trey.christy@newssun.com
BARTOW -- Judge Michael Hunter entered the Bartow courtroom on Monday morning
and, in front of a dozen of Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile's friends and family, sentenced Joshua Lee Altersberger to death for the 2007 murder of the trooper in Lake Placid.
On the other side of the room, mostly alone, was Altersberger's mother, Rosalie. Two other women sat with her in an otherwise empty section. She sobbed quietly when Hunter announced her son would be put to death, and Altersberger waved goodbye to his mother as he was taken away.
After pleading guilty on March 13, just three days before his trial was scheduled to start, a jury recommended Altersberger for the death penalty on April 2 in a 9-3 vote.
Reading from the sentencing order, Hunter said the two proven aggravating circumstances, which would lead to a defendant receiving the death penalty, far outweighed the mitigating circumstances.
"Either aggravating circumstance standing alone would outweigh all of the mitigating circumstances," he said.
The 18-page sentencing order detailed Hunter's decision, including listing two statutory and 18 non-statutory mitigating circumstances and how much weight he considered to give to each one, from Altersberger's age, giving it "slight weight," to his dysfunctional family and home environment, giving that "moderate weight."
While the defense argued that the murder was not committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner, this aggravating circumstance was found by Hunter to be proven, and he gave it "great weight," detailing his decision over four and a half pages.
Hunter reviewed the transcripts of witnesses Quentin Kinder, who fled Altersberger's vehicle during the traffic stop, and Peron Merise, a truck driver who had "a clear view of what happened." Hunter cited the testimony while explaining how the court came to its decision.
Kinder testified that Altersberger had told him he was going to kill the trooper before he did, and Merise testified that before he was shot, Sottile "backed up a little and had his hands up."
According to the law, the cold, calculated and premeditated aggravator must be proven by the state showing that the murder was not prompted by emotional frenzy, panic or a fit of rage, that there was a careful plan or prearranged design to commit the murder, that there was heightened premeditation, and no pretext of legal or moral justification.
"There was no testimony that the defendant had been acting in an emotional frenzy, panic or fit of rage," Hunter wrote. "According to the witness, when it appeared the trooper was comfortable, the defendant lowered his hands, produced a weapon, and shot the trooper."
He called the murder "an unnecessary, execution-type killing," and said it was "the type of killing for which this aggravating circumstance was intended."
Citing the Florida Supreme Court, Hunter said the heightened premeditation required to sustain the aggravator is one where the defendant has the opportunity to leave the scene but, instead, commits the murder.
"He could have attempted to disarm the trooper when the trooper took a step back and raised his hands," Hunter wrote. "Instead, he shot him."
Altersberger will have 30 days to file his appeal but his defense attorneys have already told Hunter they intend to do so.
Monday, June 15, 2009 - www.newssun.com/0615-altersberger