Gunman Gets Probation

Judge Wishes It Were More

January 26, 2002|By Peter Franceschina Staff Writer

A judge frustrated with a jury's acquittal of Danny Canellas in the shooting deaths of two teens placed the Riviera Beach man on five years of probation Friday, saying he wished he could sentence him to life in prison.

After 4 1/2 hours of deliberations in November, a jury found Canellas, 27, not guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the August 1999 shootings. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, but the defense convinced jurors the shootings were in self-defense. Canellas was sentenced Friday for violation of probation.

Canellas went free that day, after nearly 2 1/2 years in jail awaiting trial. At the time of his arrest, Canellas was on probation for stealing a personal watercraft. Prosecutors went back into court Friday to try to get Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Hubert Lindsey to sentence him to five years in prison, the maximum for the grand theft charge.

But defense attorney Richard Lubin successfully argued that the Florida Supreme Court has ruledthat such a lengthy sentence couldn't be imposed for a probation violation if the sentence wasn't warranted under the original charge.

Canellas violated his probation by carrying a gun and getting arrested on the murder charges, Lindsey ruled. Canellas shot Tamer Selim, 17, and Richard Stanley, 15, after he agreed to give the teens a ride home.

Lubin argued that Canellas resorted to using the .22-caliber pistol he was carrying for protection only after the two teens became aggressive and grabbed for the gun during a struggle.

Lindsey said he thought Canellas was guilty.

"I find he killed those two young men in cold blood," he said. "I will just say this. I wish the law were different. I wish it permitted me the opportunity to sentence him to life in prison, because that is where he should be."

Because Canellas already served about six months of probation, he will have to serve 4 1/2 years.