By Brian Zanzonico
Gottlieb smiled at the woman's words and tears streamed from her eyes March 22 as she clutched her son Brian's hand. A few feet in front of her, Reginald Gousse, the career criminal who posed as a police officer and gunned down Gottlieb's husband, James, during a robbery attempt last year, was uncharacteristically quiet. After two weeks of ranting about an unfair trial and directing racial epithets at Judge Jerald Carter who, like Gousse, is black, Gousse could only smirk.
After a cathartic two weeks of trial testimony and jury deliberation, Gottlieb got the verdict she and her three children were hoping for. Gousse was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery and first-degree criminal impersonation, and faces life in prison without parole. Fourteen months after her husband's murder, Elizabeth Gottlieb can take her first steps toward moving forward.
"I can put the pieces of my life back together now," she told reporters outside the courtroom, shaking, barely able to get the words out. "It's another big step. ... Now life goes on."
Brian Gottlieb, a senior at H. Frank Carey High School, had joined his mother for most of the first week of the trial. He said after the verdict that the joy of victory was outweighed by the tragedy of his father's murder. "I feel great, but nothing's changed," Brian. "He's not coming back."
Deliberations began on March 20, but were suspended the following day when a juror fell ill. Carter suggested replacing the sick juror, a man, with a woman alternate, but Gousse, as was his right once deliberations had begun, vetoed the idea. His attorney, Martin Geduldig, immediately asked for a retrial, but was shot down by Carter. The verdict came last Wednesday afternoon, after the jury asked Carter to clarify the difference between first- and second-degree murder.
Carter explained that there were four elements by which Gousse could be found guilty of first-degree murder: Gousse had caused Gottlieb's death; he had done so with intent; Gottlieb was killed while Gousse was robbing him; and Gousse is older than 18. "Murder two does not require intent," Carter explained.
Forty minutes after leaving the court room to deliberate, the jury returned to announce Gousse's fate. A woman identified as his girlfriend, who was in the courtroom nearly every day of the trial, hurried out without comment. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice embraced Elizabeth Gottlieb.
Geduldig said outside the courtroom that Gousse plans to file an appeal. "He knew he didn't have a good background, but he said he didn't do it, and I accept him at his word," Geduldig said.
His main argument in the case was that police botched the investigation, and that a tip about another man who affixed police lights to a dark, late-model SUV, Amili Chambers, was not pursued. But testimony from a New York State Department of Motor Vehicles representative said Chambers is listed as 6 feet 7 inches tall - nearly a foot taller than Gousse.
"I think the evidence was very overwhelming," said juror Richard Austein of Oceanside. "Nobody had a question whether we had the right guy."
Gousse is scheduled to be sentenced on April 19.
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