Was Justice Served in this case? I dont' think so ~*~LadyShaman~*~

Myrtle Beach, SC -- A man charged with burning his 2-year-old daughter to death now faces the possibility he could be sentenced to death if he is convicted. Michael Joseph Passaro, 37, was indicted on charges of murder and first-degree arson. Earlier this month, prosecutor Greg Hembree filed notice that he would seek the death penalty, and Mr. Passaro's $400,000 bond was revoked.



Police said Mr. Passaro was supposed to take his daughter, Margaret Ann Passaro, to day care Nov. 23, 1998, but instead, with his daughter in the back seat, he doused the back of his minivan with gasoline and set it afire outside the Surfside Beach home of his estranged wife. The toddler burned to death.



UPDATE



Aug. 17, 2000 -- An Horry County man was so angry with his estranged wife that he set fire to a family minivan, killing their 2-year-old daughter, prosecutors said Wednesday during a sentencing hearing.



A circuit court judge heard testimony during the sentencing hearing for Michael Joseph Passaro, 38, who could receive the death penalty for killing his daughter, Maggie.



Passaro pleaded guilty Monday to charges of murder and 1st-degree arson in Maggie's Nov. 23, 1998, death. The plea was against advice from his attorneys. Prosecutors presented evidence of the crime to Judge Dean Hall, who will impose a sentence.



Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree read a typewritten suicide note with singed edges that was recovered from the white 1995 Ford minivan. Passaro set fire to the van outside his wife's condo at South Bay Lakes in Surfside Beach. Passaro left Maggie in the van while he escaped from the fire.



"Well, Karen [Passaro] won the war, and it's at the expense of our daughter," Hembree read aloud from the note. "I guess that I'm getting the last laugh now, Karen.



"Whatever anyone does, please make sure Karen doesn't kill herself. I want her to live in pain."



"Has he achieved his objective?" Hembree asked Karen Passaro.



"Yes. I will live like this forever, for the rest of my life. I can't concentrate or even focus some days," Karen Passaro said. "Maggie will never get to grow up. ... And in the process he took away my future."



Jonathan Simons, a clinical psychologist who examined Passaro in April 1999 and on Tuesday, testified Passaro knew right from wrong.



"My impression is that in Michael's mind his identity became somewhat blurred. He felt his wife was robbing him of his identity, and he had to win that battle," Simons said.



Hembree asked Simons whether "Michael Passaro's hatred for Karen Passaro was greater than the love he had for Maggie Passaro?"



Simons said: "I think some people could see that. ... He had this delusion of being with Maggie and going to heaven to see his 1st wife."



Susan Lewis, who taught Passaro in a nursing class, testified he needed emotional support and wasn't thinking clearly.



Lewis, who testified for the defense, also said Passaro had poor life skills and judgment, and was under a lot of stress with his classes, work and pending divorce.



"He thought he had a solution to his problems, and he hoped she was hurt at the outcome," Lewis said.



Fire investigators testified the fire started near the middle seat of the van. The remains of a plastic, 1-gallon gasoline can also were found melted into the floor near where Maggie was strapped in a child safety seat.



Maggie's family members left the courtroom while pictures of the charred van with Maggie's body still inside were shown to the judge. Passaro, who wore shackles, a light-blue shirt and dark-blue slacks, solemnly stared at his hands while the photographs were shown.



"She was alive when the fire was raging. She burned to death as a result of the flame and fire in the car," said Clay Nichols, a forensic pathologist who examined Maggie. "I can't think of a more painful way to die."



Witnesses testified Passaro jumped out of the van soon after it exploded.



"We pulled him away to the grassy area," said John Watts, a witness. "We asked him if anyone else was in the van, and he would not answer us."



Maggie's body was found after the fire was extinguished and investigators were searching for a cause of the fire.



Paramedics testified Passaro was conscious when they arrived, and the clothing on his right arm and the back of his legs was singed.



SENTENCE

Aug. 18, 2000 -- A man who admitted dousing his minivan in gasoline and setting it on fire with his 2-year-old daughter strapped inside has been sentenced to death.



Michael Passaro, 38, pleaded guilty to murder and arson in the November 1998, killing.



``There's no joy in sending someone to death row,'' said Prosecutor Greg Hembree. ``There's satisfaction that it was the appropriate sentence. Michael Joseph Passaro deserves the death penalty. The burning death of a 2-year-old is inexcusable.''



Passaro set the minivan on fire outside his estranged wife's condominium in November 1998. The couple's daughter, Margaret Ann was strapped in a child safety seat.



Passaro and his wife, Karen, had split in June of that year. Karen Passaro had primary custody of their daughter, and he had visitation rights.



Karen Passaro sobbed when the sentence was read.



``I will live like this forever, for the rest of my life,'' she said. ``I can't concentrate or even focus some days. Maggie will never get to grow up ... And in the process he took away my future.''



UPDATE

July 30, 2002 -- The state's top court on Monday granted Michael Passaro's wish to die for burning his 2-year-old daughter to death in 1998.



In a rare move, the S.C. Supreme Court unanimously said Passaro, 40, can waive all his appeals. He was sentenced to death in Myrtle Beach in 2000 after pleading guilty to murder and arson.



Passaro appeared in person before the five justices in May, asking them to waive his appeals and move up his execution. Rarely has the high court approved such a request, and rarely does a defendant appear before the court during an appeals hearing.



Passaro's appellate lawyer, Joseph Savitz, differed with his client in May. He said then that allowing Passaro to waive his appeals would be "little more than government-assisted suicide."



But on Monday, Savitz said the justices "did what I asked them to do" when they let Passaro speak directly to them and work through the merits of the request.



He said he doesn't believe Passaro will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision or seek clemency from Gov. Jim Hodges.

"I anticipate he'll be executed in a matter of weeks," said Savitz, deputy chief attorney at the S.C. Office of Appellate Defense.



Robb McBurney, spokesman for state Attorney General Charlie Condon, said his office will ask the Supreme Court for an execution date after Aug. 13, the deadline for Passaro to file his reconsideration request.



Passaro admitted to setting his van on fire with his 2-year-old daughter, Maggie, strapped inside -- at his estranged wife's Myrtle Beach condominium in November 1998.



Passaro planned to kill himself in the blaze, but jumped out after setting the fire, investigators said.



The girl died. Passaro was severely burned.



Prosecutors said Passaro killed the girl to get back at his wife.



Passaro left behind a suicide note in which he said he hoped his estranged wife, Karen, wouldn't later commit suicide so she would "live in pain for the rest of her life."



He told the justices he wanted to waive all his appeals because he had pleaded guilty, so even if he won on appeal, he couldn't win a new trial. The most he could hope for would be a new sentence, he argued, and even then, he couldn't receive anything less than life imprisonment because it was a death penalty case.



"Death or life (in prison) are both death sentences," Passaro said, standing before the justices under heavy guard.



Passaro first told the Supreme Court in September 2000, he wanted to drop all appeals. He hasn't changed his mind since.



In 1994, the high court ruled in another death penalty case that capital murder defendants can waive their appeals if the court determines they are competent and their decision was "knowing and voluntary."



In their ruling Monday, the justices said Passaro's case met their criteria. They also rejected the argument that his request was "tantamount to state-assisted suicide."



Donald Zelenka, an assistant deputy S.C. attorney general, told the justices in May that waiving Passaro's appeals wouldn't be circumventing justice.



He said Passaro's request was thoroughly reviewed in a circuit court hearing. Circuit Court Judge H. Dean Hall last year found Passaro to be competent, based on the opinions of two psychiatrists.



Passaro, who is at Lieber Correctional Institution in Dorchester County, could be executed as early as this year.



The average stay for the state's Death Row inmates is about 6½ years, according to the state Department of Corrections. There were 72 people on Death Row as of last month.



UPDATE

Sept. 16, 2002 -- A South Carolina prisoner has been executed, as he wished, despite objections from his lawyer and death penalty opponents that it was a "state-assisted suicide."



Michael Passaro, 40, was put to death Friday after he said he wanted to be with the 2-year-old daughter he killed four years ago, the crime that landed him on death row.



Passaro pleaded guilty to murder in 2000 and requested — and received — the death penalty. He did not, and never wanted to, appeal his guilty plea, frustrating the appellate attorney who wanted to help him. Joe Savitz was ready to file appeals papers to halt the execution at any time, but Passaro would not let him.



Against Passaro's wishes, the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Christian Action Council filed an appeal for clemency to Gov. Jim Hodges. However, the governor turned down the request Thursday.



After the execution, a commentary in The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C., noted that evidence for Passaro's guilt was strong, and the nature of the crime made it a political mistake for death penalty opponents to tie themselves to his case. Cindi Scoppe, an associate editor, added that the argument against "state-assisted suicide" also is flawed.



"It's easy to imagine what would happen next if we used that kind of thinking to dictate punishment," said Scoppe's commentary on Saturday. "Every murderer in the state would demand to be executed, since that would insulate [them] from execution."



****I don't think they should have granted his request for death. It seems like a cruel way to let him "WIN" He wasn't able to kill himself so he requested death as a way for "Getting back" at his Wife. I think he should have served a living sentence of "LIfe in Prison". To me, Giving him death was Unjust in this case****

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