One of three doughnut shop employees convicted in a 1991 murder in a Red Bank medical office has had his latest appeal denied, today’s Asbury Park Press reports.
In one of the borough’s more sensational crimes, 22-year-old Wanda Pandure was gunned down in the offices of Red Bank Urology on East Front Street, where she worked as a medical assistant. Her husband and two brothers-in-law, all of whom worked together in a doughnut shop in Neptune, were convicted in her murder, motivated, the courts said, by a $500,000 life insurance policy.
This latest appeal was filed by Francis R. Bennett, 40, who is serving a 60-year sentence for his role in the crime.
From the Press:
In his appeal, Bennett alleged that Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office detective
Michael Dowling conspired with Senior Corrections Officer John Kapsamalis to bring him to the prosecutor’s office, where he gave the statement that ultimately led to his 1998 conviction for conspiracy to commit murder.Bennett alleged that Kapsamalis aided Dowling in violating a judicial writ commanding that he be brought to court that day and violated his rights.
Bennett had filed the complaint charging he was wrongfully brought to the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office on March 23, 1993. There he gave an 18-page confession implicating himself and his two brothers-in-law — one the victim’s husband — in the slaying, shortly after he pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a deal that would have allowed him to receive a 15-year prison sentence with the possibility of early parole.
Bennett later recanted the confession and filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the
prosecutor, detectives, his lawyer and judges had conspired to deprive him of his civil rights. He claimed he had been coerced into confessing.The plea deal was thrown out and Bennett was subsequently convicted of conspiracy and complicity in Pandure’s murder and sentenced to 60 years in state prison. He must serve 30 years before parole may be considered.
Bennett’s conviction was upheld in May 2000 by the Appellate Division of state
Superior Court. The state Supreme Court subsequently declined to take his appeal.
