This is going to be a hard case to win, but I am very proud of the prosecutors for trying. The defense will bring in their experts who will try to cast doubt that the former officer died from the injuries he suffered 30 years ago.
Justice was most definitely not served when one of the perps was sentenced to serve only 17 years and the other to only 16 years in prison for shooting this officer twice in the back. And to add insult to injury, one was paroled after serving only 10 years and the other after serving only nine, while their victim was left paralyzed and had to have his legs amputated.
TWO MEN JAILED FOR 1980 SHOOTING WHICH LEFT POLICEMAN PARALYZED ARE REARRESTED AFTER HE DIES FROM INJURIES 30 YEARS LATER
By David Gardner
Mail Online
November 20, 2010
Two men who were jailed 30 years ago for the attempted murder of a policeman have now been charged with his murder after the paralyzed ex-officer died from his injuries.
Prosecutors in Orange County, California, reopened the case after doctors blamed bullet wounds sheriff's deputy Ira Essoe suffered in the 1980 shooting for his death earlier this year.
David Knick, 54, and Robert Strong, 55, both served lengthy jail sentences in the 1980s and 90s after being convicted of attempting to murder Mr. Essoe.
The victim, who was in plain clothes, was shot twice in the back after confronting them in a mall car park.
They escaped in a police car after the shooting but were captured following a high-speed chase in which they fired at pursuing officers.
Both were arrested again on Thursday and charged with murder.
The shooting left the deputy paralysed and he also suffered serious medical complications as a result of having both legs amputated.
Strong served ten years of a 17-year sentence after he was convicted in 1981 of felony attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a deadly weapon and auto burglary.
Knick was sentenced to 16 years in prison on similar charges the same year, but only served nine.
They are both now being held in Santa Ana, California, on $1million bail. If convicted, they could each face another 25 years to life in state prison.
Bedridden and still in pain from his injuries, Mr Essoe died in February of the blood disease sepsis, caused by bed sores.
After his attackers were released from prison, the deputy said he accepted his fate because he knew the dangers when he became a law officer.
At the time, he said: 'What I can't accept is that one of the men does half a sentence and walks off.'
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