By JOSEPH KELLARD
Jeannot was being tried for the third time for the December 2004 murder of Robert Calabrese Jr., 24, of Long Beach, who was gunned down on Broadway. The Nassau County jury, which deliberated for nearly four hours, reached its verdict and convicted Jeannot on Aug. 11. Jeannot's September 2005 and February 2006 trials failed to yield a verdict.
Jeannot's third trial lasted more than four weeks before Judge Meryl J. Berkowitz, who could give the convicted murderer a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he sentences him on Sept. 18.
"We're just very happy he was convicted and justice was served," said Kathy Calabrese, Robert's mother. "It's not going to bring my son back, but at least this evil person will go to jail, hopefully for the rest of his life."
Compared to the juries in the previous two trials, "This jury seemed bright and interested in the case," Calabrese added.
In June 2005, Mark Orlando, 34, of Bayshore was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with the killing. Orlando was sentenced to serve 25-years-to-life in prison two months later.
In both cases, prosecutors argued that Calabrese, a mortgage broker in Garden City, had placed bets for Orlando on football, basketball and other sports events in the fall of 2004, when Orlando accumulated his $17,000 debt. On Dec. 3, Orlando called Calabrese and agreed on a time and place to meet in Island Park, under the pretense that Orlando would pay his debt. At around 8:30 p.m., prosecutors said, Orlando lured Calabrese away from heavily traveled Austin Boulevard behind businesses on Broadway, near Georgia Avenue.
Once there, Calabrese got out of his 2003 Infiniti and approached Orlando, believing he was about to receive a payment from him. The two men met between their cars and hugged, at which point, prosecutors said, Jeannot emerged from a darkened area where he had been hiding. Orlando grabbed the victim¹s sweatshirt from behind and yanked it up over his head to immobilize him for Jeannot, who, the D.A. claimed, came up behind Calabrese and shot him in the back of the head with a .44 caliber magnum revolver. Then, according to the prosecution, after Calabrese dropped to the ground, Jeannot shot him twice more in the head. Calabrese was found hours later, face-down in the street, by passing motorists.
Jeannot's lawyer, Daniel Hochheiser of Manhattan, argued that his client was merely a witness to the crime and failed to report the murder for fear that Orland would harm him and his family, and that police coerced a confession from Jeannot.
During Orlando's trial, his attorney, Dennis Lemke, of Mineola, argued that reasonable doubt existed about Orlando's motives, since, Lemke claimed, his client initially made money with Calabrese, Orlando was unaware that Jeannot planned to shoot Calabrese, and he didn't call the police about the murder because Jeannot had threatened to kill him and his wife if he revealed the crime.
Orlando and Jeannot worked together at Professional Credit Services, a collection agency in East Farmingdale, where they were arrested Dec. 9, 2004, and both were originally charged with second-degree murder. Jeannot was later charged with first-degree murder.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
