BROOKLYN (Newsday) -- It's official.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors revealed in court Wednesday that they will seek the death penalty against two Guyanese immigrants suspected of taking part in an insurance murder-for-hire scheme.
Unofficial reports had circulated for months that the prosecution would seek to execute insurance broker Richard James and Ronald Malley if they were convicted after trial.
During a brief court appearance Wednesday before Brooklyn U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson, it was disclosed that prosecutors had filed a notice of their intent to seek the death penalty in the case. The government cited a number of "aggravating factors," including the allegations that two victims were killed for money in an "especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner," as reasons for seeking capital punishment.
Though Brooklyn federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty in the past, juries in two other such cases rejected execution and instead chose life imprisonment.
James, and Mallay, 57, were arrested last year on charges they plotted the murders of Guyanese immigrants in order to reap life insurance payments. As many as eight deaths are being examined in connection with the alleged conspiracy and insurance companies have said that 21 deaths of people insured through James were "unusual."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton said in court that additional grand jury action in the case could occur in about three weeks. She indicated that a superseding indictment would list the aggravating factors for the death penalty but did not say whether additional homicides would be charged.
"I think we may see some more [homicide charges]," defense attorney Ephraim Savitt, who represents James, told reporters.
The two victims named in the pending indictment were Hardeo Sewnanan and Basedo Somaipersaud. Both men died from alcohol or drug ingestion, according to court records and law enforcement officials. Investigators suspect both were given the substances as part of the murder plot. Somaipersaud was found dead in Smokey Park in Queens on Jan. 23, 1998.
Sewnanan died in Port Mourant, Guyana, on June 8, 1999.
Savitt told Johnson that he and Richard Jasper, who is defending Mallay, would be pressing the government for more information about how their clients were allegedly tied to the killings.
Neither James nor Mallay showed any emotion during the proceedings yesterday. But relatives for James defended him outside the courtroom.
"He is a wonderful guy, he would never do something like that," said niece Annette Rahaman.
Johnson said he would be issuing an order to make sure that Mallay, who has undergone heart surgery in the past, is able to get an appointment with a cardiac specialist while in federal custody.
"If they are to receive the ultimate penalty, they are to receive the ultimate care," said Johnson.