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Lohud
January 27, 2014
A lawyer for the family of a woman who was stabbed to death in White Plains because she was white argued Thursday that the city failed to adequately secure a parking garage near the Galleria where the crime occurred.
The lawyer spoke during the opening of a civil trial in the case, pressed by the family of Concetta “Connie” Russo-Carriero of White Plains, who was stabbed by Phillip Grant on June 29, 2005, at the parking garage.
Grant, who is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison, told police shortly after his arrest that he was waging a race war and only regretted not being able to kill more whites that day.
Russo-Carriero’s family sued a variety of entities after the murder, culminating in Thursday’s trial, which is expected to last through next week.
Russo-Carriero’s two sons, who have continuously fought for their mother, said outside the court that they were not out for money.
“We’ve been waiting eight years,” Jonathan Russo said Thursday, adding he and his brother, Michael, were trying to make sure something similar couldn’t happen again. The trial, Jonathan Russo said, “brings up a lot of emotions.”
Lawyers for the city argued that there was nothing the city could do to stop Grant, who was determined to kill someone.
Grant, a convicted rapist, had taken a van from a now-closed Volunteers of America shelter at Westchester County Airport before the stabbing. A resident of another Volunteers of America shelter, Howard Mickens, a career criminal with a history of mental illness, was arrested in September and accused of pushing Hunter College student Maya Leggat into a train at the White Plains station after taking the shelter van into White Plains. She survived but needed extensive rehabilitation.
The Russo-Carriero trial, before Judge Sam Walker in state Supreme Court in White Plains, will determine if, and how much, the city is liable. Prosecutors and defense lawyers gave opening statements before John Kelly, a lawyer for Russo-Carriero’s family, called his first witness, Winnett Peltz, the former general manager of the Galleria.
Peltz, who was forced to appear under subpoena, said several times that she didn’t even remember giving a deposition in a separate lawsuit in 2004.
Other witnesses, including the city’s parking cCommissioner John Larson, also appeared.
In the suit, Russo-Carriero’s family said the city failed to provide adequate police protection and failed to adequately secure the parking garage, which is owned by the city. A judge threw out the first claim, but allowed the second to proceed, setting the stage for the trial.
The case will be decided by six jurors. The trial is expected to continue Friday.
