TWO MEN CONVICTED IN MURDER OF THREE ABOVE CARNEGIE DELI

The two men accused of fatally shooting three people and wounding two
others in a bloody, botched robbery in an apartment above the Carnegie
Delicatessen last year were found guilty of second-degree murder yesterday
by separate juries.

The men, Andre Smith and Sean Salley, received their verdicts separately in
State Supreme Court in Manhattan after being tried simultaneously in the
same courtroom. They showed no emotion as the verdicts were read, and hung
their heads low as they were led out of the courtroom.

But relatives of the murder victims - Jennifer Stahl, Stephen King and
Charles Helliwell III - wept openly, hugged and rocked in their seats.

Some proclaimed, "Yes!" as the two forewomen, one after the other,
delivered the verdicts after two days of deliberations.

"We came here looking for justice and we're very pleased and proud that it
worked," Charlie Helliwell, father of Charles Helliwell III (known as
Tre'), said outside the courtroom as his wife wiped away tears.

When sentenced on July 29, each man faces 25 years to life in prison for
each of the three murder counts. They were also convicted of robbery and
weapons charges.

The defendants each blamed the other for the killings, resulting in the odd
arrangement of separate but simultaneous criminal trials before Justice
Carol Berkman. Mr. Salley testified that he had needed money, and that he
decided to turn for help to his friend Ms. Stahl, 39, who sold high-grade
marijuana out of her apartment above the deli.

The shootings, which took place in Midtown as tourists and office workers
crowded the streets below, cast attention on the increasingly violent
marijuana trade. Mr. Salley, 30, told his jury that, on the night of the
murders, May 10, 2001, he wanted to ask Ms. Stahl for her castoff marijuana
so that he could sell it in Newark. He said she had agreed to the deal and
that they would split the profits.

He testified that as the two men approached Ms. Stahl's top-floor
apartment, Mr. Smith, 31, who was accompanying him, pulled a gun, shoved it
in his back and demanded that he take part in a robbery.

Almost all of Mr. Salley's testimony was in contrast to the statement he
gave the authorities last July in Miami, where he was captured hiding in
bushes after a flight. In that statement, he detailed how he and Mr. Smith
planned a strong-arm robbery in the days before the murders, and how that
robbery went wrong during their six minutes in Ms. Stahl's apartment.

Mr. Smith, despite his confession to the police, claimed that he was
nowhere near the apartment when the robbery and murders took place. His
lawyers, Andrew Katz and Edna Schwartz, told jurors that Mr. Smith's
statement was involuntary and false.

The lead prosecutor, Steven Nuzzi, relentlessly attacked Mr. Salley's
accounts. Mr. Salley, during questioning by his lawyer, Mitch Dinnerstein,
said he had lied at first because he was scared of detectives. But Mr.
Nuzzi repeatedly told the juries that fingerprints left at the scene and
images from surveillance videotape in Ms. Stahl's building, on Seventh
Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets, showed that both men were responsible
for the crimes.

The two survivors of the shootings, Rosamond Dane and Anthony Veader, both
testified.

Ms. Dane testified that she could hear Ms. Stahl, a former actress who was
a featured dancer in the movie "Dirty Dancing," pleading for her guests'
safety when she heard a single shot fired.

Mr. Salley testified Mr. Smith handed him the gun, and that when he pointed
it at Ms. Stahl, it accidentally fired. Almost immediately, there were four
more shots, execution-style. Neither Ms. Dane, a jewelry designer who was
visiting the city for a wedding with Mr. Helliwell, her companion, nor Mr.
Veader, a hairstylist who was in the apartment to cut Ms. Stahl's hair,
could say who fired those shots. But Mr. Nuzzi suggested in his closing
statement that Mr. Salley was the lone shooter.

During deliberations, the juries often asked for testimony to be repeated,
or the definition of certain legal terms. Dr. Philip King, the father of
Stephen King, said he felt "brief moments of extreme anxiety," but
ultimately "delight."

Amy Stahl, Ms. Stahl's sister, said she thought the prosecutors did an
"amazing job on the case."

"We're obviously relieved that they won't be on the streets," she said,
"and may Jennifer, Steve and Tre' rest in peace."