FORT PIERCE — A judge agreed to hear video testimony from Andrew Michael Gosciminski’s mother today, just two weeks before he will likely be sentenced to death for murdering Joan Loughman in 2002 to steal her jewelry.

A jury recommended a death sentence for Gosciminski, 56, earlier this month at the end of his second trial on murder, robbery and burglary charges. A judge in 2005 had sentenced Gosciminski to die after the jury in his first trial also recommended a death sentence, but an appeals court overturned the conviction after ruling jurors were allowed to hear evidence that should have been inadmissable.

Judge Robert Belanger will sentence Gosciminski on the new conviction and death recommendation Nov. 6.

Gosciminski declined to have jurors to hear a videotaped statement from his now-deceased mother during the penalty phase of the trial. But his attorney, Chief Assistant Public Defender Mark Harllee, in a hearing this afternoon asked Belanger to read a transcript of the statement and watch the video before the sentencing.

Harllee also asked the judge to review Gosciminski’s records from his service in the U.S. Air Force, which was one of the factors Gosciminski’s defense team asked jurors to consider as they tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury to recommend a life sentence.

Assistant State Attorneys Chris Taylor and Lynn Park also asked Belanger to review more victim impact letters from Loughman’s family members, including letters from Loughman’s daughters, who brought tears to jurors during the penalty phase of the trial when they testified about the loss of their mother.

Loughman, a Connecticut native, had traveled to Florida to put her elderly father in a nursing home when she met Gosciminski, who was the marketing director at the assisted-living facility Lyford Cove.

Prosecutors said Gosciminski murdered Loughman on the eve of her return in Connecticut in September 2002 so he could steal her jewelry, including a 2-carat diamond ring he gave to his girlfriend the night after he murdered Loughman.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.