Ohio
Man gets 50 years to life in slaying of detective, informant
CLEVELAND (AP) — A man convicted in the shooting death of an undercover police detective and his confidential informant 2 1/2 years ago in Ohio has been sentenced to 50 years to life.
David McDaniel, 21, was 18 when prosecutors said he and two other people tried to rob Det. James Skernivitz and Scott Dingess after seeing them handling money in an unmarked police car parked at a West Side strip mall in Cleveland in September 2020.
Authorities said 53-year-old Skernivitz tried to drive away but McDaniel and another defendant opened fire, killing him and 50-year-old Dingess. Authorities said the group didn’t know that Skernivitz was an undercover Cleveland police detective.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Shaughnessy sentenced McDaniel on Thursday to a life term with parole eligibility after 50 years, telling the defendant “Over a few dollars, look at the destruction you caused,” Cleveland.com reported. The victims had about $80 on them, prosecutors said.
McDaniel, who pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, apologized several times, speaking directly to Skernivitz’s widow and children, who sat in the jury box. He said he thinks about them and the family of Dingess every night before he goes to sleep.
“You all may hate me. I understand that,” he said. “I ruined three families that day. Nobody deserves to die.”
But he insisted that he and the others didn’t set out to kill anyone.
“I was still a kid,” he said. “I’m not a bad person. I just made a bad decision.”
A second defendant, Kevin Robinson, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty last summer and was sentenced to 28 years to life. Another defendant who was 15 at the time and did not fire any shots pleaded guilty in August 2021 to aggravated murder and was sentenced to a term in the state’s youth services facility.
Virginia
Attorney: Mom of boy who shot teacher was depressed
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher had a series of miscarriages and post-partum depression in the year before the shooting, her attorney said Friday, after she was arraigned on charges of child
neglect and failing to secure the handgun her son used in the shooting.
Police say the boy fired a single shot at his first-grade teacher, Abigail Zwerner, on Jan. 6, striking her in the left hand and chest. She spent two weeks in the hospital and has had four surgeries since the shooting.
The Associated Press is not identifying the mother to shield the identity of her son. A grand jury indicted the mother this week, and she was released on a $5,000 bond after turning herself in Thursday.
The 25-year-old woman appeared somber and stood with her hands clasped behind her back as the two charges against her were read in Newport News Circuit Court. She did not speak except to say “no, sir” in response to a question from the judge. After the hearing, she quickly walked away from a scrum of reporters and TV cameras without commenting.
Her attorney, James Ellenson, said his client wants to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors and hopes they will consider what he called “mitigating circumstances.” He cited a number of miscarriages the woman had, including one following an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in a hospital stay in January 2022. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a pregnancy develops outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube. Ellenson said the miscarriages resulted in post-partum depression.
“We’re looking forward to working collaboratively with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office to resolve the charges,” Ellenson said, adding that he is hoping for “something that is fair, something that is just.”
Ellenson has requested a trial before a judge instead of a jury. A trial date of Aug. 15 has been set.
The felony neglect charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanor charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail.
Ellenson has said the mother believed her gun, which was legally purchased, was secured on a top shelf in her closet and had a trigger lock. It is unclear how the boy got the gun and was able to take it to school on the day of the shooting.
Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school system last week, accusing school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings from teachers and others in the hours before the shooting that the boy had a gun.
The city prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that it is investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.
Ellenson said the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan that included his mother, father or grandfather accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him.
New York
Son gets life in drive-thru hit that killed mob-linked dad
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man will spend the rest of his life in prison after hiring a hitman to kill his father, a reputed Mafia associate gunned down at a McDonald’s drive-thru in what prosecutors called a scheme to control a real estate empire built from mob money.
Anthony Zottola Sr. blotted away tears at sentencing Friday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Audible sobs filled the courtroom as his sister and brother addressed him, the culmination of a wrenching family drama that the judge said was difficult to fathom.
Welling with emotion, his sister Deborah Ann Zottola, spoke lovingly of her brother even as she talked of the pain of losing their father.
“I won’t dig you a deeper grave. I will continue praying for you ... but please pray for me,” she said, lamenting that Friday would be the last time she would be in the same room with both brothers.
A jury last fall found Zottola and an accomplice, Himen Ross, guilty in a murder-for-hire plot that prosecutors said went wrong several times before it finally led to the death of the victim, Sylvester Zottola, 71.
The first attack occurred in September of 2017, when a stranger floored the then-70-year-old with a punch to the face outside his Bronx home. Two months later a gunman shot at Sylvester Zottola as he drove on an expressway. In late December of that same year, three men broke into his home and struck him on the head with a gun, repeatedly stabbed him and slashed his throat. He survived.
The following October, he was shot to death by Ross at a McDonald’s drive-thru in the Bronx while waiting for a cup of coffee.
Prosecutors said Anthony Zottola Sr. also tried unsuccessfully to have his brother, Salvatore, killed.
In July of 2018, a gunman shot Salvatore Zottola in the head, chest and hand outside of his home. He survived.
In court, Salvatore Zottola fought back tears.
“Why?” he asked his brother from across the room. “Dad gave you everything. You had everything in life.”
The judge also tried to fathom the motive, concluding that it was all about greed and financial gain.
“There was a lot to go around ... The defendant wanted more than that,” said U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez, adding that Zottola showed little remorse for “the unimaginable horror he caused his family.”
Zottola spoke briefly before the judge handed down his sentence, telling the court how he missed his wife and three children.
Authorities said Anthony Zottola Sr. managed properties for his father’s real estate business, which consisted of multifamily rental properties valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Prosecutors alleged the business was built on illegal gambling proceeds connected to the mob.
“Over the course of more than a year, the elderly victim, Sylvester Zottola, was stalked, beaten, and stabbed, never knowing who orchestrated the attacks. It was his own son, who was so determined to control the family’s lucrative real estate business, that he hired a gang of hit men to murder his father,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said after the sentencing.
In addition to the mandatory life sentences, Zottola and Ross were each sentenced to additional 112 years — which represents the combined ages of his father, 71, and brother, 41, when they were shot.
Six other men have pleaded guilty for their parts in the murder-for-hire scheme. Four of the men were sentenced to prison time ranging from 16 years to 20 years. Two others are awaiting sentencing.
California
Man wore armor in hostage killing, report says
ROSEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — The suspect in a Northern California shooting last week was wearing body-armor vest when he took two hostages in a public park, killing one, wounding the other and opening fire at California Highway Patrol officers, authorities said.
The CHP officers approached suspect Eric Abril on April 6 near Mahany Park in Roseville, northeast of Sacramento, authorities said. He was wanted for questioning in connection with a freeway shooting.
But the situation turned violent. The officers confronted Abril — in a park where families played nearby at baseball fields and children attended camp — and he took two hostages in response and opened fire, prompting a gun battle that became deadly, authorities said.
Investigators are “confident” that Abril fatally shot James MacEgan and wounded his wife, Patricia MacEgan, according to Roseville police and court documents filed by the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
The criminal complaint filed against Abril says Officer Matthew Hiatt was also wounded in the shooting, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The officers had search warrants for Abril’s home and vehicle, but not an arrest warrant to take him into custody. Why they approached him in such a public area, despite a lengthy criminal record, has not been made public and Officer Ricardo Ortiz, a CHP spokesperson, declined to release additional details about the situation on Saturday.
Prosecutors say Abril had a 10 mm handgun in his possession during the confrontation last week and was wearing the body-armor vest when the officers approached him, according to The Sacramento Bee. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.
Abril is charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping causing bodily harm, attempted murder of a peace officer and of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun, the newspaper reported.
Abril remains in jail without the opportunity to post bail and his arraignment was postponed to Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Abril fired 15 to 20 rounds at the CHP officers and the MacEgans during the shootout, according to Roseville police. CHP officers fired 15 to 25 rounds and Roseville officers shot six bullets in response.
Abril was struck once in his left arm but it was not clear whose bullet hit him, police said.
