in-depth article from The Miami Herald; (same) twenty pics at the link (Adobe Flash Player):

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.22.10

Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery)
Miami-Dade jurors convicted Christopher Sutton of hatching the murder plot that left his mother dead and his father blind. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

Minutes after John R. Sutton's adopted son was convicted of masterminding the bloody attack that left Sutton blind and his wife dead, a reporter asked if he still considered Christopher Sutton his son.

He paused, saying finally: "I cannot answer that question.''

At the same time, jailers whisked Christopher Sutton from the courtroom. He passed within a few yards of his father, never giving him so much as a glance.

The heart-wrenching scene capped an emotional three-week trial that left family, jurors and even the judge choked up.

After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors convicted Sutton, 31, on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake immediately sentenced Sutton to three life terms.

Sutton did not address the court or shed a tear.

Prosecutors say Sutton, wanting his parent's wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their Coral Gables house in August 2004.

As Judge Blake read the guilty verdicts, two jurors cried. So did Melissa Sutton, Sutton's sister. Both were adopted by the Suttons as newborns.

Even Blake, a family court judge who returned to the criminal courthouse to try the case, teared up as he imposed the sentence.

During trial, prosecutors Carin Kahgan and Kathleen Hoague painted Sutton as a brat who dealt drugs, spoke openly of hating his parents, and pushed pal Garrett Kopp into shooting his well-heeled parents.

"We put on a tremendous amount of evidence,'' Kahgan said after the conviction.

The state's winning theory: that Sutton believed he deserved his father's wealth after his parents shipped him off to the Samoan Paradise Cove program, where he spent 29 months in the mid '90s.

Testifying in his own defense, Sutton cried when recounting his arrival at Paradise Cove. Jurors heard that boys there were hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and deprived of food. But Sutton testified that the program eased up after a while, and he came to appreciate his time there.  The kid was hogtied and stuck in a cage, but "came to appreciate his time there".  Sound familiar?  Stockholm Syndrome???

For prosecutors, hired gunman Kopp was the key witness. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a 30-year prison term.

On the stand, Kopp told how he committed the shootings and said he was hired by Sutton, who gave him a gun, showed him how to break into the house and gave the green-light on Aug. 22, 2004.

Mitchell Kopp, his father, who was key in convincing his son to cooperate with prosecutors, stayed for the verdict Wednesday and tearfully shook Melissa Sutton's hand after the verdict.

"Both the families lost a son,'' he said afterward.

Sutton's defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, had argued that Kopp was a drug-addled burglar who broke into the house on his own looking for a drug stash belonging to Sutton. Jurors did not buy it.

Fleisher said Christopher Sutton thanked him for his work in representing him. "He was upset. He had tears in his eyes. I think everyone had tears in their eyes.''

John Sutton stood up in court but did not directly rip into his son. Instead, with the boom of a seasoned lawyer, he praised Fleisher's professionalism and hailed the prosecutors for putting his son away.

"The state has never seen better,'' said of the prosecutors.

In the hallway afterward, Sutton said he believed the shooting was a "scheme hatched over a long time,'' and insisted he and his wife did their best to educate their adopted son.

"Those other people that went to Samoa, they didn't kill people,'' he said.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.
Title: Re: Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parent
Post by: DannyB II on July 29, 2010, 04:22:56 PM
Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
My comment in blue

Quote from: "Ursus"
Here's the previously mentioned (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371097#p371097) more in-depth article from The Miami Herald; (same) twenty pics at the link (Adobe Flash Player):

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.22.10

Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery)
Miami-Dade jurors convicted Christopher Sutton of hatching the murder plot that left his mother dead and his father blind. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

Minutes after John R. Sutton's adopted son was convicted of masterminding the bloody attack that left Sutton blind and his wife dead, a reporter asked if he still considered Christopher Sutton his son.

He paused, saying finally: "I cannot answer that question.''

At the same time, jailers whisked Christopher Sutton from the courtroom. He passed within a few yards of his father, never giving him so much as a glance.

The heart-wrenching scene capped an emotional three-week trial that left family, jurors and even the judge choked up.

After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors convicted Sutton, 31, on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake immediately sentenced Sutton to three life terms.

Sutton did not address the court or shed a tear.

Prosecutors say Sutton, wanting his parent's wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their Coral Gables house in August 2004.

As Judge Blake read the guilty verdicts, two jurors cried. So did Melissa Sutton, Sutton's sister. Both were adopted by the Suttons as newborns.

Even Blake, a family court judge who returned to the criminal courthouse to try the case, teared up as he imposed the sentence.

During trial, prosecutors Carin Kahgan and Kathleen Hoague painted Sutton as a brat who dealt drugs, spoke openly of hating his parents, and pushed pal Garrett Kopp into shooting his well-heeled parents.

"We put on a tremendous amount of evidence,'' Kahgan said after the conviction.

The state's winning theory: that Sutton believed he deserved his father's wealth after his parents shipped him off to the Samoan Paradise Cove program, where he spent 29 months in the mid '90s.

Testifying in his own defense, Sutton cried when recounting his arrival at Paradise Cove. Jurors heard that boys there were hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and deprived of food. But Sutton testified that the program eased up after a while, and he came to appreciate his time there.  The kid was hogtied and stuck in a cage, but "came to appreciate his time there".  Sound familiar?  Stockholm Syndrome???

For prosecutors, hired gunman Kopp was the key witness. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a 30-year prison term.

On the stand, Kopp told how he committed the shootings and said he was hired by Sutton, who gave him a gun, showed him how to break into the house and gave the green-light on Aug. 22, 2004.

Mitchell Kopp, his father, who was key in convincing his son to cooperate with prosecutors, stayed for the verdict Wednesday and tearfully shook Melissa Sutton's hand after the verdict.

"Both the families lost a son,'' he said afterward.

Sutton's defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, had argued that Kopp was a drug-addled burglar who broke into the house on his own looking for a drug stash belonging to Sutton. Jurors did not buy it.

Fleisher said Christopher Sutton thanked him for his work in representing him. "He was upset. He had tears in his eyes. I think everyone had tears in their eyes.''

John Sutton stood up in court but did not directly rip into his son. Instead, with the boom of a seasoned lawyer, he praised Fleisher's professionalism and hailed the prosecutors for putting his son away.

"The state has never seen better,'' said of the prosecutors.

In the hallway afterward, Sutton said he believed the shooting was a "scheme hatched over a long time,'' and insisted he and his wife did their best to educate their adopted son.

"Those other people that went to Samoa, they didn't kill people,'' he said.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.


Or maybe he made it all up and realized half way into the conversation that the program for his "sick psychopathic ass" wasn't that bad at all.
 "Stockholm Syndrome" ya riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. "The program made me do it".
How about some people are just, "bad to the bone".
Title: Re: Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder...
Post by: Ursus on July 29, 2010, 05:15:41 PM
Quote from: "DannyB II"
Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
Quote from: "David Ovalle of The Miami Herald"
Testifying in his own defense, Sutton cried when recounting his arrival at Paradise Cove. Jurors heard that boys there were hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and deprived of food. But Sutton testified that the program eased up after a while, and he came to appreciate his time there.
The kid was hogtied and stuck in a cage, but "came to appreciate his time there".  Sound familiar?  Stockholm Syndrome???
Or maybe he made it all up and realized half way into the conversation that the program for his "sick psychopathic ass" wasn't that bad at all.
 "Stockholm Syndrome" ya riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. "The program made me do it".
How about some people are just, "bad to the bone".
Perhaps. And perhaps it was a defense strategy, to minimize the alleged acrimony Christopher Sutton had for his parents. It's not like many lay folk, who have never been to one of these places, are likely to ever understand that kind of anger ... regardless of what the end result may be.
Title: Re: Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parent
Post by: Dr. Acula on July 29, 2010, 05:41:18 PM
Quote from: "DannyB II"
Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
My comment in blue

Quote from: "Ursus"
Here's the previously mentioned (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371097#p371097) more in-depth article from The Miami Herald; (same) twenty pics at the link (Adobe Flash Player):

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 07.22.10

Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder parents (http://http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/21/1741411/christopher-sutton-found-guilty.html?asset_id=1741371&asset_type=gallery)
Miami-Dade jurors convicted Christopher Sutton of hatching the murder plot that left his mother dead and his father blind. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

BY DAVID OVALLE
[email protected]

Minutes after John R. Sutton's adopted son was convicted of masterminding the bloody attack that left Sutton blind and his wife dead, a reporter asked if he still considered Christopher Sutton his son.

He paused, saying finally: "I cannot answer that question.''

At the same time, jailers whisked Christopher Sutton from the courtroom. He passed within a few yards of his father, never giving him so much as a glance.

The heart-wrenching scene capped an emotional three-week trial that left family, jurors and even the judge choked up.

After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors convicted Sutton, 31, on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake immediately sentenced Sutton to three life terms.

Sutton did not address the court or shed a tear.

Prosecutors say Sutton, wanting his parent's wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their Coral Gables house in August 2004.

As Judge Blake read the guilty verdicts, two jurors cried. So did Melissa Sutton, Sutton's sister. Both were adopted by the Suttons as newborns.

Even Blake, a family court judge who returned to the criminal courthouse to try the case, teared up as he imposed the sentence.

During trial, prosecutors Carin Kahgan and Kathleen Hoague painted Sutton as a brat who dealt drugs, spoke openly of hating his parents, and pushed pal Garrett Kopp into shooting his well-heeled parents.

"We put on a tremendous amount of evidence,'' Kahgan said after the conviction.

The state's winning theory: that Sutton believed he deserved his father's wealth after his parents shipped him off to the Samoan Paradise Cove program, where he spent 29 months in the mid '90s.

Testifying in his own defense, Sutton cried when recounting his arrival at Paradise Cove. Jurors heard that boys there were hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and deprived of food. But Sutton testified that the program eased up after a while, and he came to appreciate his time there.  The kid was hogtied and stuck in a cage, but "came to appreciate his time there".  Sound familiar?  Stockholm Syndrome???

For prosecutors, hired gunman Kopp was the key witness. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a 30-year prison term.

On the stand, Kopp told how he committed the shootings and said he was hired by Sutton, who gave him a gun, showed him how to break into the house and gave the green-light on Aug. 22, 2004.

Mitchell Kopp, his father, who was key in convincing his son to cooperate with prosecutors, stayed for the verdict Wednesday and tearfully shook Melissa Sutton's hand after the verdict.

"Both the families lost a son,'' he said afterward.

Sutton's defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, had argued that Kopp was a drug-addled burglar who broke into the house on his own looking for a drug stash belonging to Sutton. Jurors did not buy it.

Fleisher said Christopher Sutton thanked him for his work in representing him. "He was upset. He had tears in his eyes. I think everyone had tears in their eyes.''

John Sutton stood up in court but did not directly rip into his son. Instead, with the boom of a seasoned lawyer, he praised Fleisher's professionalism and hailed the prosecutors for putting his son away.

"The state has never seen better,'' said of the prosecutors.

In the hallway afterward, Sutton said he believed the shooting was a "scheme hatched over a long time,'' and insisted he and his wife did their best to educate their adopted son.

"Those other people that went to Samoa, they didn't kill people,'' he said.


Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co.


Or maybe he made it all up and realized half way into the conversation that the program for his "sick psychopathic ass" wasn't that bad at all.
 "Stockholm Syndrome" ya riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. "The program made me do it".
How about some people are just, "bad to the bone".
:dose:
Title: Re: "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder..."
Post by: Ursus on August 02, 2010, 11:16:27 PM
Two comments (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371311#p371256) for that last article (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&start=45#p371250) kinda stuck with me:


gowani wrote on 07/22/2010 11:18:24 AM:
[/list]
nmfish wrote on 07/22/2010 12:23:58 PM:
[/list]
Title: Re: "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder..."
Post by: DannyB II on August 02, 2010, 11:46:29 PM
Quote from: "Ursus"
Two comments (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371311#p371256) for that last article (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&start=45#p371250) kinda stuck with me:


    gowani wrote on 07/22/2010 11:18:24 AM:
      We must all remain responsible for our actions, however provoked we may have been. On the other hand, severe abuse can be regarded as an explantion even if not an excuse. Being hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and being deprived of food qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. It also qualifies as torture and would be deemed unacceptable even in our most severe centres of incarceration, including Gitmo.
      Of course what Sutton did was inexcusable and he must pay for it. But that does not diminish the fact that what his parents did to him was also inexcusable, albeit to a lesser degree. In the end the quesiton remains: Would Sutton have killed his parents if they had never sent him to the 'Samoan paradise'? Nobody will ever know, but the odds are in favor of saying it would probably not have happened.
    [/list]
      nmfish wrote on 07/22/2010 12:23:58 PM:
        A couple of things that were not mentioned but I'm sure were contributing factors to Chris's resentment and anger towards his parents were the gang rapes in Samoa and the fact that his father tried to prevent his release upon his 18th birthday. It's a program for kids but even after he became a legal adult, they didn't want anything to do with him.
      [/list]
       

      What stuck with you is the drama, your addicted to it.
      Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
      Post by: DannyB11 on August 03, 2010, 11:23:06 AM
      My alter ego is out of control again and Im sorry for that. When I responded to Ursus' post I told him he was "addicted" to the drama. That was wrong. I however am addicted to many many things, drugs and alcohol mainly but power also attracts me heavily. All must bow before the might of Danny.
      Peace and Powerlessness
      Danny
      Title: Re: "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder..."
      Post by: Whooter on August 03, 2010, 11:41:04 AM
      A few comments (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371311#p371256) That I found interesting:



      originalrat2 wrote on 07/22/2010 02:03:57 PM:
      gowani, It's people like you who make creatures like this flourish. You make excuses for everything they do except put the blame right where it belongs, on their backs. What his parents did was forced upon them by this creature who wouldn't do anything in an acceptable manner. Upon returning he was still incorrigable and just wanted to live the high life off his parents and use drugs. Well guess what, if he didn't have his mom killed and dad almost killed he would have been doing home invasions and eventually killed someone himself. If we are to swallow your explanation than every serviceman who has been in a war would be considered to be a candidiate to kill relatives and loved ones due to what they experienced and saw. No, gwani, it's more likely your type of pity as misplaced as it is, help caused this. It's not your fault Christopher, we made this happen because we are so mean, Waaaaaaaaa.

      axl wrote on 07/22/2010 07:58:12 PM:
      If ever there was a poster child for abortion rather than adoption, it is Christopher Sutton.

      nancydavisl wrote on 07/22/2010 08:13:16 AM:
      What a lousy excuse for a human being.....A Samoan school made him do this ? Please.......how about hard core pond scum that he is......

      ramundo wrote on 07/22/2010 09:52:21 AM:
      The s.o.b. should be lethally injected and we will be done with him. There's no place on earth for someone that would kill their parents.




      ...
      Title: Re: "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder..."
      Post by: Ursus on August 03, 2010, 12:13:17 PM
      Quote from: "Ursus"
      Two comments (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&p=371311#p371256) for that last article (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30767&start=45#p371250) kinda stuck with me:


        gowani wrote on 07/22/2010 11:18:24 AM:
          We must all remain responsible for our actions, however provoked we may have been. On the other hand, severe abuse can be regarded as an explantion even if not an excuse. Being hogtied, left in cages, forced into hard labor and being deprived of food qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. It also qualifies as torture and would be deemed unacceptable even in our most severe centres of incarceration, including Gitmo.
          Of course what Sutton did was inexcusable and he must pay for it. But that does not diminish the fact that what his parents did to him was also inexcusable, albeit to a lesser degree. In the end the quesiton remains: Would Sutton have killed his parents if they had never sent him to the 'Samoan paradise'? Nobody will ever know, but the odds are in favor of saying it would probably not have happened.
        [/list]
          nmfish wrote on 07/22/2010 12:23:58 PM:
            A couple of things that were not mentioned but I'm sure were contributing factors to Chris's resentment and anger towards his parents were the gang rapes in Samoa and the fact that his father tried to prevent his release upon his 18th birthday. It's a program for kids but even after he became a legal adult, they didn't want anything to do with him.
          [/list]
          One of the points which struck home with me was less about Christopher Sutton's character, than it was about that of his parents. Seriously, can you imagine being a kid that was gang raped in a program and the parents did nothing? Actually, worse than nothing: they signed him up to stay even longer, technically into his adult years. They must have been so perfused that they were exhaling the Kool-aid!
          Title: Re: "Christopher Sutton found guilty in plot to murder..."
          Post by: Whooter on August 03, 2010, 12:24:47 PM
          Quote from: "Ursus"
          One of the points which struck home with me was less about Christopher Sutton's character, than it was about that of his parents. Seriously, can you imagine being a kid that was gang raped in a program and the parents did nothing? Actually, worse than nothing: they signed him up to stay even longer, technically into his adult years. They must have been so perfused that they were exhaling the Kool-aid!


          Ursus I believe you are assuming that he was raped and placed in a cage arent you?  I didnt see where this was written or when the parents were notified that their son was raped and placed into a cage.  Maybe I missed it.



          ...
          Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
          Post by: Troll Control on August 03, 2010, 12:54:16 PM
          Yeah, like we're "assuming" you were crapping your pants when you were locked up with the "big black guys" that made you "so scared."  You probably took it in the tailpipe while you were in the joint, Whooter.  Only you did it voluntarily.

          Quote from: "Dysfunction Junction"
          Quote from: "TheWho"
          Quote from: ""Anne Bonney""
          Quote from: ""Guest""
          Of course you did not find anything. As stated previously the entire thread is gone. This has happened to a lot of data in the 2 moved which have just occured. The who deleted his post claiming that he repaid his debt to society but the entire thread has been removed.
          Th Anne bonney, unfortunately you are wrong. I wish that you were not. I am not the who. I genuinely recall seeing this post. it is extremely frustrating that it appears to no longer exist as it is information that any parent should be aware of when reading this bastard's posts.


          Hey, I'm not saying it did or didn't happen and that is damned frustrating. He's the only one who can do that.  I was just presenting a theory.   I wish there was some way to retrieve it.  Have you contacted Ginger or anyone else through PMs to see if there is any chance?  There must at least be a Google 'cached' page??  I have no idea what I'm talking about so someone tell me if that's not possible.  

          Hey. Let's try this.

          The Who.....have you ever been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior or child molestation or anything similar?  Anything in that realm?  This is your chance to state, unequivocally one way or the other what your side of the story is.  Or do you not want to 'go on record' so to speak, denying it in case you're proven wrong later?  I really have no fucking clue.

          Hi Anne, seems I am on the hot seat:

          Actually I do have a record...I was arrested several times in Boston and once in Ann Arbor Michigan...I will never forget they separated me from the others for some reason and I ended up in a cell with 5 other people.  This one hue black guy who was obviously drunk out of his mind kept falling asleep and then falling off his bench...he would then wake up and look right at me and say something like : if you push me again white boy I will "F" you up so much even your mother will not love you.....  I was so scared...

          Lols.  Whooter does the crime and then craps his pants in jail (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23338&p=284895&hilit=+arrest#p284869).  Awww...another BAWWW sesion.

          Remember who you're talking to here: a program employee with a loooong criminal record.
          Title: Berks native's adopted son found guilty of trying to kill fa
          Post by: Ursus on August 04, 2010, 11:55:19 AM
          I guess Christopher Sutton's dad, John Sutton, was originally from Pennsylvania. There was even an article in the local paper this far north:

          -------------- • -------------- • --------------

          Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania)
          Originally Published: 7/23/2010

          Berks native's adopted son found guilty of trying to kill father in Florida (http://http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=236395)
          Wyomissing grad shot twice in head; wife slain in attack

          By Jason A. Kahl
          Reading Eagle

          Berks County native John R. Sutton had little reaction this week after his adopted son was convicted of masterminding the bloody attack that left Sutton blind and his wife dead.

          "The whole thing is a lose-lose situation," said Sutton, 62, a Miami lawyer who is a 1965 graduate of Wyomissing High School.

          As the trial wrapped up Wednesday, jailers whisked Christopher Sutton from the courtroom. He passed within a few yards of his father, never giving him so much as a glance.

          The heart-wrenching scene capped an emotional three-week trial that left family members, jurors and even the judge choked up.

          After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, jurors convicted Christopher Sutton, 31, of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake immediately sentenced him to three life terms.

          The defendant did not address the court or shed a tear.

          Prosecutors say Christopher Sutton, wanting his parents' wealth and still smarting about being sent to an abusive reform school in Samoa for 29 months in the mid-1990s, hired a pal to shoot his parents inside their house in Coral Gables, Fla., on Aug. 22, 2004.

          John Sutton was shot five times, including twice in the head at point-blank range. His wife, Susan, was killed as she lay in her bed.

          John Sutton continues to practice law and do things he enjoys. He is the principal partner at the Sutton Law Group in Miami.

          He said he has handled three high-profile jury cases since he was blinded and continues to ski, even though everyone thinks he is crazy for doing so.

          He said his story is being featured by a number of national television news programs.

          Sutton also said he plans to return to Pennsylvania for a school reunion in October. He said he still has many friends from around here and worked at and managed a number of area pools while growing up on Reading Avenue in Wyomissing near the traffic circle.

          During the trial, prosecutors Carin Kahgan and Kathleen Hoague painted Christopher Sutton as a brat who dealt drugs, spoke openly of hating his parents.

          Co-defendant Garrett Kopp testified that Christopher Sutton hired him to kill the Suttons. Kopp said Sutton gave him a gun, showed him how to break into the house and gave the green light for the attack.

          Kopp was the key prosecution witness. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a 30-year prison term.

          (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

          Contact Jason A. Kahl: 6110-371-5024 or [email protected].


          © 2010 Reading Eagle Company
          Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
          Post by: Anne Bonney on August 05, 2010, 02:03:10 PM
          Quote from: "The Who"

          Hi Anne, seems I am on the hot seat:

          Actually I do have a record...I was arrested several times in Boston and once in Ann Arbor Michigan...I will never forget they separated me from the others for some reason and I ended up in a cell with 5 other people.  This one hue black guy who was obviously drunk out of his mind kept falling asleep and then falling off his bench...he would then wake up and look right at me and say something like : if you push me again white boy I will "F" you up so much even your mother will not love you.....  I was so scared...




          That still doesn't answer this question......


          The Who.....have you ever been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior or child molestation or anything similar? Anything in that realm? This is your chance to state, unequivocally one way or the other what your side of the story is. Or do you not want to 'go on record' so to speak, denying it in case you're proven wrong later? I really have no fucking clue.
          Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
          Post by: DannyB II on August 06, 2010, 12:00:07 AM
          Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
          Quote from: "The Who"

          Hi Anne, seems I am on the hot seat:

          Actually I do have a record...I was arrested several times in Boston and once in Ann Arbor Michigan...I will never forget they separated me from the others for some reason and I ended up in a cell with 5 other people.  This one hue black guy who was obviously drunk out of his mind kept falling asleep and then falling off his bench...he would then wake up and look right at me and say something like : if you push me again white boy I will "F" you up so much even your mother will not love you.....  I was so scared...

          That still doesn't answer this question......

          The Who.....have you ever been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior or child molestation or anything similar? Anything in that realm? This is your chance to state, unequivocally one way or the other what your side of the story is. Or do you not want to 'go on record' so to speak, denying it in case you're proven wrong later? I really have no fucking clue.


          Ok Anne,
          Our closet sexual deviant, how many adolescence boys were around when you were flashing your naked ass all over Florida. One other thing since you put all your shit on Straight and your father, where were your girls(children) when you were flashing all of Florida. I would love to personally hear from them about there mothers promiscuity in Florida and on fornits.
          Listen it is like this when you can stop acting like a 14 year old promiscuous snotbag then you can ask men about there stuff otherwise close your legs, get another avavtar, quit posting porn on websites of yourself and grow up.  Your just as much a deviant as any male here if not more.
          Title: Danny puts Anne's AVATAR on trial
          Post by: Ursus on August 06, 2010, 10:57:37 AM
          Quote from: "DannyB II"
          Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
          Quote from: "The Who"

          Hi Anne, seems I am on the hot seat:

          Actually I do have a record...I was arrested several times in Boston and once in Ann Arbor Michigan...I will never forget they separated me from the others for some reason and I ended up in a cell with 5 other people.  This one hue black guy who was obviously drunk out of his mind kept falling asleep and then falling off his bench...he would then wake up and look right at me and say something like : if you push me again white boy I will "F" you up so much even your mother will not love you.....  I was so scared...
          That still doesn't answer this question......

          The Who.....have you ever been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior or child molestation or anything similar? Anything in that realm? This is your chance to state, unequivocally one way or the other what your side of the story is. Or do you not want to 'go on record' so to speak, denying it in case you're proven wrong later? I really have no fucking clue.
          Ok Anne,
          Our closet sexual deviant, how many adolescence boys were around when you were flashing your naked ass all over Florida. One other thing since you put all your shit on Straight and your father, where were your girls(children) when you were flashing all of Florida. I would love to personally hear from them about there mothers promiscuity in Florida and on fornits.
          Listen it is like this when you can stop acting like a 14 year old promiscuous snotbag then you can ask men about there stuff otherwise close your legs, get another avavtar, quit posting porn on websites of yourself and grow up.  Your just as much a deviant as any male here if not more.
          :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  Danny, did you fall off the wagon last night or sumpthin'? Geeezz... Just can't get enough of that AVATAR!!
          Title: Re: Danny puts Anne's AVATAR on trial
          Post by: DannyB II on August 06, 2010, 05:48:44 PM
          Quote from: "Ursus"
          Quote from: "DannyB II"
          Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
          Quote from: "The Who"

          Hi Anne, seems I am on the hot seat:

          Actually I do have a record...I was arrested several times in Boston and once in Ann Arbor Michigan...I will never forget they separated me from the others for some reason and I ended up in a cell with 5 other people.  This one hue black guy who was obviously drunk out of his mind kept falling asleep and then falling off his bench...he would then wake up and look right at me and say something like : if you push me again white boy I will "F" you up so much even your mother will not love you.....  I was so scared...
          That still doesn't answer this question......

          The Who.....have you ever been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior or child molestation or anything similar? Anything in that realm? This is your chance to state, unequivocally one way or the other what your side of the story is. Or do you not want to 'go on record' so to speak, denying it in case you're proven wrong later? I really have no fucking clue.
          Ok Anne,
          Our closet sexual deviant, how many adolescence boys were around when you were flashing your naked ass all over Florida. One other thing since you put all your shit on Straight and your father, where were your girls(children) when you were flashing all of Florida. I would love to personally hear from them about there mothers promiscuity in Florida and on fornits.
          Listen it is like this when you can stop acting like a 14 year old promiscuous snotbag then you can ask men about there stuff otherwise close your legs, get another avatar, quit posting porn on websites of yourself and grow up.  Your just as much a deviant as any male here if not more.
          :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:  Danny, did you fall off the wagon last night or sumpthin'? Geeezz... Just can't get enough of that AVATAR!!


          No, I just can not stand a women who has no room to judge any male, constantly harassing them with bullshit. There is not a more sexual deviant then, Anne. Fuck her and the boat she rode (floated) in on.  :roflmao:
          Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
          Post by: shaggys on August 06, 2010, 06:12:18 PM
          Gosh Danny that sounded pretty sexist too me. I detect a deep seated underlying hatred for all women in your words to Anne. I guess I should add that to the impressive resume you are building up here.
          Title: Re: Trial for a Paradise Cove survivor starts.
          Post by: DannyB II on August 06, 2010, 06:23:46 PM
          Quote from: "shaggys"
          Gosh Danny that sounded pretty sexist too me. I detect a deep seated underlying hatred for all women in your words to Anne. I guess I should add that to the impressive resume you are building up here.

          Now you have to be fair, Shaggy. Anne has been nailing guys left and right concerning sexual deviancies, it serves her right for some push back. This has nothing to do with hatred of women and all to do with being fair.

          Thanks for listening, now you may continue your ignorant trolling bash party, of DannyB II.
          Title: Re: Trial Begins For Man Accused In Attack On Parents
          Post by: mandelduke on August 06, 2010, 10:02:09 PM
          Quote from: "Ursus"
          Back to the subject of the OP... A short piece of video news coverage can be seen at the link to this earlier article:

          -------------- • -------------- • --------------

          CBS4.com
          Jun 28, 2010 8:56 am US/Eastern

          Trial Begins For Man Accused In Attack On Parents (http://http://cbs4.com/local/christopher.sutton.garrett.2.1776327.html)

          MIAMI (CBS4) ? Jury selection is scheduled to get underway Monday in Miami-Dade for the trial of a man accused of arranging for the murder of his parents.

          Christopher Sutton is accused of convincing his former roommate Garrett Kopp to break into his parents' home and kill them.

          In August 2004, John and Susan Sutton, both 57, were ambushed inside their home at 4725 Orduna Dr., east of the Riviera Country Club. John was left blind after being shot six times with a 9mm gun in his face and torso. His wife Susan was killed in the couple's master bedroom.

          The crime went unsolved for months until detectives eventually picked up Kopp through forensic evidence linked to the crime. During questioning Kopp 'implicated' Sutton in the shootings. The two men once lived in the same South Miami apartment complex. Police picked up Sutton and charged both men with first degree murder.

          In 2008, Kopp pled guilty to the murder and in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence agreed to testify against Sutton.


          © MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
          Most of the ones I know are in jail for murder or they killed themselves.

          Quote
          [/quot