EX-GUARD'S PRISON TERM DOUBLES AFTER HE APPEALS

A former Nassau County jail guard who pleaded guilty to federal civil
rights charges in the 1999 beating death of an unarmed inmate was
resentenced yesterday to 27 years in federal prison, a term more than
double his original sentence, which he had appealed.

The former guard, Patrick Regnier, was sentenced in May 2000 to 11
years and 3 months in prison for the Jan. 8, 1999, fatal beating of
Thomas Pizzuto, 38, a heroin addict serving a 90-day sentence for a
traffic infraction.

But Mr. Regnier and another former guard, Edward Velazquez, appealed
the ruling on the ground that the judge should not have sentenced
them under the guideline for voluntary manslaughter. The United
States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the
conviction but directed the trial judge to clarify whether Mr.
Regnier and Mr. Velazquez committed voluntary or involuntary
manslaughter or second-degree murder, which carries a stiffer penalty.

Mr. Velazquez later withdrew his appeal, because of the risk that he
could get a longer prison term, but Mr. Regnier did not.

And in resentencing Mr. Regnier yesterday in Federal District Court
in Central Islip, Judge Jacob Mishler reaffirmed his finding last
week that the underlying crime Mr. Regnier committed was
second-degree murder.

"Judge Mishler decided that the defendant acted with the intent of
someone who should be sentenced under the second-degree murder
guideline," said Sanford M. Cohen, chief of civil rights litigation
for the United States attorney's office for the Eastern District, in
Brooklyn. "He determined that the assault occurred with malice
aforethought."

Peter J. Tomao, who is Mr. Regnier's lawyer, said he immediately
filed a notice of appeal of the judgment.

"We are saying that Judge Mishler did not apply the proper standard
in ruling that Mr. Regnier is guilty of second-degree murder and that
he improperly prevented us from presenting expert testimony on that
issue," said Mr. Tomao, who argued that the evidence supported
sentencing for involuntary manslaughter and a prison term of less
than five years.

Mr. Regnier said on the witness stand yesterday that he had no
intention of causing Mr. Pizzuto serious bodily harm, Mr. Tomao said.

Mr. Regnier also apologized to the Pizzuto family from the stand for
putting them through this ordeal, said that he had no malice toward
Mr. Pizzuto and asked the court to sentence him to a shorter term,
Mr. Tomao said.

But the judge reaffirmed his finding from last Friday, when he said
in open court: "Before they entered the cell, both Mr. Velazquez and
Mr. Regnier intended to beat Mr. Pizzuto mercilessly and that there
was malice aforethought and that Mr. Pizzuto begged and pleaded to
them to stop the beating.

"They punched him. Velazquez punched him in the face and Velazquez
said he slapped him. His left eye was black and blue. There were
bruises all over his torso, his neck. And when they got through, Mr.
Pizzuto was almost in a coma, lying in his bunk, around the floor,
from the serious beating he had."

Five days after the assault, Mr. Pizzuto died of a ruptured spleen.
His death focused widespread attention on the Nassau jail, in East
Meadow, prompting a criminal investigation, governmental hearings and
a change in management.

Investigators have said that the guards were annoyed by the repeated
demands of Mr. Pizzuto, a heroin addict, for methadone. In the end,
five convictions came of the investigation into his beating death.

Joseph Pizzuto, 40, of Hicksville, who is one of Thomas Pizzuto's
three surviving brothers, said the sentencing yesterday was
bittersweet. He said Mr. Regnier did not look at the family members
in court when he apologized yesterday, but rather turned to the
judge, which the family thought was disingenuous.

"It doesn't do anything to bring Tommy back or anything," Joseph
Pizzuto said of the sentencing. "He still has a son, little Tommy,
who will never see him. But at least we get a little justice. We are
glad that Regnier finally got what he deserved. The other one got
away with 11 years, so he got off easy."