| Woman Sentenced to 13 years in murder trial Connecticut Post Newspaper Saturday, December 22, 2007 By Daniel Tepfer -Reporter Saturday, December 22, 2007 By Daniel Tepfer BRIDGEPORT- A city woman was senteced Friday to 13 years in prison for her role in the execution style murder six years ago of a Canadian man visiting the city. "I apologize to the family. I know that is probably not going to mean much to them, but I do have sympathy for them," a tearful Louisa Bermudez told Superior Court Judge George Thim. The judge agreed the plea-bargained term is fair considering Bermudez's part in the crime and sentenced her to 20 years in prison, suspended after she serves 13 years, followed by five years of probation. The sentence is to run concurrently to an 18-ear term she is serving for robbery. The 35-year-old Bermudez had initially been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for joining with Miguel Zapata and Orema Taft in the Sept. 28, 2001, fatal shooting of 24- year-old Zoltan Kiss of Toronto, Canada. However, in a plea bargain reached on the verge of the trial's start, Bermudez agreed to plead guilty under the so-called Alford Doctrine to reduced charges of conspiracy to possess narcotics and hindering prosecution. A plea under the Alford Doctrine means the defendant does not admit guilt, but concedes the state has enough evidence to find her guilty if she went to trial. The judge then found her guilty. Senior Assistance State's Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr. told the judge the Kiss family, unable to attend the hearing because of bad weather in Canada, agrees with the sentence. He said they also wanted to finally put closure on the case. On Thursday, Taft was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the crime and Zapata is serving a 60-year term. The Canadian man was visiting his girlfriend in Bridgeport and had gone out to buy some Ecstasy, police said. He was later found slumped in his girlfriend's car on Pembroke Street with 25 bullet holes in his body. The crime remained unsolved five years as Kiss's mother, Eva, worked tirelessly to help find her son's killer. On each anniversary of her son's death, Eva Kiss would come to Bridgeport and put up posters and knock on doors in the East Side neighborhood where he was killed, trying to persuade witnesses to come forward. She was joined in her quest by Police Detective Heitor Texeira of the then-newly formed Cold Case Unit. They eventually persuaded several people to come forward. Despite death threats from Zapata, the witnesses testified Zapata and Taft, along with Bermudez, decided to rob Kiss after they saw that he was wearing an expensive watch and gold chain. Police said Zapata and Taft stood on either side of the victim's car and opened fire on Kiss. One female witness recounted Kiss's screams as the bullets riddled his body. Satti said when police got to the murder scene they found that morning's copy of the Connecticut Post near the victim's car. The newspaper had Bermudez's fingerprint on it, police said. However, the prosectuor said Bermudez refused to give police a truthful account of what occurred, causing the lengthy delay before Kiss's killers were brought to justice. |
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