Man pleads guilty in murder, rape
Published: November 07, 2009, 12:30 am
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A judge Thursday told Earl “Shakedown” Gill he faces a prison term of 40 years to life for the murder of an elderly Buffalo woman months ago and the rape of a middle-aged woman three years ago.
Gill, 46, jailed since his arrest Feb. 19 at the City Mission, pleaded guilty before State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller to second-degree murder for strangling Marlene Johnson, 76, during a break-in Feb. 17 at her North Oak Street flat.
Gill also pleaded guilty to first-degree rape for attacking a 46-year-old Buffalo woman Jan. 8, 2006, in a downtown motel.
Thomas M. Finnerty, senior trial counsel in the district attorney’s office, told the judge that Gill apparently awoke Johnson when he broke a window to climb into her flat. Johnson, who apparently knew Gill, suffered both asphyxiation and strangulation after Gill wrapped a plastic bag around her head, the prosecutor said, adding that head injuries suffered when Gill beat her also “had contributed to her death.”
The prosecutor also told the judge that Gill raped a woman at the Travelers Lodge on Main Street after he punched her in the face when she resisted his advances.
Finnerty sought the near-maximum combined prison term for the two crimes.
Gill, who was indicted for both crimes in April, pleaded guilty and was returned to jail pending his Dec. 11 sentencing. Kevin W. Spitler, his assigned attorney, said he believed the ex-con pleaded guilty to spare the rape victim and relatives of the murdered woman the trauma of trials.
After Thursday’s plea proceedings, Finnerty and Erie County District Attorney Frank
A. Sedita III both lauded the investigative work of Buffalo police Detective Sgt. James Lonergan and Detectives James Lema, Scott Malec, Reginald Minor and Mark Vaughn in solving the two cases.
According to state records, Gill spent about 10 years in prison on a 1994 Buffalo burglary conviction and was jailed in the Wyoming Correctional Facility for about three years until 1990 on a sex abuse conviction in Onondaga County.
mgryta@buffnews.com
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