MAN DENIES COUPLE'S SLAYING CURSES HURLED AT MURDER SUSPECT IN COURTROOM.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer In a raucous rau·cous adj. 1. Rough-sounding and harsh: raucous laughter. 2. Boisterous and disorderly: "the raucous give and take of American democracy" hearing, a 23-year-old Sylmar man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to beating and stabbing to death a much-loved couple who owned a popular North Hollywood Italian eatery. Israel Cebrera Pulido pleaded not guilty to murder with special circumstances special circumstances n. in criminal cases, particularly homicides, actions of the accused or the situation under which the crime was committed for which state statutes allow or require imposition of a more severe punishment. in the deaths of Sabato Russo and his wife, Eugenia, the 73-year-old owners of Sabatino Italian Bakery in North Hollywood. For the Russo family, the hearing was an uncomfortable brush with the man accused of killing the couple known throughout the neighborhood for their generosity. ``I won't even call him a person. He is subhuman sub·hu·man adj. 1. Below the human race in evolutionary development. 2. Regarded as not being fully human. sub·hu . He's an animal,'' said Rosanna Russo Tulino, the slain couple's daughter, Emotions boiled over at the end of the Van Nuys Superior Court hearing when an audience member cursed the prisoner in Spanish. A deputy escorted the unidentified man out of the courtroom and warned him not to communicate with the suspect. Pulido is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of residential robbery, and one count of residential burglary. In addition, Pulido is charged with special circumstance allegations including burglary, robbery, torture and multiple murder. The District Attorney's Office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty if Pulido is convicted. Pulido's attorney, Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was John Ponist, declined to comment. The Russos' bodies were found knifed and beaten Nov. 22 inside their Valley Glen home in the 6600 block of Bellaire Avenue, a few blocks away from their Sylvan sylvan emanating from or pertaining to woods. See also sylvatic. Street restaurant, authorities said. Pulido, a Mexican national who has lived in Sylmar for four years, was arrested a day after the killings. Authorities said the suspect had been part of a work crew hired to refurbish re·fur·bish tr.v. re·fur·bished, re·fur·bish·ing, re·fur·bish·es To make clean, bright, or fresh again; renovate. re·fur the Russo home. Investigators seized knives at Pulido's home, police said. Pulido is being held without bail at the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Jail. A preliminary hearing-setting conference was scheduled for Jan. 10. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Israel Cebrera Pulido entered a not-guilty plea Tuesday in Van Nuys Superior Court to the Nov. 22 stabbing deaths of North Hollywood bakery owners Sabato and Eugenia Russo. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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