If you’re going to kill and dismember a drug dealer, then put him in acid -- don’t expect a judge to agree when you ask that charges be dismissed. Oh, and don’t talk about the crime while you’re in jail.
The state’s top court said 'no way' when a convict appealed an 80-year conviction, claiming the trial judge violated his rights by improperly denying his motion to dismiss the charges and by allowing into evidence a recorded jailhouse conversation that implicated him in the crimes.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of one of four men charged with killing and dismembering a Meriden drug dealer.
Lawrence Smith, 49, was sentenced to 80 years in prison in March 2006 for his role in the death of Juan Disla. He was the fourth and final suspect convicted in the case.
Disla's body was dismembered with a chainsaw and dissolved in acid in July 2000 as part of a plot to kidnap Disla and steal his drugs.
The three other men were also sentenced to lengthy prison terms in the case.
