Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch issued the following statement concerning today’s sentencing of Nicholas Gianquitti, 41, of Daisy Court, Cranston, who was convicted on April 1 of second-degree murder in the May 18, 2008 slaying of his neighbor, Cranston Firefighter Lt. James Pagano. The trial judge, Providence County Superior Court Associate Justice Robert D. Krause, sentenced Gianquitti to 40 years, with 20 years to serve at the ACI and 20 years suspended with probation on one count of second-degree murder, and to a consecutive life sentence for discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, the second count on which he was convicted.

In order to prove a case of second-degree murder, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant unlawfully and with malice killed the decedent. Premeditation is not an element of murder in the second degree. The penalty for second-degree murder ranges from a minimum of 10 years to the maximum of life imprisonment. The penalty for the firearms charge is a mandatory, consecutive life sentence.

Among those addressing the court at today’s sentencing were the victim’s wife, teenage daughter, two sisters, and mother. Gianquitti apologized to the victim’s family, and his own.

Assistant Attorney General William Ferland prosecuted the case.

Gianquitti has been held without bail at the ACI since his arrest by Cranston Police on the day of the murder.

“When you roam around your home, patrolling your property like a vigilante with a gun on your hip, something bad is bound to happen,” Lynch said. “And it did, when in the midst of a child’s birthday celebration, a neighborhood menace became a neighborhood murderer. When this defendant gunned down Cranston Fire Lt. Jimmy Pagano, he forever robbed a truly good man’s wife, children, parents, other relatives, and friends, of the love and joy he so selflessly gave. He also robbed Jimmy’s brothers and sisters in public safety of a colleague thoroughly devoted to fulfilling the many demands of his profession.”

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