DOYLESTOWN, Pa. -- A jury spared the life of reportedly brain-damaged killer and rapist Omar Sharif Cash earlier today, prompting the judge to sentence him to two life terms, plus up to 130 more years in prison.
Jurors told Bucks County Court Judge C. Theodore Fritsch they were deadlocked on the life-or-death question for Cash, 27, who was convicted of killing the fiance of a woman he kidnapped and raped.
So setting the punishment fell of the judge, who sentenced Cash to two life terms plus a minimum of 65 more years for the kidnapping, robbery and rape convictions. Only a jury can issue a death sentence in Pennsylvania.
As the rape victim sobbed quietly and Cash sat emotionless, Fritsch told the killer he was being sentenced to the maximum prison time on each count.
“Society must be protected from you,’’ the judge told Cash, who faces another murder trial in Philadelphia and a trial in New Jersey for raping the Bucks County murder victim’s intended wife after carjacking them from outside a Philadelphia bar on Mothers’ Day in 2008.
“The heinous nature of the crime, the excess of degradation of the victim putting her in paralyzing fear and the risk you will re-offend, I am going to sentence you to the (harshest sentence allowable),” Fritsch said.
Only one juror would talk to reporters as they were leaving court. Newtown resident Joseph Monaghan said there were 12 different people on the jury with 12 different aspects and opinions.
“I’m happy that 12 people found him guilty,” Monaghan said. “It’s not a baseball score. We weren’t keeping score. There were reasonable disagreements. The negotiations were polite, cordial and respectful. I’m happy it’s over with.”
Cash was convicted of murder, and several counts of kidnapping, robbery, theft, false imprisonment, simple assault and weapons offenses last week for the gunshot slaying of Edgar Rosas-Gutierrez, 38, and the kidnapping and rape of the 43-year-old Brazilian mother of four and grandmother of three.
It happened in the early morning hours of May 11, 2008, about two weeks after Cash allegedly killed 19-year-old Malik Brown after a dispute outside a Philly car wash.
Rosas-Gutierrez and his fiance were carjacked from the parking lot of a Philly nightclub. Ordered to drive toward Bucks County, the victim was ordered out of the car along Street Road in Bensealem and shot in the head.
After that, Cash reportedly raped the woman, who speaks only Portguese, over he hood of the car and then drove her Jersey to re raped again at the Lawrence motel.
Jurors apparently didn’t believe the Cash tale of having consensual sex with the woman after paying some pimp $100 and giving another $75 to the driver of a taxi who took them to Lawrence.
Defense attorney Michael Goodwin, in arguing for life in prison, put experts on the stand who testified that Cash suffers from brain damage from either fetal alcohol syndrome, stress from living in the city slums with drug dealers or a brain injury.
After Fritsch passed the sentence, Cash went on trial for a weapons charge that was removed from the list of charges so jurors wouldn’t hear about it so they wouldn’t be swayed.
In the non-jury trial, Fritsch found him guilty and sentenced him to another consecutive 10- to 20-year prison term.
Charles Jonas, co-defense council, said Micheal (Goodwin) did a fantastic job.
“He showed the jury who this guy was his entire life. He’s not a cold-blooded killer,” Jonas said after the sentencing.
First Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber said he didn’t expect to see any remorse from Cash and didn’t get any.
“This was a horrific crime,” Furber said, adding that he’s pleased with the sentence.
“He’s a cold-blooded killer. He’ll have the rest of his natural life to think about it.”
The victim, silent throughout the trial, talked to reporters afterward through an interpreter.
“I am asking for forgiveness for coming into this country illegally. I am asking that all victims (illegal immigrants) please don’t be afraid to ask for help from the police. Justice exists. Most of the illegal immigrants are afraid to ask for help,” the woman said fighting back tears in the district attorney’s office.
“I am going to Brazil to see my mother and children. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go. I’m not disappointed by the sentence because justice was done.”
Though he dodged death yesterday, Cash could faced another capital murder trial if Philadelphia’s new district attorney, Seth Williams, decides to deserves to die for allegedly killing teenager Brown before the Mothers’ Day crime spree.
Previous murders and other felonies are considered aggravating factors by juries asked to consider the death penalty for a suspect convicted of a second slaying. Mitigating factors juror also must consider include, among other things, brain damage and a stressful home life like that Cash was said to have had by lawyer Goodwin.
