The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 25

THURSDAY MARCH 22 2007 I 3B SOUTH FLORIDA AROUND SOUTH FLORIDA MURDER TRIAL Gables accountant guilty of killing wife may face death MIAMI Restaurant order comes with bullets on the side THE MIAMI HERALD MiamiHerald com After waiting too long in line and receiving a wrong order two friends at a Miami fish-and-chicken joint found their car window blown out by bullets even want to eat now so said a Vanessa Faydra Cooper 33 a county bus driver Parked at Fish Chicken Cooper and Marquis Cannon left her black 2007 Nissan Maxima and walked inside about 630 pm She ordered conch He ordered snapper but received fried chicken instead Their order took about 10 minutes Suddenly employees at the eatery on the 1700 block of Northwest 54th Street began shouting that was shooting up the parking Cooper said She came out to find no gunman and her side window in pieces Cooper of Perrine is a suspended county bus driver awaiting trial on a battery charge She was only in Miami to visit a union rep know why anyone would want to do she told Officer William Cook even stay in Miami I know anyone and Michael Locascio plotted the murder together so Ed Locascio have to split his assets with his wife when they divorced Maggie Locascio was killed the day before she was set to give a deposition in the divorce case Michael Locascio was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison last year The state relied on circumstantial evidence to make the case against Ed Locascio including a statement he made to an employee before the murder suggesting his brother had offered to kill his wife Amsel suggested during the trial that Eddie Locascio was just trying to get his money He has sued his father for wrongful death If his conviction is upheld on appeal Eddie will get everything SLAYER so-called prohibits someone who kills someone else from inheriting anything the dead person left A murder conviction is considered automatic proof in civil court for the purposes of the law obvious purpose is you want to discourage people from killing other people for explained Miami civil attorney Andy Berman you certainly want to reward unclear exactly how much may be left in the estate More than half a dozen lawyers are representing various parties in the case and they will be paid before the family will inherit anything The criminal penalty phase will take place before Circuit Judge Stanford Blake next month Because jurors still have responsibilities in the trial they speak about their deliberations which took a long time Michael Locascio was convicted in less than seven hours Ed Locascio was found guilty of killing his wife of 28 years a crime for which his brother Michael is serving life in prison BY SUSANNAH A NESMITH snesmithaMiamiHerald com A Miami-Dade jury deliberated for 18 hours over three days before announcing Edward verdict Wednesday afternoon: Guilty of killing his wife of 28 years Guilty of burglarizing the Coral Gables home that the couple had shared for most of that marriage Guilty of armed robbery Locascio was in his South Beach apartment when his brother Michael Locascio bludgeoned and stabbed Maggie Locascio to death in 2001 Prosecutors acknowledged that Ed Locascio never wielded a knife or burglarized his own home or robbed anyone directly But he also was convicted of a fourth charge: conspiracy to commit murder Locascio hung his head after a court clerk read the first His son and his former mother-in-law began to weep and had to leave the courtroom Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty for Locascio at the least he faces life in prison Assistant State Attorney Gail Levine argued that Ed decided on his own to try to help his brother Prosecutors never found any evidence that Ed a wealthy accountant paid his brother any money after the murder And though they presented evidence of an unusual number of phone calls between the brothers before the murder they never found anyone who overheard the two discussing killing Maggie What they did have was Eddie Locascio the only son He testified against his father telling the jury that his father had threatened to kill his mother before Eddie Locascio a medical student at the University of Miami was a stoic presence throughout both his and his trials and has often spoken with the media But he declined to comment after his father was convicted Weeping he pushed his wheelchair out of the courtroom to a back room of the courthouse His uncle Maggie brother-in-law spoke for the family "We have five years of suffering for a man who killed the most beautifyl child in the Andres Silveira said was no doubt from the beginning that this verdict was going to be Prosecutors and defense attorneys declined comment OFFER Ed attorney Robert Amsel argued his client would never have made the statement if he had taken his offer seriously He also questioned the1 integrity of the employee who testified she heard the statement The employee became romantically involved with the lead detective in the case theory: Michael life was falling apart with his own divorce in the works He Amsel told the jury and CASE ROAD Exonerated man sues Gables Wine and Food festi- val takes place on The one-night event which begins at 7 pm March 29 along Giralda from Ponce de Leon Boulevard to Galiano Avenue will feature more than 25 of the finest eateries Tickets are $40 Proceeds benefit pulmonary research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and local American Lung Society of Florida South Area lung research education and patient assistance programs To purchase tickets online go to coralgables wineandfoodcom or call 800-LUNG-USA for more information MIAMI VENEZUELANS PROTEST LAW FIRM A group of Miami-based Venezuelans denounced Rudy Giuliani this week because of the presidential defense of his law lobbying for an oil company connected to leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defends it by saying he only does a little bit of work for Chavez but like saying just a little bit pregnant no such said Ernesto Ackerman of Independent Venezuelan-Ameri-can Citizens (TV AC) Citgo Petroleum a Texas-based subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company that Chavez controls is represented by Bracewell Giuliani on tax-policy and other governmental matters Giuliani said that Chavez was dangerous but that Citgo provides jobs for thousands of Americans and that the work for the company was and the Associated Press reported IV AC is asking that firm stop lobbying for Citgo and donate the previous Citgo earnings to organizations that promote democracy in Latin LITTLE HAITI HELICOPTER SPOTS ROBBER ESCAPING A Miami police helicopter spotted the escape of a gun-wielding bicycle-riding robber Wednesday in Uitle Haiti authorities said The helicopter police say quickly directed cops to the man who ducked in the bushes trying to avoid the eye in the sky Emmanuel Lee Walls 22 was charged with armed robbery Police say he stole a purse and a cellphone from a young woman leaving a market 125 NW 62nd St about 1230 pm helicopter is a said Miami Cmdr David Magnusson the daytime you can really see things The events leading to the arrest began when dispatchers reported an armed robbery call The Eurocopter EC-120B with pilot Sgt Rafael Borroto and observer officer lan Roman aboard moved in and saw a crowd on the street looked like a bunch of people and they were Borroto said the policeman pulled up next to him he Snatching her purse and cellphone Walls made his escape on a dark Schwinn bicycle He fell off The police helicopter tracked him running two blocks north then three blocks west Walls kept looking up at the helicopter Borroto said Walls finally laid down under a awning in bushes out of view Roman never saw him emerge and officers on the ground quickly found him Walls had ditched the gun and the purse but not the cellphone Magnusson said is no way to explain Magnusson said CORAL GABLES WINE FOOD FEST IS NEXT THURSDAY Restaurant Row in downtown Coral Gables will be particularly savory next week when the Coral The man who spent 26 years in prison after his wrongful conviction in the Road crimes filed a civil lawsuit against the Miami-Dade Police Department BY CASEY WOODS cwoodsfflMiamiHerald com Luis Diaz who was exonerated after spending 26 years in prison as the Road filed a civil lawsuit on Wednesday against those he says are responsible for his wrongful conviction: more than a dozen Miami-Dade County police officers and supervisors who built the case against him took away my freedom and the biggest thing I had my said Diaz 68 his voice cracking sent me to prison but I knew in my mind and heart that I was Diaz accuses the police officers of fabricating evidence pushing witnesses into identifying him and other misconduct The lawsuit also names the county as a defendant He and attorney Marvin Kurzban spoke about the lawsuit at Miami office on Wednesday Kurzban said his client was Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Detective Nelda Fonti-ciella said that the department had not received the lawsuit and would not comment on ongoing legal cases Diaz a Cuban American was a fry cook with a wife and N0EILE THEARDF0R THE MIAMI HERALD ADDRESSING THE MEDIA Luis Diaz center talks about his lawsuit joined by attorneys Jed Kurzban left and Marvin Kurzban right at their Miami law office on Wednesday police tied him to the crimes and he did not fit the description in several cases Said Kurzban: came to America seeking freedom and justice in the late 1960s and instead he had his freedom taken away was given no justice and had his life ruined for no other reason than expediency of an ill-trained police department who deal with the public pressure and was unable to effectively investigate and handle the nurseries and other thirsty businesses are being ordered to cut back 15 percent from Key West to Paim Beach and double that in the farm fields southeast of the lake For complete rules see wwwsfwmd gov click on the Water Shortage Alert and then scroll down to Water Shortage Info Local code enforcers or police are being asked to enforce the rules Repeat residential violators face fines from $50 to $500 Large users could face civil fines of up to $10000 a day for violations MIAMI HERALD MEDIA COMPANY OFFICERS their witness testimony against Diaz The Bird Road rapist who terrorized Miami in the late 1970s would pull over women driving in the Bird Road-US 1 area of Coral Gables then rape them at gunpoint He is believed to have attacked at least 25 women Diaz became a suspect after one of the victims said she recognized him at a gas station Eight other victims eventually identified him as their attacker No physical evidence restrictions year-round Residents with home addresses ending in odd numbers can water only between 4 and 8 am on Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays Those with even-number addresses can water between the same hours on Tuesdays Thursdays and Sundays On allowed watering days home-owners also may wash cars boats and other equipment within those hours and from 5 to 7 pm Restrictions extend beyond homeowners Golf courses three children and had no criminal record when he was first arrested in 1979 in connection to a series of rapes and attempted rapes He was later convicted in seven of the attacks Diaz was freed in 2005 after tests showed that DNA from two of the Bird Road crimes including one that Diaz had never been charged with did not match his sample Two of the victims including one of the women in those cases Already had recanted most critically Lake Okeechobee The big lake main source of water for nearby towns and farms and backup for the Everglades and coastal cities is about four feet below average Randy Smith a spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District which manages the water supply for 16 counties said going to take months of rain to replenish the system and April and May tend to be the driest The shortage is severe enough that water managers are considering making many WATER RESTRICTIONS Start reducing sprinkler usage today DAVID LANDSBERG President and Publisher ANDERS GYLLENHAAL Vice President and Executive Editor DONNA DICKEY vPBroward Business Manager CESAR MENDOZA VPInformation Technology CESAR PIZARRO VPEI Nuevo Herald Business Manager SUSAN ROSENTHAL VPChief Financial Officer DORY TRINKA VPTargeted Publications EUSSAVANAVER VPHuman Resources and Assistant to Publisher ALEXANDRA VILLOCH VPAdvertismg TERRY WHITNEY VPCirculation CRAIG WOISCHWILL VPOperations REPRINT PERMISSION Tbe Miami Herald content is protected under the Federal Copyright Act No reproduction without written permission For permission PhotosGraphics 305 36 374 fax 505 37b 2287 Articleslext Contar Reprint Management Services at 888 414 4534 Back issuesphotos 305 376 3719 HOME DELIVERY RATES Miami Dade weekly ml es 7 days Miami Hoiald $3 54 Miami Herald A El Nuevo Herald $4 24 Thursday Sunday Miami Herald $2 38 Miami Herald A El Nuevo Herald $2 83 Salurday Sunday Miami Herald $1 61 Miami Herald A El Nuevo Herald $1 8b Keys weekly rates 7 days Miami Herald $4 04 Miami Hot aid A FI Nuevo Herald $4 71 Thursday Sunday Miami Herald $2 69 Miami Herald A bl Nuevo Herald 97 Your stibsr option includes January 1 2007 February 5 2007 February 12 2007 2007 March?) 2007 March 26 2007 March28 2007 February19 2007 April 2 2007 May 7 2007 May 30 2007 July 4 2007 September 3 2007 October 2007 November 22 2007 December 25 2007 THE MIAMI HERALD Is published every morning by Miami Herald Media Company 8 subsidiary of The McClatchy Company Postmaster Send address changes to The Miami Herald I Herald Plara Miami FL 33132 1693 BY CURTIS MORGAN cmorgarna MiamiHerald com Starting today cars may start to look less shiny and gardens less green Water restrictions kicked in across South Florida at 12:01 am limiting suburban sprinklers and outside water use to three days a week in Miami-Dade Broward Monroe and eastern Palm Beach counties Regional water managers ordered the cutbacks in response to a drought that has dropped water levels in the Everglades and canals and.