Jun 12, 2009 4:28 pm US/Eastern
'Rockefeller' Will Spend Up To 5 Years In Prison
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller, listens as the verdict is read.
WBZ
The man known as Clark Rockefeller will spend up to five years in prison for kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter in Boston last July. The jury of eight women and four men read its verdict Friday, their fifth day of deliberations.
The jury also found Rockefeller, whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon was the SUV used in the kidnapping. Rockefeller ordered the driver to take off, while a social worker was holding onto the vehicle.
Rockefeller was acquitted of two other charges, an additional assault and battery charge and the charge that he furnished a false name to police.
Gerhartsreiter, wearing a dark suit and red-striped tie, looked sober but calm as the verdict was read. He had clasped his hands as he awaited the seating of the jury.
District Attorney Daniel Conley called the verdict "fair and just" and said hoped it gives Gerhartsreiter's ex-wife Sandra Boss and her daughter "some sense of justice."
His ex-wife, Sandra Boss, a Harvard-educated executive at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., testified that she believed her husband's stories about his past for much of their 12-year marriage. It was only when she hired a private investigator during their 2007 divorce that she realized he "was not the person he'd said he was," she said.
Conley also thanked the jury for their work on the case. "The jurors demonstrated very careful deliberation over the evidence and careful understanding of the law and the facts… I think they reached a fair and just conclusion," said Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley.
Shortly after the verdict was read, the jury came back out to explain how they reached their decision. "We methodically examined every piece of evidence," said one of the jurors. "We considered every element of every charge and every defense as evidenced by our legal questions to Judge Gaziano and our request to have 12 copies of the written jury instructions.
"We considered all the evidence presented at trial and only the evidence presented at trial. No outside evidence was discussed inside the jury room whatsoever. All of us stand by the verdict."
Defense attorney Jeffrey Denner expressed disappointment, but said: "It was a very fair trial and the jury considered the case very carefully. We can ask for no more. "We got two out of four not guiltys," Denner said. "We would have preferred four."
Read: Peg Rusconi's Trial Blog
The jury was responsible for deciding if Rockefeller was sane when he kidnapped his daughter, Reigh Boss. Defense lawyers argued Rockefeller was delusional and legally insane during the kidnapping.
Prosecutors say he planned the kidnapping for months after losing custody of his daughter to his ex-wife in their divorce.
Rockefeller was sentenced just hours later, after a letter from his ex-wife was read in court. Gaziano sentenced Rockefeller to four to five years in prison for the kidnapping charge, and two three years for the assault and battery charge - to be served concurrently. He will serve his sentence at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole.
Assistant District Attorney David Deakin recommended a lengthy probation period for Rockefeller after he is released from prison. He also recommended that Rockefeller not be allowed to have any contact with Sandra Boss or their daughter. He may also have to undergo a mental health evaluation.
"I think it's likely that he's not going to be seeing his daughter for a very long period of time," Denner said.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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