The…
By Chris Fuchs
Families of the victims of the Wendy’s massacre in Flushing had their day in court last week right before Craig Godineux, who had pleaded guilty to murdering five workers and wounding two others at the restaurant, was sentenced to life in prison.
The Feb. 21 hearing gave the victims’ families a chance to address Godineaux, who is mentally retarded, before Judge Stephen Fisher of State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens imposed sentence. In words that exposed their raw anguish, three relatives of the dead and the mother of one of the wounded stood at a podium and described how their lives had been altered by the massacre.
“It’s like a nightmare that will never end,” said Joan Truman-Smith, whose 22-year-old daughter Anita of South Jamaica was one of the five workers murdered. “I stand before you as a mother whose heart has been shattered in a million pieces.”
Benjamin Nazario said he and his family could never forget the murder of his brother Ramon of Flushing. He said the state law that bars New York from executing mentally retarded criminals should be changed. Although convicted of first-degree murder, Godineaux, 30, was ineligible for the death penalty because he was found to be mentally retarded.
“I feel cheated,” Nazario said. “He should have gotten the death penalty. But if the law says he can’t get it, I accept that. The government should sit down and change the law, and I’m going to try my best to change it.”
On May 24, just before closing time, Godineaux and John Taylor, the other man charged in the murders, walked into the Wendy’s restaurant on Main Street and announced a robbery, said Richard Brown, the Queens district attorney. The men led the seven workers into the basement, bound and gagged them, shooting them execution-style, he said. Five of them died.
Brown is seeking the death penalty against Taylor, 36, who pleaded not guilty in late January to a 47-count indictment under which both men were charged. His next court date is March 21.
Before the judge sentenced Godineaux, he asked him if he had anything to say. Godineaux, his head hung low, began to speak into a microphone propped on the defense table but was soon asked to elevate his voice since the court reporter could not hear him. He started again.
“My apologies to the families … to my mom, she will never forgive me,” he said, sobbing. “I do deserve what I get and I don’t expect nobody to accept my apologies because I feel what I did was wrong, and I should have never been there in the first place.”
After a momentary pause, the judge addressed Godineaux. “The defendant wanted money, but he wanted more,” Fisher said. “He wanted to avoid the possibility that he would get caught and not serve jail time. And not only did he not avoid doing jail time, he condemned himself to be caged in prison and to stay there until the day he dies.”
For the next 10 minutes, one by one, the judge called out the 47 counts against Godineaux. In all, Fisher sentenced Godineaux to five consecutive terms of life in prison without parole, one for each of the victims murdered. He said Godineaux could not appeal the conviction.
At a news conference following the hearing, the district attorney said he hoped that the sentencing of Godineaux would bring some degree of closure to the families of the victims.
“Justice as to him has been swift and it has been certain,” Brown said. “The case against him is now over. There will be no appeals — he has waived his right to appeal. He has accepted his fate. He will never see the light of day. He will ultimately die in prison.”
Since they were both charged with first-degree murder, Godineaux and Taylor initially were each eligible for the death penalty. But in late November, when the district attorney was expected to announce his decision on whether to pursue a capital case against the men, Godineaux’s attorney, Colleen Brady, argued that her client was mentally retarded. New York is one of 13 states that do not execute mentally retarded criminals.
After undergoing a battery of psychiatric exams, Godineaux was found to be mentally retarded, scoring at an IQ level that put him in the lowest 1 percent of the population, the district attorney said. As a result, Brown decided not to seek the death penalty against Godineaux.
Godineaux appeared in court on Jan. 22, where he pleaded guilty to the entire indictment, recounting in simple, clinical terms how he and Taylor had carried out the murders.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at timesledgr@aol.com, or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
