Derek's Last Days

Derek Rocco Barnabei
1967-2000
Innocent Man Murdered by the
State of Virginia

August 31, 2000 Evidence Missing

The evidence, believed to be fingernail clippings and semen collected from the woman Barnabei was accused of raping and killing, was reported missing on Tuesday from the Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk's office.

Gilmore asked state police to try to determine what happened to the evidence.   The court clerk's office told Gilmore one of Barnabei's investigators, along with a television crew from the ABC News program ``Nightline,'' had access to the evidence earlier this month, the governor said.

The investigator, Frank Slaton, denied removing or mishandling the evidence. A spokeswoman for ``Nightline'' declined comment until more was known about the situation.

Seth Tucker, one of Barnabei's defense attorneys, described the discovery that evidence was missing from the Norfolk Circuit Court as ``outrageous.''

Tucker Issues a Press Release

The Governor's press release is at best reckless, and at worst intentionally misleading.  It raises questions concerning whether the Governor's office is more interested in smearing Mr. Barnabei and his defense team than in learning the truth about Sarah Wisnosky's death.  This release should not distract our attention from the central issue before the Governor:  Will Virginia test the DNA evidence?  If not, what is Virginia trying to hide?

 The truth:

              1.  Barnabei's investigator reports that he has never been alone in the evidence room.  I am told that this has been confirmed by the Circuit Court.  The investigator, who had not been in the evidence room at all between 1998 and August 2000, went to the Circuit Court this month on a few occasions to photograph evidence.  The defense has been reduced to photographing evidence because the Commonwealth refuses to release evidence to us for examination.  In fact, the Commonwealth even refused to provide the defense team with photo-quality copies of crime-scene photos that were introduced at trial.  This has hampered our efforts to investigate the murder and required us to rely on poor-quality photos of photos.  If the Commonwealth will not even give us copies of photos, is it credible to suggest that they would permit the press or the defense to tamper with hard evidence?  More importantly, Barnabei's investigator was accompanied at all times by court personnel.  Circuit Court clerk's office personnel accompanied Barnabei's investigator whenever he was in the presence of evidence from this case.  It is premature and reckless of the Governor's office to level an accusation against Barnabei's investigator when further investigation would have demonstrated that it is impossible for him to have compromised evidence in this case.

              2.  The Commonwealth has never released to the defense the numerous items of genetic material that we have requested.  In June the Attorney General's office wrote to the defense saying that the Division of Forensic Science had returned "all" of the genetic material that we want tested "to the submitting agency" (presumably the Norfolk police, although that was not specified).  If the genetic materials are missing now, two months later – and we should add that the Governor's office has not indicated which items are missing or compromised – then the real story is why has Virginia lost crucial evidence that could prove that it is about to execute an innocent man?  If Virginia has lost that evidence, it would be immoral to proceed with the execution of Derek Barnabei.

              3.  Barnabei and his defense team not only welcome but demand a full investigation of the circumstances under which any evidence in this case has been lost or compromised, and we demand that those responsible be identified and brought to justice.

September 1, 2000 Evidence Found

The evidence containing fingernail clippings and other samples from the victim, Sarah J. Wisnosky, apparently had been misplaced, authorities said.

The World Pleads to the Governor

September 8, 2000 Gilmore Orders Tests

Gilmore did not immediately order a stay of execution for Barnabei, who is scheduled to die on Thursday.

In an interview, Gilmore said he expected the results from the new tests to be available well ahead of Barnabei's scheduled Sept. 14 execution.

``It is uncertain whether additional DNA tests in this case will advance the ends of justice,'' Gilmore said in a statement. ``Nevertheless, in an abundance of caution and fairness, I have directed this additional testing.

``It would be inappropriate at this time to speculate on any potential outcome of these test or what conclusions might be drawn from them,'' he said.

Andrew A. Protogyrou, one of Barnabei's attorneys, expressed joy and relief at the news from the governor.

``Wow! Awesome! Now I can go home,'' Protogyrou said, laughing. But he quickly added that he and his co-counsel need to look at the governor's statement before commenting further.

Earlier in the day, Barnabei's lawyers filed for an injunction in federal court, seeking to postpone Barnabei's execution until a judge can determine what happened to misplaced evidence in the case.

The lawsuit argues that Barnabei's constitutional rights were violated when crime-scene evidence could not be located last week in the Norfolk Circuit Court.

The missing evidence, which Barnabei said proves his innocence, was found on Sept. 1 in an adjacent chamber of the evidence room, court officials said.

But Barnabei's lawyers believe that the incident suggests the evidence was tampered with by a state employee intent on sabotaging Barnabei's efforts to prove his innocence.

``The defendants were repeatedly put on notice that they had to preserve the integrity of this evidence,'' Barry C. Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project and Barnabei legal adviser, wrote in a statement Friday. ``Their failure to do so shows an intentional disregard for Barnabei's constitutional rights.''

The lawsuit names Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley, Director of Corrections Ronald J. Angelone, Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Calvin Depew, Norfolk Police Chief Melvin C. High and Norfolk Clerk of the Circuit Court Al Teich as defendants.

If the judge determines that the evidence is no longer valid to test, Barnabei's execution should be stopped permanently, the lawsuit argued.

In granting the new tests, Gilmore said that Dr. Paul Ferrara, head of the state Forensics Science Division, examined the misplaced evidence packets and determined that they had not been opened.

Purity of DNA Evidence in Doubt

The Governor ordered the test hours after Barnabei’s lawyers filed suit in Federal court.  The lawsuit asks the court either to rule that the evidence that disappeared from a locked evidence room and mysteriously reappeared days later in another locked room was still intact and able to be tested, or to bar the Commonwealth of Virginia from executing Barnabei because of malicious interference with his constitutional rights.  Goldstein and Tucker Barnabei’s lawyers allege that all of the evidence points to deliberate evidence-tampering by one or more government employees.

Barnabei’s lawyers also complained they were not allowed to have an independent observer present at the testing of the clippings.

Walter Felton, counselor to Gilmore, said Paul Ferrara, director of the Virginia Division of Forensic Science, told him it appeared the ends of the cardboard tube holding the vaginal swab were "open a bit."

Goldstein said that inside the medical examiner's envelope were three cardboard containers. One held the nail clippings, one held specimen slides and one held vaginal, oral and anal swabs.

On learning of the Governor’s decision to order the test, Barnabei said, “This is fantastic news.  I’m still very concerned because some of the evidence, including the fingernails, may have been tampered with.  Also there were over a dozen items that we asked be tested, and the fingernails are only one of those.  But the fingernails are critical evidence and I expect the DNA test to save my life.”

September 10, 2000 The World is Stunned

Honorable Governor Gilmore,

The events of the last few days have prompted me to write you again.

Honorable Governor, with all due respect, it appears that you underestimate the mental capacities of both the people you govern and those of the outside world. I cannot imagine that a man of your experience would possibly think that you could deceive the people who trusted you with their votes into thinking that you have taken a sincere interest in the matters concerning Derek Barnabei’s fate. The world is asking where you could have gotten the idea that by ordering tests on evidence whose authenticity and wholeness can no longer be trusted, we should conclude that you are making a sincere effort to carry out your responsibilities.

Honorable Governor, VITAL pieces of evidence in this case have been disappearing from the police archives from the very beginning. Other vital pieces of information were deliberately withheld which could change the dynamics of this case dramatically. Four prosecution witnesses testified that Mr. Barnabei was not at the place of murder at the time that the prosecution itself established the murder. The very evidence that Mr. Barnabei requested to have tested HAS NO DOUBT BEEN TAMPERED WITH. ITS VERY DISAPPEARANCE FROM ITS DESIGNATED STORAGE PLACE RENDERS TEST RESULTS IF NOT HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE, COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.

As a concerned citizen I ask you personally to stay this execution and to involve the proper authorities in investigating Sarah Wisnosky’s murder more thoroughly. You have demonstrated extremely poor decision making by ignoring evens which SIMPLY CANNOT BE IGNORED. I am confident that the people of Virginia will not stand to have their image damaged by poor leadership, and that you will redeem yourself by both ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR MISTAKE AND DOING THE RIGHT THING: RESPECT BOTH SARAH WISNOSKY’S AND DEREK BARNABEI’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS BY INSURING THAT NO DOUBTS AS TO HIS GUILT OR INNOCENCE ARE LEFT UNEXAMINED.

September 11, 2000 Gilmore Issues This Statement

"Pursuant to an Order of the Norfolk Circuit Court, the evidence envelopes containing Ms. Wisnosky's fingernails were delivered to the Virginia Division of Forensic Science. Dr. Paul Ferrara, Director of the Division of Forensic Science, advised me that the fingernail clippings were received uncompromised, in their original sealed and secured envelopes, one containing clippings from the left hand and one from the right. Dr. Ferrara further advised that the envelope seals displayed the initials of the examiner who originally reviewed the fingernail clippings and secured them in the envelopes. That seal was secure and unopened. Based on Dr. Ferrara's opinion, I directed DNA tests on the fingernail clippings to proceed.

"The Division of Forensic Science has concluded its DNA tests and has presented the test results to me today, September 11, 2000. The new DNA tests reveal that Ms. Wisnosky's fingernails contained her own DNA and the DNA of one other person. The Division of Forensic Science ran the DNA profile of the second individual through the Commonwealth's DNA data bank. The search revealed a positive match with one and only one individual -- Derek Rocco Barnabei.

"Now that the guilt of Barnabei has been confirmed, there remains the generalized assault on capital punishment by many in this country and foreign countries. I believe we are entitled to set a moral standard that violent murder will not be tolerated by a civilized people. The rule of law requires that at some point the community is likewise entitled to justice.

Injustice Does Not Go Unnoticed

We will grant you that you have a powerful public relations organization at your disposal, but please don't insult our intelligence by making such a moral and self-righteous statement against the Italians both abroad and here.

I have no problems accepting that the people of Virginia have a right to dispense whatever appropriate punishment they deem proper for crimes. However, that is not the question here.

At first, after the disappearance of the evidence your office insinuated that Frank Slaton, Barnabei's investigator, along with Nightline might have been responsible for the disappearance because Slaton knew that the evidence would point to Barnabei. Well, let's assume that he was able to make himself invisible and spooked all your clerks and cameras and got away with it, after all you never proved that he did, are you telling us that he made himself invisible again and brought back the evidence pointing to Barnabei?

Do you really believe that any sane person would believe this absurdity?
Please answer that Mr.Governor.

Governor Gilmore, the sad reality is that some sinister forces in Virginia want this case to go away and quickly and it's those same forces that made the envelope disappear and reappear with evidence of tampering to crucial evidence that could not have been directly tampered with because they had already been tested and a record existed. The same was not true for the fingernails and therefore it was easy to manipulate that DNA. Your experts say that the fingernail envelope was not tampered with. Well, we have heard people do more difficult things.

Why all this secrecy and speed of this testing?  Why has your office not released DNA testing in the Washington case which was authorized over a month ago and yet in this case results were obtained at superhuman speed?  Why was the defense not allowed to participate in the testing? Why was the envelope containing the fingernail clippings destroyed?

Governor Gilmore, I KNOW THIS IS THE LAND OF THE FREE, BUT IT IS NOT THIS KIND OF FREEDOM TO VIOLATE A PERSON'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT that our forefathers had in mind.

All my adult life I have taken pride in my U.S. citizenship and have many times found myself defending what it stood for. These last few weeks you have rocked that foundation of belief that our nation stands for justice and moral correctness.   Believe me, you can sympathize all you want with the victim's family.  We feel for them too, but there is no justice for the victim's family because unless the Federal Courts step in, your state will execute an innocent man while the true murderers roam free.

Maybe you don't care, but the BARNABEI case will forever stain your state and give it an unpleasant page in the history books.  I can assure you this will be remembered as SACCO AND VANZETTI #2 and it happened during your tenure.

Governor Gilmore, we all have to live with our decisions and you will have to with this tragic one.  Man can alter the course of justice on this earth but will be powerless before God's judgement.

September 13, 2000 DNA Test in Barnabei Case Was Not Proof of Guilt

On Monday of this week, Governor Gilmore's office issued a press release announcing the results of a DNA test of evidence in the Derek Barnabei case.   The Governor's office said that "the new DNA tests reveal that Ms. Wisnosky's fingernails contained her own DNA and the DNA of one other person…Derek Rocco Barnabei."

The Governor continued, "This DNA test result confirms that Derek Rocco Barnabei is guilty."

These statements were misleading  What the Governor's office failed to tell you, and what we learned only yesterday, was that there were two tests.  The first test was run on bloodstained fingernails.  These fingernails, from Ms. Wisnosky's left hand, contained only her DNA.  There is nothing in that test that suggests guilt on Barnabei's part. 

The second test was from the victim's right fingernails, and that test showed the presence of Barnabei's DNA.  But the fingernails on Ms. Wisnosky's right hand were not bloodstained.  In fact, a July 9, 1994 report from the Division of Forensic Science revealed blood only on the left hand.  Because the DNA came from some source other than blood, it has no bearing on Barnabei's guilt or innocence.  They were a couple, and were admittedly in an intimate relationship.   The presence of a few skin cells or hair follicles is meaningless.

Everyone who follows this case knew about the bloody fingernail, and we expected to find the killer's blood there.  It turns out that was a blind alley.  But the Governor's statement that Barnabei's DNA was found on "Ms. Wisnosky's fingernails" was an attempt to lead the citizens of Virginia to think that it was Barnabei's blood.

Even today, the Governor's office told at least one reporter that Barnabei's blood was on the fingernails.  When they were challenged, the Governor's office later retracted that statement and said they would have to get more information.

These are not minor details.  A man's life is at stake.   The people of Virginia deserve better than half-truths and blatant falsehoods from the Governor's office in a death penalty case.  Whether these misleading statements were intentional or not is not the point.  The point is that this matter involves the taking of a human life.  The government must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The fact is that the new tests shed no new light on the events of September 21 and 22, 1993.  But there is more evidence that could do so.

September 13, 2000 Nothing Moves the Governor

Honorable Governor Gilmore,

What can we think?

What conclusions can we come to?

Perhaps you simply know something that the rest of the world doesn’t know. Perhaps you have connections or extremely reliable sources which make you BELIEVE, I dare say even KNOW beyond any doubt whatsoever that Derek Barnabei is guilty of the crime he is going to be executed for. I must give you the benefit of this doubt.

If you do not have connections or sources that allow you to know beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Barnabei is guilty, then we can only assume that you are simply “quite convinced” that he is. In either case, your decision making reflects that you deemed it unnecessary to investigate further into why the “sealed envelope” was not in its original storage place. As children of a nation where a great portion of its people was convinced that John F. Kennedy was killed by one “magic bullet”, we should just as easily forget how simple it is to re-glue a seal, or camouflage tampering of an envelope that appeared to be sealed. Evidently you ruled out this possibility, and we concerned citizens should just trustingly accept the destruction of this envelope afterwards with no explanation. Furthermore, we should also accept the fact that there was nothing strange or of any importance in that another container appeared to have been opened. I will continue assuming that you simply know something that the rest of the world doesn’t, because believe me, while you and your advisors find all of this natural enough to continue following through with the execution of a man, the WORLD-WIDE OPINION OF THESE EVENTS DOES NOT.

It is obvious to me that the family and supporters of Mr. Barnabei believe in his case enough to continue this battle no matter what happens on September 14. As far as my support is concerned, I will continue following the developments and writing letters to keep INFORMING people on what has really happened. I am the first to admit that I am not 100% convinced that Mr. Barnabei is innocent, BUT I AM BY NO MEANS CONVINCED THAT HE IS GUILTY. I am also 100% sure that I will not regret my involvement and support of his case in any way. Perhaps you will be lucky, Mr. Governor, that your “instincts” (if that’s what they are) regarding Mr. Barnabei’s guilt turn out to be right: I am taking for granted that with your history as prosecutor (and consequent expert knowledge of criminal prosecution in general), you are fully aware of all the affidavits of expert forensic consultants, witnesses, and documented papers outlining inconsistencies of prosecution testimony and mysterious disappearance of vital evidence that support the defense’s version of the events. It is MY opinion is that there are too many strange circumstances revolving around this case to order the execution of a man, and that your decision making must be based on other “elements”.

Therefore, if it does turn out that Mr. Barnabei is innocent, I will unite with others in a campaign like Virginia has never seen in its history to help restore justice where political games, and perhaps even corruption, had taken its place. You will not be able to hide behind claims of “not knowing” or “not thinking”, because we will have acknowledgement of your letters as proof that you had many opportunities to think more carefully on this issue through the help of public opinion. I will direct my voice to your voters and invest every second of my spare time making sure that they know the dynamics of this case thoroughly before they return to the polls, wherever you intend to continue your political career. I strongly recommend that you reconsider your stand on this issue. If nothing else, I demand an official statement on what procedures were used to determine whether or not the envelopes had been tampered with (I’m sure you didn’t just “look” at them) and above all who ordered that the one containing fingernails be destroyed minutes after examining its contents.

If those of us who are net yet convinced of Mr.Barnabei’s guilt end up determining beyond any reasonable doubt that he is indeed guilty we will certainly pay the “due moral consequences”. I will be the first to extend a formal apology to the Wisnosky family with a detailed explanation of why I followed up bad judgement with concrete actions. I hope that after reviewing the letters which I have written on Mr. Barnabei’s behalf, they would understand.

All Appeals Fail

Barnabei's attorneys, who planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, argued that the disappearance of evidence from a locked room from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 breached his constitutional rights. Gov. Jim Gilmore ordered a Virginia State Police investigation that is continuing.

September 14, 2000 There is No Turning Back

In light of the underhanded "slight of hand trick" by your public relation machine where they misled your people by not only implying but outright lying about the DNA results, claiming that the positive DNA was from the bloody fingernail, I once again ask that you reassess your position and STOP this madness.

I have been involved in community activism, which also involves political activism, and I KNOW what drives politics and decision making very well. You KNOW what I mean.

You were elected to make difficult, non-political decisions and you can do this by rising above it all and stopping this unjust rush to judgement.

As I have previously mentioned, I have been always a registered republican and so are most Italian-Americans. This case has so incensed our community that if this execution goes through I will consider starting a nationwide drive for change of party affiliation to the democratic party immediately. I will also see to it that George Bush Jr. is informed of this drive immediately.

I just can't stay in a party anymore that boasts morality while at the same time hands over justice to special interests and disregards due process for the people they were elected to protect.

Governor Gilmore, unless you stop this this execution and unless the supreme court steps in, tonight I will go to sleep with sadness in my heart for what you and the people of Virginia have done to an innocent man. I will also be at peace with myself knowing I have done all I could to stop this madness on the part of you and your people. YOU AND ALL VIRGINIANS WILL LIVE WITH THIS STAIN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES AND HOPE AND PRAY YOU WILL HAVE MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS.

For me, I will be a little wiser than Derek and WILL NEVER SET FOOT IN VIRGINIA EVER AGAIN.

The Supreme Court Turns Down Appeal

``I don't want to die and it's unjust that I die. If this is what God wants, then so be it. I accept it. Who am I to question the ultimate design?''

``I hope this is not for nothing,'' Craig Barnabei quoted his brother as saying. ``I hope people take a hard look at my case.''

Barnabei also wanted his body cremated, but his mother talked him out of it, his brother said.

About two hours before the execution, Barnabei wrote out a will by hand. Andy Protogyrou, one of Barnabei's attorneys, declined to identify Barnabei's beneficiaries.

Earlier Thursday, Barnabei's lawyers filed a clemency petition with Gov. Jim Gilmore, even though the governor had said Monday that he would not grant clemency because new DNA testing confirmed Barnabei was guilty.

``Serious doubts still surround this case,'' lawyer Seth A. Tucker said in the petition filed Wednesday. He argued that Barnabei should not be executed while a state police investigation continues into a temporary disappearance of evidence in the case.

``It would do a disservice not only to Derek Barnabei, but also to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to continue with an execution when there is still no conclusion as to who moved the evidence, what they did with it, and why,'' Tucker wrote.

Gilmore said Thursday that he is sure nobody tampered with the evidence that was tested -- Wisnosky's fingernail clippings, which were in a sealed envelope that had not been opened.

He also said plenty of other evidence was considered at trial and in Barnabei's appeals.

Legal Murder in America

September 15, 2000
An innocent man was executed in America last night, and nobody noticed.

             On Thursday night, September 14, P.M. I cranked up my computer to write an article about the Barnabei case. I wasn’t sure what kind of article. He was supposed to be executed in Virginia at 9:00 P.M. We all hoped for a miracle, so I waited for events to unfold. At 9:06 my phone rang. I picked it up feverishly, hoping that whoever was calling was going to give me the good news for which I had been praying for months. Alas, the opposite was true: one of my friends, who gets Italian television, was calling me to tell me that Derek Rocco Barnabei had just been executed. The execution was scheduled for 9:00 P.M. Virginia doesn’t fool around. We had to hear it from Italian television, because in the land of the free and the home of the brave nobody cared. After all, he was only an Eye-talian: not even a mafioso!

            Ironically, earlier in the evening I had put the finishing touches to a story on the death of Tommaso Natale, that took place on October 28, 1943, in Italy. It’s a chapter in a book I’m writing about WWII. Tommaso was shot by a Nazi soldier just because he had not obeyed his order to halt. He was shot in the back. That Nazi had no more right to give orders to an Italian civilian in his own land, much less shoot him, than Gov. James Gilmore of Virginia had to execute Derek Rocco Barnabei. In America a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty, right? Wrong! The Commonwealth of Virginia apparently makes its own rules: its prosecutors failed to link Derek to the murder of seventeen year old Sarah Wisnosky. Yet, the jury not only found him guilty, but they condemned him to death. Four appeals were denied despite the plight of the Italian people and Parliament, the European Parliament, the Pope and an entire array of famous people including Richard Gere for a stay of execution. Alan Dershowitz, of O.J. fame, who picked up the case in its late stages, said: “The Barnabei case represents one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice, and one of the most compelling cases of innocence I’ve ever seen…” But, Virginia was immovable. At the time of actually putting him to death, the justice system in the United States demands that every possible evidence be exhausted before injecting the poison in a body that would then be dead forever. Virginia, with a mountain of evidence at hand (most of them mishandled anyway), but “inadmissible” because not presented within 21 days, kills a man who was not a hardened criminal and who consistently cried out his innocence. Nazi Germany had nothing on Virginia.

            Even more disturbing is the fact that it was Italian television (Barnabei was half Italian, but the Italians of Siena were the only ones to set up a subscription and funded most of his defense) that announced Derek’s demise immediately because its cameras were on the spot: American media were totally silent. The only newspaper that dedicated an article to the case was the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Sept. 3, 2000, but it reeked of sarcasm about Italy making martyrs of felons in death row. Even the day after, an article in the Inquirer by Jeffrey Fleishman, admitted that the execution “drew scant attention in the United States,” and focused more on the Italian reaction to it. Yes, Mr. Fleishman, Derek Barnabei was only an Eye-talian after all. Imagine those stupid Italians holding a vigil at the Colosseum? Don’t they have a sit-com to watch on TV or something? Egads! Never mind that as an American citizen, Mr. Barnabei’s constitutional rights had been brutally violated in a criminal manner.

After the announcement came that Derek was indeed dead, I put on CNN all night, but they didn’t say a word. KYW News Radio, didn’t mention it nor did local newspapers even announced Derek’s death. The Italian American community (which has been stripped of its identity these days anyway), was nowhere to be found. Gone are the Little Italy’s of America, and with them any sort of solidarity, if there ever was one, has been lost forever. Of course, with the media ignoring the case, the average Italian-American didn’t even know about it. But, what about the Italian-American fraternal organizations, and the foundations, and the institutes? And the intelligentsia at various universities throughout America, where were they? Every year they take the Sacco and Vanzetti case out of mothballs, they blow the dust off of it, and talk about it for an evening. Then they put it back for another year just like they do with the statues of various saints that they parade around towns because of traditions, even though these days the traditional neighborhoods are nothing but ghost towns. Yet, they allowed another case, even more flagrant to take place right under their noses. “Derek who? Barnabei?  How do you spell that?” Give me a break!

            And, where were the Italian American politicians, who at election times join in those procession: (to get votes, not to express their faith)? The Torricelli’s (Derek’s own senator), the Santorum’s, the Cuomo’s. Where was the Church, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, himself being of Italian discent (especially considering that Derek’s mother is a graduate of Overbrook High School, hence a Philadelphian), where was His Eminence? More poignantly, where was Antonine Scalia? Fishing? After all, the Supreme Court of the United States had the last say. I challenge any of the above named, politicians, especially Judge Scalia, to write to me and show me the criterion that proved to them that Derek was guilty! As an American citizen, I have the constitutional right to know. If they can’t do that, then they’re all just as guilty of legalized murder as Gilmore is.

            I’m not going into details about the case, but if anyone would like to read more about it, the family, who lives in Somers Point, N.J., has a web page at the following internet address: www.barnabei.com. Everything is there. American Citizens, read it, and tremble!

When I taught English at Bishop Kenrick High School, I used to teach the jury system of justice as it exists in the United States. I was idealistic then: I thought that in America justice will prevail in all cases. Isn’t that funny? That’s what Derek thought, too! I used to turn the classroom into a court room. The operative, ever recurring concept was: reasonable doubt. A person accused of a crime in America is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof rests with the State. Culpability must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, otherwise the jury MUST return a Not Guilty verdict. The Barnabei case was not only replete with reasonable doubt, but it reeked with judicial “irregularities,” (and I’m being mild here). The judge, the DA, even the Supreme Court of Virginia, and those who had anything to do with the case, all exhibited questionable attitudes. It’s all on the internet. Read all about it! This case should have been thrown out of court the second day of trial.

            So, how, how, how does a sovereign State, a member of the original thirteen, which figured so pre-eminently in establishing the “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all,” how does a political entity of such historical stature sink so low as to put an innocent man to death? And how does it happen that everyone else in the United States has his head in the sand and ignored the whole sorry mess, even while the whole of Europe has been in an uproar about it for a couple of years?

Going back to the case of Tommaso Natale (cousin of Judge Sebastian Natale of Dauphin County, Pa.), I see no difference between the two events. In fact, the last time I ever saw such a degree of official arrogance as exhibited by Gov. Gilmore in the Barnabei case, was when I lived under the Nazi’s, in Italy. If they accused a person of a crime (against the Nazi’s of course), there was no recourse that had any weight: he was summarily shot. Much like Gov. Gilmore said: “I say he did it, and that’s that.” In both cases, moral and State law were violated. Hitler was crazy, but what’s your excuse, Gilmore?

            An Italian newspaper this morning called the USA, “the country of death,” and I’m afraid that the assessment was tragically correct. In America, these days, we’re killing unborn babies by the millions, killing on the streets is a daily occurrence, killing in the schools of students by students has dipped as low as the level of the first grade, and now we’re killing innocent people under the aegis of righteousness. Virginia has rejected the appeals of the Italian Parliament, of the European Parliament, and even the Pope with a resounding raspberry, and at 9:00 P.M. they proceeded, with impunity and hubristic arrogance, to eliminate an innocent man.

The realities of modern America flies in the face of the idealistic dream of Thomas Jefferson, ironically the quintessential Virginian, (and of his friend, the Florentine, Dr. Filippo Mazzei who suggested much of the contents of the Declaration of Independence, to him! Barnabei was of Tuscan origin, too). This is not what Jefferson had in mind. Bloody, bloody America, you are morally bankrupt!

An innocent man was executed last night in America, and nobody noticed!

``I am truly innocent of this crime,''
``Eventually the truth will come out.''
"I love you Mom, I love you Craig,
I Love you Fabrizio,
I Love you Patrizia,
I love you Tony."