Sentenced to Death

Nelson, a transsexual, is the only woman on New Jersey`s death row. With Nelson`s sentencing, there are now 17 inmates under death sentence in New Jersey. They are held at the Capital Sentence Unit of New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

No one in New Jersey has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982. The last execution in New Jersey was in 1963.

Here is a list of the inmates` names; race and sex; county of conviction; the date they arrived on "death row," and in some cases, the date they returned after resentencing.

_Leslie Ann Nelson, white woman, Camden, March 30, 2001.

_Robert O. Marshall, white male, Atlantic, March 5, 1986. Convicted of arranging the murder of his wife, Maria, in Ocean County on Sept. 7, 1984.

_Marko Bey, black male, Monmouth, Dec. 16, 1983, returned Sept. 13, 1990. Convicted of the murders of Cheryl Alston and Carol D. Peniston in April 1983. His death sentences were reversed on appeal, but he was resentenced to death in Peniston case and that was upheld by the state Supreme Court.

_John Martini, white male, Bergen, Dec. 13, 1990. Convicted of murdering Fair Lawn businessman Irving Flax on Jan. 23, 1989; also has admitted to two murders in Arizona and faces a murder trial in Pennsylvania.

_Anthony DiFrisco, white male, Essex, Jan. 25, 1988, returned Feb. 5, 1993. Convicted of the contract murder of Maplewood pizzeria owner Edward Potcher on Aug. 12, 1986.

_Donald Loftin, black male, Mercer, Dec. 6, 1994. Convicted of May 5, 1992 slaying of Gary Marsh of Trenton, an attendant at a Lawrenceville gas station.

_Nathaniel Harvey, black male, Middlesex, Oct. 17, 1986, returned Dec. 16, 1994. Convicted of 1985 bludgeoning murder of Irene Schnaps in Plainsboro. Won a new trial but was convicted and sentenced again in 1994.

_David Cooper, black male, Monmouth, May 17, 1995. Convicted of kidnapping 6-year-old Latasha Goodman in Asbury Park, raping and strangling her July 18, 1993.

_John Chew, white male, Middlesex, June 27, 1995. Convicted of killing his live-in girlfriend, Teresa Bowman, Jan. 12, 1993, to collect on her insurance policy.

_Ambrose Harris, black male, Mercer, March 1, 1996. Convicted of murder of 22-year-old Kristin Huggins, an artist from Lower Makefield, Pa., on December 17, 1992.

_Richard Feaster, white male, Gloucester, March 27, 1996. Convicted of the October 1993 shotgun slaying of Keith Donaghy, a Gloucester County gas station attendant.

_Robert Morton, black male, Burlington, July 1, 1996. Convicted of murdering Michael Eck during a 1993 robbery at a gas station in Delran.

_Jesse Timmendequas, white male, Mercer (jury from Hunterdon), May 14, 1997. Convicted of the murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton, July 1994. Crime led to passage of Megan`s Law, requiring certain released sex offenders to register with police.

_Peter Papasavvas, white male, Middlesex, Oct. 9, 1998. Convicted of robbing, sexually assaulting and strangling a 64-year-old Iselin woman when she came home from a church meeting in 1996.

_Thomas Koskovich, white male, Sussex, May 7, 1999. Convicted of thrill killing of pizza shop owner Giorgio Gallara and delivery driver Jeremy Giordano during an ambush on April 19, 1997.

_Daron Josephs, black male, Camden, April 7, 2000. Convicted of killing two men on Jan. 22, 1995 in Camden during what police said was a battle over drug turf.

_Steven Fortin, white male, Middlesex, sentenced Feb. 26, 2001. Convicted in the beating death of a 25-year-old Woodbridge mother of four as she walked home from a grocery store on Aug. 11, 1994.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)