Benjamin Barry Kramer, the flashy South Florida powerboat racer convicted of ordering the notorious 1987 murder of business rival Don Aronow, is claiming that authorities sent him to prison knowing that the triggerman had cleared him of involvement in the slaying.
His proof: a purported February 2009 deathbed confession by triggerman Robert "Bobby'' Young in which the killer claimed he told police and prosecutors in 1995 that Colombian drug dealers actually ordered Aronow's assassination.
Kramer, who pleaded "no contest'' to manslaughter in 1996 in exchange for 19 years in prison, is asking Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis to throw out his conviction. A preliminary hearing is set for Friday.
But one of the lead homicide detectives on the case on Tuesday called Kramer's claim "complete, unadulterated b---s---.''
Kramer has already finished the 19-year state sentence for Aronow's killing, but his lawyer suggested the move could somehow help reduce Kramer's separate federal life sentence for money laundering.
``Ben Kramer seeks vindication based on actual innocence. It may materially impact other matters as well,'' one of his lawyers, Benson Weintraub, said in a statement.
A millionaire powerboat builder, Aronow was gunned down in February 1987 outside his USA Racing office in the 3000 block of Northeast 188th Street.
Prosecutors alleged that Kramer ordered Aronow's assassination in a business dispute.
Young, a ruthless convicted killer, kidnapper and cocaine trafficker, admitted to authorities that he gunned down Aronow. He pleaded ``no contest'' to second-degree murder in 1995 and was sentenced to 19 years, but his plea deal did not require him to identify who had hired him for the hit.
Young died in prison last year of natural causes. But before that, according to Kramer's attorneys, Young called them to say he had long ago cleared Kramer in a meeting with prosecutors and police shortly after taking his plea.
``I told prosecutors and police detectives that I had been hired by Colombian cocaine dealers to kill Donald Aronow,'' according to Young's statement filed by Kramer's attorneys. ``I also furnished the prosecutors and police detectives with the names of two Colombian cocaine dealers.''
Young's deathbed statement was taken by defense lawyer Kenneth Kukec, who represented Kramer along with Jose Quiñon.
According to Kramer's motion, he only took the manslaughter plea to get out of squalid conditions at the Dade County Jail. Kramer claims that neither he nor his lawyers were ever notified that Young had fingered Colombians for the hit. If true, the law would have required disclosure from prosecutors of such exculpatory evidence to the defense.
Former Miami-Dade police homicide Detective Greg Smith, who sat in on the debriefing with Young, denied the gunman ever cleared Kramer or named Colombians as the masterminds of the Aronow hit.
``He never implicated anybody,'' Smith scoffed. ``He said he wasn't a rat.''
One of Young's lawyers, Kayo Morgan, famously echoed his client in 1995: ``Bobby is not a rat. He is not a cheese-eater.''
Miami-Dade prosecutor Gary Winston, who handled the case then, said he could not comment because he had not seen Kramer's motion.
The state's case against Kramer relied on testimony of two jailhouse informants and a disgraced lawyer who had learned of Kramer's involvement, as well as incriminating phone calls from Kramer recorded in federal prison.
Kramer is also notorious for his storied attempt to escape from prison. In 1990, he tried fleeing the Federal Correctional Institution in South Miami-Dade in a helicopter, but failed when the copter crashed.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/2...#ixzz0j5e03ngn
Copyright © 2010, South Florida Sun-Sent
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Kramer trying to get exonerated for Aronow killing.
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03-24-2010 10:42 AM
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03-24-2010 11:26 AMInteresting stuff! It would be cool to know if Bobby really did finger the Columbians or not. That sure would re-write history.
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03-24-2010 11:28 AMfree ben
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03-24-2010 11:29 AMI guess Ben has the time to try this. It's not like it could get any worse.
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03-24-2010 11:29 AM
Originally Posted by DollaBill
Sure, I'm in . Is shipping extra?
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03-24-2010 11:36 AMHe's where he belongs...rotting away.
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03-24-2010 12:10 PMIf he gets out do we make him a charter member?
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03-24-2010 12:22 PM Originally Posted by Expensive Date
If he gets out do we make him a charter member?
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03-24-2010 12:30 PMUmmm, so let me get this straight, kramers lawyers claim they were given a death bed confession? How convenient. Good luck with that!
There's so many details of this case that confirm kramer was behind the murder it's almost humorious he's now claiming he's innocent.
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03-24-2010 12:36 PMIt could be true, but there are too many people that don't want him to ever see the light of day.
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03-24-2010 12:40 PM19 years for killing someone
Life for money laundering....
anyone see something wrong with this picture?
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03-24-2010 12:46 PMNothing new there. It's always been that way. Originally Posted by htrdlncn
Kill an ordinary guy and have a bad lawyer, do some time. Good lawyer, do a little. But steal money? And if you're stupid enough to try to cheat the government out of money? You're screwed.
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03-24-2010 12:48 PMi was just wondering that exact same thing . . . wtf? Originally Posted by htrdlncn
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03-24-2010 12:48 PMYa. But it's easy to understand the government's position: Which crime hurts the government more? What's a life worth compared to lost Tax Revenue? Originally Posted by htrdlncn
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03-24-2010 01:04 PMSomewhere in Illinois, cashbrain's got a hard-on thinking about how much $$$ he can make by selling some T-Shirts.
I always thought that Kramer was doing life under the drug kingpin charge of life with no possibility of parole. Something about getting caught with 550 tons of weed on a ship???????
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03-24-2010 01:12 PM Originally Posted by OldSchool
Somewhere in Illinois, cashbrain's got a hard-on thinking about how much $$$ he can make by selling some T-Shirts.
I always thought that Kramer was doing life under the drug kingpin charge of life with no possibility of parole. Something about getting caught with 550 tons of weed on a ship???????
RICO statue for running a continuous smuggling enterprise was what I thought finally got him in conjunction with IRS issues.
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03-24-2010 01:36 PMEver read Speed Kills? Makes you wonder because there were so many players in this whole mess Originally Posted by Tank
Ummm, so let me get this straight, kramers lawyers claim they were given a death bed confession? How convenient. Good luck with that!There's so many details of this case that confirm kramer was behind the murder it's almost humorious he's now claiming he's innocent.
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03-24-2010 02:11 PMYea, I read it. I actually lent my copy to the producer that has the copy right to do the Don Aronow movie. I know it is very convoluted. There's just a few details that stick out like a sore thumb and point in the direction he was guilty as all hell. Seems many involved after the fact and have given their opininions have agendas. I tend to believe the interviews and statements of the investigating officer. He seems to be a no bullsh!t type of guy and really had nothing to gain or lose by getting kramer to confess. Nice to close a case and all and I've heard the story's of pressure by locals to solve the murder, but it had been sitting stagnent for many years prior. Case pretty much died out. Originally Posted by cowisl
Regardless, "free Kramer"? I don't get it. OJ Simpson was once a beloved sports icon as well, I don't hear many yelling free OJ...And he was found not guilty of murder and pleaded not guilty to robbery.
Guess I'm old fasioned....I like my drug smuggling, money laundering, confessed to murdering criminals in custody where they should be.Making the best in the industry BETTER since 1990...LIP-SHIP Performance: 305-933-9988
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03-24-2010 02:15 PMI agree. If you ever get bored, do some searches on George Morales. Interesting to say the least Originally Posted by Tank
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