Welcome to the Injustices of Amityville, a website that explores the hoax of the amityville horrors, Ric Osuna's book, "The Night the DeFeo's Died"; the Injustices of Suffolk County PD and the corruption within the 1975 trial of Ronald DeFeo Jr.

On November 13, 1974, police discovered six members of the DeFeo family~ father, mother and four of their five children, shot and killed execution style at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. By 1977, the DeFeo home would be the center of a haunted house story claimed to be a hoax.

On January 15, 1975, Ronnie's then-lawyer, Jacob Siegfried, motioned the court to be permitted, the right to examine, inspect, copy, photograph, or make and take photo-static copies of the original notes of the arresting officers, together with police reports containing statements of the witnesses...”

Siegfried insisted these items were crucial in his affidavit, saying, “The defendant was deprived of his right to a preliminary hearing in the district court by the district attorney’s actions in presenting the case directly to the Grand Jury.”

Regardless, the court did not believe these items necessary for Ronnie's defense, and on March 11, 1975, presiding Judge John Jones denied the request. With little choice remaining, Siegfried later filed a notice of defense of mental disease or defect for his client. Since the defense had been denied an equal opportunity to have the same reports, records, and photos that the prosecution had in its possession, there was only one choice left: an insanity plea.

On July 7, 1975, William Weber, from New York, was assigned by the clerk of the Suffolk County Court to represent Ronnie in his trial.

On July 29, 1975, Judge Ernest Signorelli, who was presiding over the case at that time, had a conference between Ronnie, prosecuting attorney Gerard Sullivan, and William Weber. The major concern was that there were no objections to Weber's playing an active role in Judge Signorelli's campaign to be elected to the surrogate court. After everyone agreed Weber’s role in Judge Signorelli's campaign did not pose a problem, the matter of an insanity defense came up.

On August 1, 1975, Judge Signorelli issued a ruling on Weber’s supplemental omnibus motion, granting the defense copies of the reports and photographs in the prosecutions possession. Weber did not receive the documents until the end of August, he had little time to use them in preparation for the trial set to begin in September.

In September, 1975, the defense was also struck a devastating blow when Judge Signorelli announced in a hearing, “I am disqualify myself from the case, and I am going to ask the administrative judge to reassign the case.”

In his book, entitled High Hopes, Sullivan openly admitted that he had an active role behind Judge Signorelli's dismissing himself. Sullivan added, “..."I had not finished maneuvering. I was about to engage in a time honored strategy that defense lawyers and prosecutors have honed into an art form. Some called it ‘judge shopping.'"

Weber explain to Justice Stark his need for the 60-day adjournment. Because he had been retained as an attorney only since July, Weber needed more time to prepare his case. Although Judge Signorelli had granted Weber’s omnibus motion on August 1, Weber had not received any paperwork from the district attorney until August 27.

During the post-hearing conference, Weber explained Race's findings--multiple killers, and accomplices not being prosecuted. With such an overwhelming amount of evidence, Weber felt an adjournment was appropriate.

Weber argued that the presence of an accomplice, who they named at the post-hearing conference to show that this "witness" was not cooperating, might assist Ronnie in an emotional strain defense rather than a mental defect one. If an emotional strain defense was used, and successful, then the charge against Ronnie would be reduced from second-degree murder to first-degree manslaughter.

Weber had proof that Ronald DeFeo was held in custody for over 36 hours; and he was intentionally deprived of his rights to counsel; that he was severely beaten during this period of illegal confinement; that he was denied due process of the law, and there were several witnesses to support the allegations, including relatives, attorneys and members of the clergy.

Although William Weber fought valiantly for his client, in the end Justice Stark denied Weber’s request and ordered the jury selection to commence on Monday, October 6, 1975. It was clear that Ronnie DeFeo was not being afforded the fullest protections of the American judicial system, so alternative methods were needed, including coercing witnesses to testify falsely, and persuading Ronnie to plead insanity by pretending, among other things, to hearing voices in the Amityville house. However, Ronnie and his testimony backfired when he admitted he did not hear any of the so-called voices the night of the murders, and admitted his sister Dawn handed him the gun wearing black gloves, and that she in fact was involved in the murder of her family.

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