Nurse testifies that Blank sounded proud that he shot EHT officer
MAYS LANDING – An AtlantiCare nurse practitioner said Christopher Blank boasted that he intentionally shot Egg Harbor Township police Officer Clear Costantino after he gained possession of her gun during a scuffle in 2006.
The Trauma Center surgeon was updating Kathleen McNulty on the events that occurred early July 13, 2006, when two officers were shot following an altercation with Blank.
“As soon as (the surgeon) said a female officer was shot, (Blank) blurted out: 'And it was intentional,'” McNulty testified Thursday, the third day of Blank’s trial for attempted murder.
When asked if she said anything to Blank, McNulty replied, sheepishly: “I told Mr. Blank to shut up.”
During cross-examination, attorney Mark Roddy asked McNulty why she said that to Blank.“The tone in his voice when he made the statement was like he was proud of what he just did,” she replied.
“Are you jazzing up your testimony here today to help convict this guy?” Roddy asked.
“No,” McNulty said.
He then pointed to her original statement to police: “Show us in your statement anywhere where you said mentioned (his tone when he said it).”
“It's not here,” she said.
“Show us in you statement anywhere where you mention you told Christopher Blank to shut up.”
“It's not here either,” she said.
“So you still deny you're trying to jazz up your testimony to convict him?” Roddy asked again.
“Yes, I deny that,” she answered.
Earlier, Atlantic City K-9 Officer Michael Knights explained how his partner, Kato, tracked down Blank, hours after he shot two Egg Harbor Township officers and shot at a third. Knights said he didn't even know Blank was lying in the brush until Kato pulled out the man’s leg.
Knights painted Blank as a suspect who continued to fight despite the officer's commands that if he would stop resisting, the dog would be called off.
Instead, he said, Blank continued to punch and grab at the dog, causing Kato to release, and then bite again, as K-9 dogs are taught to do.
The defense has indicated the dog was used to punish Blank for shooting the officers, and not because he was resisting arrest.
The trial will resume in Superior Court Judge Michael Donio's courtroom Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Christopher Blank planned to run.
The man accused of attempted murder in the shooting of two Egg Harbor Township police officers while fleeing an arrest said he would run if pulled over that night, his girlfriend at the time testified Wednesday.
"He was telling me to keep driving," Destiny Baker said of Blank's reaction to a motor-vehicle stop at about 12:30 a.m. July 13, 2006.
Baker and Blank had just left the township home they shared when Baker pulled out in front of Officer Christopher Leary, causing him to attempt a stop.
"When I decided to pull over, he said to me he was going to run," Baker testified Wednesday. "I said, 'No, you're not.'"
Blank, then 27, was wanted on a warrant for receiving stolen property out of Somers Point. Leary learned Blank could be in the car when he called in the tags before making the stop. During the arrest, Blank, Leary and another officer wound up in a scuffle. Blank fled. When Leary and Officer Clear Costantino caught up with him, there was another fight. Blank wound up with Costantino's gun, which was used to shoot both officers.Baker's testimony refutes the defense's claims that Blank ran in a panic because he had been pepper-sprayed while being choked. The officers have testified that Blank was sprayed only after he resisted arrest and began wrestling with Leary.
But Baker never said anything about Blank's alleged plan in the statement she gave police at about 4 o'clock on the morning of the incident - more than an hour before the manhunt for Blank ended with his arrest at an Egg Harbor Township sports complex.
"Is there anywhere in this statement where you mention Chris said he was thinking of running?" defense attorney Mark Roddy asked.
"No," she replied.
Atlantic County First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik later asked Baker if the omission from her original statement meant Blank never said he would run.
"No," she said.
"Did he say it?"
"Yes."
Baker also recounted the first moments of Blank's attempted arrest along the Black Horse Pike near the Rodef Sholom Cemetery. Baker said, from what she saw, that Blank complied with all of Leary's orders. She later heard a scuffle between the two, and Costantino behind her car, but said she was too scared to turn around and look. Instead, she observed what she could through her car's windows.
"I didn't see a whole lot," Baker said. "I felt the car shake a little bit. I guess they had sort of pushed up against the back of the vehicle."
She said she couldn't make out what was being said.
"I just remember Chris saying, 'OK, OK, OK,'" Baker recalled. "Just that."
The fight moved to the driver's side of the car, spilling onto the Black Horse Pike, she said.
Baker saw Costantino use the pepper spray, but said it didn't seem to affect Blank.
"It didn't seem like she was hitting him with it," Baker said. "Chris was just trying to get away. I think he was blocking his face and just trying to continue to run."
She saw Blank run across the road, tripping on the concrete median. She said she thought the officers tripped as well.
Baker remained in the car. Then she heard the gunshots.
"I thought (the officers) shot (Blank)," she said.
But it was Leary and Costantino who had been hit. Leary was saved by his vest. Costantino was struck three times: twice in the thigh and once in the abdomen.
Several township officers had arrived at the scene by then. Officer William Loder was one of them.
Loder was told to go to Woodrow Avenue nearby as the patrol leader set up a perimeter. But on his way, Loder changed direction.
"I got an overwhelming feeling I needed to turn around," he testified Wednesday.
As he went to drive the other way, he saw a man emerge from the bushes. The shirtless white male was wearing gray shorts and sneakers.
"He didn't seem right," Loder said. "He seemed to be tired. It just seemed strange."
Loder used his car's spotlight to get a better view of the man in the dark. Then he stepped out of his car, and tried to question the man.
"Leave me alone," the man yelled, cursing at Loder.
It was Blank, although Loder had not yet identified him.
But Loder knew to be careful. He kept demanding the man show his hands. Blank refused.
"Hands will kill you if you don't know what's in them," Loder explained during questioning.
Loder said he drew his gun as the man stumbled back toward the woods, still refusing the order to show his hands. Blank then staggered and fell down.
"He was on his back in the brush," Loder said. "When he sat up, he was pointing a gun at me."
"What did you do?" Talasnik asked.
"Fired," he replied.
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to go home to see my children that night," Loder answered.
He shot five times, and thought he hit the suspect. He had.
"Why didn't you just keep firing?" Talasnik asked.
"Because I'm not a killer," Loder said.
Loder ran back to his car to radio for help: "Shots fired. Suspect down."
That's when he heard a gunshot coming from the woods toward him. Blank had shot, Loder said.
Loder took cover behind his car, reloaded his weapon and waited.
"Now I'm at a disadvantage," he said. "I can't see him and he can see me."
Loder's testimony will continue this morning.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Blank testifies he panicked during beating by Egg Harbor Township officers
5:50 p.m. Update - Christopher Blank, 29, testified Wednesday at his attempted murder trial that he ran from two Egg Harbor Township police officers because he panicked as they turned what he thought was a routine traffic stop into an arrest with drawn police weapons and pepper spray.“My only concern was getting him (Officer Christopher Leary) off of me,”“ said Blank. “At that point, I could not breathe.”“Did you panic?” asked defense attorney Mark Roddy. “Damn right I panicked,” Blank answered. “I was scared to death.”At some point, Blank said, he ran across the nearby Black Horse Pike. The officers caught up with him in the backyard of a vacant house off Washington Avenue.
There, Blank claims, he was handcuffed to a fence, where Leary grabbed his throat and officer Officer Clear Costantino beat him and kicked him.
“I'm thinking I’m going to die, right by this fence, right by this house, tonight,” said Blank.
During the altercation, he said he fell down on the ground and his hand hit Costantino's gun.
“I just fired,” he said.
His trial continues Thursday morning when the prosecution will question Blank.
He is charged with three counts of attempted murder in the shooting of Officers Leary and Costantino and later shooting at Officer William Loder. Blank was shot in the confrontation with Loder.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Published: Friday, January 25, 2008
Blank says he complied with Egg Harbor Township officers' demands
Instead, the attempt to arrest him along the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township at about 12:30 a.m. July 13, 2006, ended with two officers shot and Blank wounded by another officer, with whom he traded gunfire.
Blank, 29, was the defense's only witness in his attempted-murder trial. He is charged with shooting township Officers Clear Costantino and Christopher Leary when they tried to arrest him for an outstanding warrant after a motor vehicle stop. A third count charges him with shooting at Officer William Loder moments after fleeing the wounded officers. Blank was wounded in that exchange.
"Isn't it true that, if you had simply submitted to the arrest, that none of this would have occurred?" First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik asked.
But Blank said he did not decide to run until Costantino pepper-sprayed him while Leary had him by the throat.
"I was complying with everything they said," Blank answered. "There was no choice. Once I got in the headlock and I was sprayed, the choice was over."The officers testified that Blank began struggling as soon as Leary began cuffing him, prompting Costantino to use pepper-spray. It did not faze him, they testified.
Destiny Baker - Blank's then-girlfriend who was driving the car - testified last week that Blank told her not to pull over for the officer and indicated he would run if she did. But Blank denies that testimony.
He said he was in pain and nearly blind as he ran across the Black Horse Pike near the old Cardiff Circle and wound up trying to scale a fence at the back of a home. It was there he says he was handcuffed to the fence and beaten by the officers. That's when he says he felt Costantino's gun on the ground, picked it up and fired.
Moments later, he was confronted by Officer William Loder, who Blank said shot at him from behind without warning. Loder said he fired only after Blank pointed the gun at him.
Blank, who was hit in the arm, said he then shot back at Loder.
In both instances, Blank said, "my version is the truth."
"But between you and the officers, you're the one with the criminal history, aren't you?" Talasnik asked.
"Yes," Blank said.
Talasnik then listed Blank's convictions: nearly a dozen between 1998 and 2005.
"You also told the nurse practitioner, (shooting Costantino) was intentional, did you not?" Talasnik asked, referring to the testimony of Kathleen McNulty.
"That is absolutely the most bogus statement I heard while I was up here," Blank said.
During questioning by defense attorney Mark Roddy, Blank said he asked the nurse for "some attention."
"It was attention, not intention?" Roddy asked.
"Attention," Blank said. "I said it many times to many people working there."
That distinction didn't come up during McNulty's time on the witness stand last week.
"Is it clear to you yet the reason for all the precautions you were inquiring about during your arrest?" Talasnik asked as he wrapped up cross-examination.
"To this day we're sitting here, I have no idea why," Blank said.
When Talasnik indicated the officers' safety in making the arrest was a reason, Blank again insisted he cooperated.
"If either of the officers had said, 'Hey Chris, we're arresting you on a warrant out of Somers Point,' would any of this have happened?" defense attorney Mark Roddy asked later.
"Not at all," Blank replied. "We would not even be here today."
The defense rested Thursday afternoon. Closing arguments are set for Monday before Superior Court Judge Michael Donio. The jury likely will begin deliberations Monday afternoon.
DEVELOPMENTS IN BLANK TRIAL
Day 1: Opening statements. The defense claims Christopher Blank will testify that he ran from police out of fear and panic, and that he gained possession of an officer's gun when it fell next to him as he was being beaten. Injured Officers Clear Costantino and Christopher Leary testify that Blank resisted arrest and was unfazed by attempts to subdue him with pepper spray.
Day 2: Blank's then-girlfriend, Destiny Baker, testifies that Blank told her he would run before Leary pulled them over in Egg Harbor Township. Defense attorney Mark Roddy shows she never told that to police in her original statement. Officer William Loder describes his encounter with Blank, whom he says he shot after the suspect pointed a gun at him.
Day 3: Nurse practitioner Kathleen McNulty testifies that Blank said he shot Costantino intentionally. K-9 Officer Michael Knights describes his canine partner's apprehension of Blank.
Day 4: Forensics expert Ian Finnimore testifies about the approximate distance the gun was from Leary when he was shot.
Day 5: Blank testifies that he ran from Leary and Costantino because he was in a panic after being choked and pepper-sprayed. Investigator Sgt. Charles DeFebbo demonstrates how easily a gun can be pulled from an officer's holster.
Day 6: Atlantic County First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik cross-examines Blank, asking him about points in his story that deviate from the officers' testimony. The defense rests.
Coming up: Closing arguments will be presented Monday afternoon. Then, the jury will be given instructions by Superior Court Judge Michael Donio and begin its deliberations.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Blank's fate in jury's hands
"There is no evidence in this case that (Blank) in-tended to kill anyone," attorney Mark Roddy said during closing ar-guments Monday. "He thought he was going to die by this house, this fence in Egg Har-bor Township."
Blank, 29, was a passenger in his then-girlfriend's car when she was pulled over for a motor-vehicle violation at about 12:30 a.m. July 13, 2006, next to the Rodef Sholom Cemetery on the Black Horse Pike.
After discovering that Blank was wanted on a warrant, Officer Christopher Leary made a high-risk stop, gun drawn. Officer Clear Costantino arrived as backup. But as the officers attempted to arrest him, a fight broke out.
The officers testified that Blank began to resist and had to be subdued. Costantino pepper-sprayed him.
But Blank claimed he angered Leary when he kept turning to ask, "Why all the precautions, officer?" Leary then grabbed Blank by the throat, and that, Blank said, is when Costantino used the pepper spray. He ran in a panic.Blank said he shot the officers after they caught up with him behind an abandoned house across the Black Horse Pike, off Washington Avenue, handcuffed him to a fence and beat him. He insists he didn't take Costantino's gun, but found it while feeling around on the ground, nearly blinded by the pepper spray. He shot, he said, in self-defense.
Self-defense, Roddy told the jury Monday, "is a defense for everything for which he's indicted." That includes three counts of attempted murder and one count of disarming a police officer.
But Atlantic County First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik questioned how Blank could have wounded Costantino three times and Leary once without intending to kill them. Leary was shot in the chest, but the bullet was stopped by his protective vest. Costantino's most serious wound was at her waist.
"As to Officer Leary, but for a bulletproof vest, he might now be dead," Talasnik said. "In the case of Officer Costantino, were it not for emergency trauma surgery, she might well be dead. But for poor aim and a jammed handgun, Officer (William) Loder might now be dead."
Loder encountered Blank shortly after the first shooting, on Washington Avenue. He testified that Blank didn't heed his warnings, then fell while running from the officer. When Blank sat up, he was pointing a gun at Loder, who shot five times, wounding the suspect. Blank says Loder shot him from behind, without warning.
"Someone isn't being completely candid here," Roddy said. "What you need is a yardstick that you can put these stories against and measure them."
That yardstick, he said, is Ian Finnimore, an investigator with the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. He took most of the pictures presented during the trial.
Roddy said showed the jury photos in which Blank's apparent entrance wound - small and round - is in the left triceps. It appears to have exited through his biceps.
"Could that wound have possibly come in the manner Officer Loder said?" Roddy asked. "Absolutely not. Maybe the kid with the troubled background and the convictions might be telling the truth."
Talasnik, however, had an explanation. When Loder started shooting, Blank's natural inclination likely was to cover his face with his arm, Talasnik said, putting his left arm across his face, triceps out, to illustrate.
That's also how the handcuff - left dangling from Blank's left wrist from the unsuccessful arrest attempt - tested positive for bullet residue, Talasnik said.
But Roddy insisted that it backs Blank's versions of the events that - as the officers ran from the gunfire - Blank shot himself off the fence to which he was handcuffed. A blown-up photo of the fence also showed the wire of the fence was pulled out and snapped at one spot, Roddy said. A grayish looking substance matches the gray powder the gunshot left on Leary's vest, he added.
"Every police officer in this case has adamantly, adamantly denied that Chris Blank was handcuffed to that fence," Roddy said, pointing to the photo. "It was the Prosecutor's Office themselves that has proven Christopher Blank was handcuffed to the fence."
Witnesses who testified to hearing the series of gunshots, however, never said they heard a single shot after the series, Talasnik said, insisting that disproves Blank's claim.
Roddy said everything changed when Blank was cuffed to the fence.
"It went from reasonable force to unreasonable force in a hurry," he said. "It went from nonlife-threatening to life-threatening in a real big hurry."
That, he said, is why his client shot when he found the gun.
But Talasnik insisted it was not self-defense, but a murderous intent that was behind Blank's use of Costantino's gun, no matter how he obtained control of it.
"Officer Leary takes one shot, but it's right here," Talasnik said, pointing to his upper right rib cage. "It's right in the chest. That must signify - clearer than any words could - he intended for Officer Leary to be dead."
The only possible case of self-defense you have seen in this case," Talasnik said, "is Officer Loder's decision to shoot Mr. Blank when he saw he pointed a gun at him."
The jury deliberated for about an hour Monday night before telling Superior Court Judge Michael Donio they were done for the day. They will continue deliberations this morning.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Blank found guilty of attempting to murder 3 Egg Harbor Township police officers
MAYS LANDING - A jury found Christopher Blank guilty Tuesday on all counts, including three counts of attempted murder for shooting two Egg Harbor Township police officers and attempting to shoot a third.
Superior Court Judge Michael Donio also found Blank guilty of a 13th charge, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Both sides agreed Blank shot the officers following a motor-vehicle stop that went bad. On Tuesday, the jury decided his intention was murder.
Blank, 29, was a passenger in his then-girlfriend's car when she was pulled over for a motor-vehicle violation at about 12:30 a.m. July 13, 2006, next to the Rodef Sholom Cemetery on the Black Horse Pike.After discovering that Blank was wanted on a warrant, Officer Christopher Leary made a high-risk stop, gun drawn. Officer Clear Costantino arrived as backup. But as the officers attempted to arrest him, a fight broke out.
The officers testified that Blank began to resist and had to be subdued. Costantino pepper-sprayed him.
But Blank claimed he angered Leary when he kept turning to ask, "Why all the precautions, officer?" Leary then grabbed Blank by the throat, and that, Blank said, is when Costantino used the pepper spray. He ran in a panic.
Blank said he shot the officers after they caught up with him behind an abandoned house across the Black Horse Pike, off Washington Avenue, handcuffed him to a fence and beat him. He insists he didn't take Costantino's gun, but found it while feeling around on the ground, nearly blinded by the pepper spray. He shot, he said, in self-defense.
Self-defense, Defense Attorney Mark Roddy told the jury Monday, "is a defense for everything for which he's indicted." That includes three counts of attempted murder and one count of disarming a police officer.
But Atlantic County First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik questioned how Blank could have wounded Costantino three times and Leary once without intending to kill them. Leary was shot in the chest, but the bullet was stopped by his protective vest. Costantino's most serious wound was at her waist.
"As to Officer Leary, but for a bulletproof vest, he might now be dead," Talasnik said. "In the case of Officer Costantino, were it not for emergency trauma surgery, she might well be dead. But for poor aim and a jammed handgun, Officer (William) Loder might now be dead."
Loder encountered Blank shortly after the first shooting, on Washington Avenue. He testified that Blank didn't heed his warnings, then fell while running from the officer. When Blank sat up, he was pointing a gun at Loder, who shot five times, wounding the suspect. Blank says Loder shot him from behind, without warning.
The jury deliberated for about an hour Monday night before telling Superior Court Judge Michael Donio they were done for the day. They continued deliberations this morning before arriving at a verdict.
Atlantic City Press Staff writer Lynda Cohen
Blank to be sentenced in shooting of EHT officers
The issue: Christopher Blank is scheduled for sentencing this morning on charges that he shot two Egg Harbor Township police officers, and shot at a third, after a traffic stop by police in July 2006. Judge Michael Donio will pronounce the sentence.
Details: An Atlantic County jury found Blank, 29, guilty in January on 12 charges in the case, including three counts of attempted murder. The charges grew out of a vehicle stop by police on the Black Horse Pike near the old Cardiff Circle. After a struggle with police, Blank wrestled a gun away from then-officer Clear Costantino and shot her three times, including once in the stomach below her body armor. He also shot another officer, Christopher Leary, in the chest, but Leary's protective vest stopped the bullet. Blank was later shot himself in an exchange of gunfire with a third officer, William Loder, and was captured after an all-night manhunt involving more than 100 police officers.
The judge also found Blank guilty of a 13th charge, a weapons offense.
When: 8:45 a.m. todayWhere: Courtroom 7 of Atlantic County's Criminal Courts Complex, 4997 Unami Blvd., Mays Landing.
What's expected: Blank could face a sentence as severe as life in prison.
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008
Blank gets 85-year term for shooting EHTofficers
Blank, 29, showed little emotion as Superior Court Judge Michael Donio sentenced him to a total of 85 years in prison Thursday morning for three counts of attempted murder. He must serve 85 percent of that sentence - about 72 years - which would make him 101 years old before becoming eligible for parole.
Blank shot Egg Harbor Township Officers Clear Costantino and Christopher Leary after fleeing arrest July 13, 2006, following a routine traffic stop. Costantino was shot three times, including in the waist, and was seriously wounded in the struggle. Leary was hit in the chest, but his bulletproof vest stopped the bullet.
Blank later shot at Officer William Loder but missed. Blank was wounded in that exchange.
Blank was found guilty of 13 charges - including disarming a police officer - on Jan. 29, just one day after a jury began deliberations. On Thursday, Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik noted that Blank was a career criminal, with 33 prior arrests and 18 convictions, 12 of them felonies.
"He continues to break the law with numbing regularity," Talasnik said. "I don't know what else you can do to deter a man like Christopher Blank, other than to lock him up and throw away the key."Addressing the court, Costantino, who is now expecting a child, described the severe pain she suffered for weeks following the shooting and subsequent surgeries. She said Blank killed her belief that there is good in everyone.
"Unfortunately for Christopher Blank, I had a will to live," Costantino said, holding her stomach with one hand and the hand of her husband, Ross, with the other. "I was determined to see my husband, my family and my friends again."
"It's been almost two years now ... and it still plays fresh in my head," Leary said as his wife, Bonnie, wiped away tears. He said his 8-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son often tell him they don't want him to go to work - that they are afraid he is going to get shot again.
"My first thought (after getting shot) was, 'Who is going to take care of my wife? My children?'" Leary said, his voice beginning to shake with emotion.
Loder also briefly addressed the court, asking that Blank be sentenced to the fullest extent of the law.
"He does not deserve to see the outside world," Loder said.
Blank's attorney, Mark Roddy, said that Blank asked him to address the court on his behalf, as Blank is not a good public speaker. He said that Blank spoke to his mother on the phone Wednesday, begging her and his siblings not to attend his sentencing. Roddy said Blank characterized the sentencing to his mother as "a public hanging in the 1800s" that would be such a spectacle, "they might even be selling popcorn in the lobby."
No one from Blank's family was at the sentencing.
Donio asked Blank if he was certain he did not want to address the court.
"More than enough was said, your honor," Blank said.
Before handing down the sentence, Donio noted that separate crimes deserve separate punishments.
"Each victim suffered separate, distinct physical and psychological harm," Donio said. "It is the intent of this court to keep the defendant off the streets for the longest amount of time legally possible."
Blank will serve 50 years in state prison for the attempted murder of Costantino, 20 years to run consecutive for the attempted murder of Leary and 15 years to run consecutive for the attempted murder of Loder. Blank must also serve one year to run concurrent for possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Blank has 45 days to file an appeal, Donio said.
Many members of law enforcement from Egg Harbor Township, Galloway Township and even Winslow Township, Camden County, came to show their support for Costantino, Leary and Loder. A number of officers brought their K-9 partners, who, when outside, could be heard barking in the courthouse parking lot.
Officers and the victims' family members, who waited in the hallway after the sentencing, loudly applauded Talasnik as he left the courtroom, just as they did the day the jury's guilty verdict was returned.