THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210863
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 83 lines
Dismissing defense claims that 16-year-old Adam Wese committed suicide, a Circuit Court jury Thursday convicted Louis Alberto Pino of Wese's first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
Wese disappeared on Jan. 18, 1996. His body was found two months later stuffed in a cardboard box inside Pino's Willoughby Spit apartment. Pino at first confessed to strangling and suffocating Wese but later changed his story and said Wese hanged himself.
A seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated a little more than an hour before settling on a verdict. The jury then recommended the maximum sentence for the crime.
Pino, 19, showed no emotion when Judge William F. Rutherford read the verdict. Wese's family and friends exchanged hugs in the courthouse hallway afterward.
``Justice was served,'' said Robert Wese, Adam's father. ``It doesn't really totally replace that loss I have, but it's the next best thing.''
Prosecutor Lisa McKeel said she was happy with the conviction and sentence. ``But it obviously can't bring Adam back,'' she said.
McKeel said Pino's apparent lack of remorse had an effect on the jury. Linda Deemer, Adam's mother, agreed.
``He's just an evil person,'' Deemer said after the verdict.
The sentence brought to an end a bizarre case that began with Wese's disappearance last January. Robert Wese launched a wide-ranging search for his son using posters and a plane that flew a banner over Hampton Roads asking that his son come home.
The key to the prosecution's case was Pino's signed statement to Norfolk police investigators David M. Goldberg and Joseph P. Baron. In the statement, Pino said Wese came to his apartment in the 1000 block of Little Bay Ave. Wese lived a few blocks away.
Pino said he heard voices telling him to kill Wese. He looped a dog chain around the youth's neck and strangled him. He then wrapped two plastic bags around his head and taped them to his neck.
In his statement to police, Pino said: ``I was sitting in the corner of the room just staring, and I didn't know what to do and didn't know why - I knew, like I knew why - I really wasn't quite sure why I did it. It was just something going on in my head, I guess, debating with the voices or the voice.''
After Wese died, Pino stuffed his body into a U-Haul box and left him in his closet for two months. The stench prompted Pino's roommates to order him to move out on March 21. That was the same day Pino confessed to police.
Pino's doctor testified Thursday that Pino first told him he had murdered Wese. Eighteen days later, Pino said it was a suicide.
In the second story, Pino said he left for a convenience store, and when he returned he found Wese's body hanging from the dog chain in his closet. Pino testified that he confessed to the killing because he wanted everyone to believe he murdered Adam.
``I wanted everybody to hate me,'' he testified. ``My purpose was I had to get away from everything. I felt bad for what had happened and what I did do,'' referring to leaving the body in the closet.
``I was sick and tired of life in general.''
But when he later learned some people cared about his welfare, he told of the suicide, he testified.
During closing arguments, McKeel emphasized Pino's lack of remorse and that he kept Wese's corpse in his bedroom closet for two months.
``He lies to hide his guilt,'' she said. ``Louis Pino has lied and is lying about this.''
McKeel said the suicide is ``inconceivable. It's preposterous. It's ridiculous and it's a lie. We don't have to prove why evil people do evil things, just that they do them.''
Pino's attorney, John Doyle III, argued that Wese's autopsy showed no signs of a struggle, and because Pino did not dispose of the body, he was not a cold-blooded killer.
Before the sentencing, he asked jurors to consider Pino's mental condition which, he said, ``is something that pervades this entire case.''
Robert Wese said the trial's end was bittersweet, that it was like closing a chapter on his life. Pino, he said, has proven that he does not belong in society. But he cited a biblical scripture advising that one wishes well for his enemies:
``I want to wish Louis Pino the very best of his final destination in life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Louis Pino
Adam Wese
KEYWORDS: TRIAL MURDER CONVICTION