View allAll Photos Tagged facing
Friday October 26, 2012
BRATTLEBORO -- Former Brattleboro Food Co-op employee Richard Gagnon pleaded guilty Friday to killing fellow co-op employee Michael Martin last year and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Gagnon had pleaded not guilty and was facing first degree murder charges.
He was scheduled to go to trial early next year for the killing but reached a plea deal with the state last week.
The former co-op beer and wine manager pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life.
He received a sentence of 17 years, with time served to include the year and almost three months that he has already spent in prison.
Gagnon, who was 59 years old at the time of slaying, could be released from prison in 2028 when he is 76 years old.
Gagnon was wearing shackles and appeared distraught and gaunt when he walked in to the Windham County Superior Court, which was packed with members of Martin's family as well as with his own family members and friends.
After pleading guilty and receiving his sentence Gagnon apologized to the Martin family and said Michael Martin did not deserve to die.
"I was a good man for 59 years. I respected all life and I never hurt anybody," he said to Judge David Suntag in a barely audible voice.
"But I broke down and I felt like my life was coming to an end. The gun was supposed to be for me but instead I used it on Michael. I can never take it back. It is never going to get better. It is never going to go away."
Gagnon worked at the Brattleboro Food Co-op for 20 years and tensions between him and Martin intensified in the days leading up to the killing.
According to court records, Martin, who was Gagnon's superior, had given Gagnon unfavorable evaluations and on the Friday before the shooting Martin suggested that Gagnon take a severance package and leave the co-op.
In court Friday Windham County Deputy State's Attorney David Gartenstein said Gagnon told a psychiatrist that during the following weekend he descended into a vortex of despair.
Gagnon told a psychiatrist that he contemplated suicide and tried to kill his wife that weekend, Gartenstein said.
The following Monday Gagnon called in sick.
On Tuesday, Aug. 9, just after 8 a.m., he shot Martin in the head with a semiautomatic handgun and killed him while he was at his desk.
In explaining the state's decision to accept a plea deal, Gartenstein said Gagnon's eventual sentence would have not likely been much different.
Gartenstein said the trial would be a "burden on the community" and he wondered what more would be gained by having co-op employees, Martin family members and others testify.
He also said that some of Martin's family members did not support the deal and thought Gagnon should go to trial for first degree murder and spend the rest of his life in prison.
Before Gagnon was sentenced a number of Martin's children and family members gave emotional statements about the killing.
Cathy Fisk, Martin's sister, said 17 years was not enough time and she said Gagnon should spend the rest of his life in prison for what he did.
"Only a cold-blooded murderer would shoot a man in the back of the head," she said. "You are getting away with murder. I hope you are never free from the guilt."
Martin's other sister Jo Ann Berno said it was impossible to understand what Gagnon did that August morning.
She said that while she could not forgive him, she did have compassion for Gagnon's family, though she said she will fight to make sure Gagnon serves out his complete sentence.
"There is a deep sadness and emptiness that I feel on a daily basis. Our hearts have been broken," Berno said. "We will attend every parole hearing and make sure you are not released. The pain will never end for us."
Leah Martin, Michael Martin's daughter, said she did not want to see her father's killer, but said she came to honor him.
"I cry every day. The suffering is endless," she said. "Seventeen years is not enough. What you did is unforgivable."
And Ella Martin, another of his daughters, said Gagnon ripped apart her life.
Ella Martin said her father had been her sole parent after her parents divorced and she said Gagnon took away "the only man in my life who I trusted whole heartedly."
After I took these I looked up in the sky to see what it was looking at and saw nothing....hamming it up I guess
On our way to Piana, at the summit of "Col de Palmarella", we see the beautiful "Golfe de Girolata". It's dry where we are, and the sun is shining over the sea, but we can view the storm and the rain falling on the mountains.. where we're going ! Bummer !
Sur la route de Piana, au sommet du Col de Palmarella, nous apercevons le magnifique Golfe de Girolata. Il ne pleut pas au sommet, il fait beau sur la mer, mais nous sommes au dessus de l'orage qui tombe sur les montagnes qui nous font face et vers lesquelles nous allons nous diriger. C'est la vie !
Description: Afro-American (AFRAM) Exposition, Charles Center and Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore MD
Date: August 6-7, 1977
Source: Robert Breck Chapman (RBC) Collection
Photo ID: rbcae77s0427
Location: Special Collections, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore
View facing west / southwest alongside West 51st Street.
The former GTW closed Elsdon Yard in October of 1983, and demolished the 1881 built wooden two story Elsdon depot in November of 1983.
Unité d'Habitation Marseille – architect Le Corbusier – realized 1946-1952
The site : The “Unité d'Habitation” is situated in a large park, its main elevations facing East and West. The North elevation is completely closed due to the cold winds from that side. The building is 165 m long, 24 m deep and 56 m high.
The plan : The building stands on pillars, leaving the space underneath for car and bicycle parking and pedestrian circulation, except for the entrance hall with janitor's box and elevators. The plenum underneath the first floor contains the air-conditioning plant, elevator machineries and diesel generators. The building holds 337 apartments of 23 types, varying from bachelor apartments to such for families with 8 children. The apartments, being distributed in pairs on three floors, need only 5 corridors, called interior roads, one on every third floor. They run in the longitudinal axis of the building. Each apartment contains two floors connected with an interior stair case. The day room with a height of 4.80 m extends over 2 floors. A large window of 3.66 x 4.80 m allows a full view of the beautiful surrounding landscape. The kitchen equipment contains a four plate electric range with oven, a double sink with automatic garbage disposal, refrigerator and working table. The kitchen unit is air conditioned by the central system. The sound insulation consists of lead sheets put in between the separating walls of the apartments. Along the interior road on level 7 and 8 lies a shopping centre, containing a fish, butcher, milk, fruit and vegetable shop as well as a bakery, a liquor and drugstore. Furthermore there is a laundry and cleaning service, pharmacy, barbershop and a post office. Along the same corridor lies the hotel accommodation and a restaurant snackbar with special service to the apartments. The 17th and last floor contains a kindergarten and a nursery, from where a ramp leads to a roofgarden and a small swimming pool far children. Besides the garden and the terrace, the roof contains a gymnasium, an open space for gymnastics, a 300 m sprinters' track and a solarium.
The Ebola crisis facing Sierra Leone and our neighbor countries is spiraling out of control. WeOwnTV filmmakers and the Sierra Leone Film Council are working on a series of short video public service announcements (PSA’s) for wide distribution on local television and radio to help sensitize the country about the current Ebola disease epidemic and to combat dangerous misinformation. Please support our campaign and & "Help Spread Knowledge to Stop Ebola".
this started out as a pinup shoot and morphed into a worn out housewife..we got tons of great shots that day :)
www.wix.com/kimangeline/kfphotography#
Photo by Kim
Oils on canvas, 1997.
Detailed study of conflicts and opposing views of pre and post-independence Kenya. Kenyatta, on the left was a political leader of the independence struggle while Dedan Kimathi was a military leader.
The struggle gave way for a new chance to re-build; the arms had to be exchanged for hoes, and the people needed to rise proudly to face a new dawn.
Private collection.