Tucker Cipriano Update: Mich. man pleads no contest, accepts life in prison in attack on family
(CBS) PONTIAC, Mich. - Tucker Cipriano, a 20-year-old Michigan man charged in last year's beating death of his adoptive father, pleaded no contest, accepting life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday, CBS Detroit reports.
A no contest plea is treated as a guilty plea for the purpose of sentencing.
Cipriano was scheduled to stand trial with Mitchell Young, 21, on charges of first-degree murder in the April 16, 2012 death of 52-year-old Robert Cipriano. They are accused of beating him to death with a baseball bat in the family's Farmington Hills, Mich. home.
The two men are also charged in the severe beatings of Cipriano's 51-year-old mother, Rosemary, and his brother, Salvatore, who was 17 at the time. The attack is said to have been driven by a search for drug money.
Prosecutor Jessica Cooper had refused to negotiate a plea deal for Tucker Cipriano, despite requests from his family, the station reports. The family reportedly did not want to relive the brutal crime in court.
According to the station, the 20-year-old placed a string of rosary beads around his neck as the hearing began Monday.
Also Monday, Assistant Prosecutor John Skrzynski read testimony from Cipriano's sister, 8-year-old Isabella Cipriano, who allegedly witnessed the attack. Tucker Cipriano reportedly fidgeted as the statement was read.
"So I woke up and I went downstairs and I saw this boy pounding my mom with a bat, and Tucker was there, too," the statement read. "Tucker said to go back upstairs, but I didn't. I got my bat -- I was trying to get Tucker --but then Tucker took my bat and started to pound [Salvatore] and my mom with the other kid."
Judge Shalina Kumar accepted Cipriano's plea and scheduled sentencing for July 9.
Mitchell Young has proceeded to trial. On Thursday, 20-year-old Ian Zinderman, a friend of the accused pair who is testifying in an exchange for immunity from prosecution, told the jury that Cipriano and Young plotted for weeks to kill the Cipriano family.
According to Zinderman, the goal of the attack was to kill everyone and steal money and cars to buy drugs. He reportedly said the pair had debated between the Ciprianos and another local family before deciding the Cipriano's had more wealth.
CBS Detroit reports Zinderman testified that Cipriano and Young picked "assignments" on which family members to kill.
"Young was supposed to take the parents and Cipriano was supposed to take his brothers," he reportedly said in court.
Zinderman also reportedly spoke about Cipriano not wanting to kill his 8-year-old sister and said Young suggested that he would handle it.
"[Tucker] loved his sister more than anything in the world," Zinderman reportedly testified.
According to the station, Zinderman was with Cipriano and Young just hours before the murder. He reportedly told the pair that he wanted no part in the plan.
"They wanted me to dispose of the bodies and drive the getaway car. They wanted me to dump [the bodies] into the Detroit River and weigh them down with barrels of some sort," Zinderman reportedly testified.
If convicted, Young faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.