He really is a dead man walking.
Cop killer Ronell Wilson‘s paternity petition seeking access to the baby he fathered with a prison guard was thrown out because he’s “civilly dead.”
Wilson “began his petition while incarcerated, and was therefore civilly dead,” and should be treated “as if he were actually dead,” Suffolk County Family Court Judge David Freundlich found.
The deranged killer had used some twisted logic to plead for parental rights to the son he fathered in an illicit tryst with Nancy Gonzalez, 29, a former federal prison guard at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center .
“He wanted visitation rights and a say in how the child is raised,” saaid Gonzalez’s lawyer, Michael Alber, told the Daily News.
Wilson’s lawyer, Yusuf El Ashmawy, insisted his client was just trying to look out for six-month-old Justus’ best interests. He said Wilson, 31, wanted to be declared the dad so his relatives could help raise the boy, who is currently in foster care.
“Justus has committed no crime against anyone and certainly should not be deprived of loving relatives assisting him in his time of need,” the lawyer said, adding Wilson has spent time with the boy behind bars “with Ms. Gonzalez’ blessing.”
Gonzalez, however, challenged the paternity petition.
While felons have many of their civil rights, including parental rights, suspended while serving their sentences, Wilson, 31, argued those restrictions shouldn’t apply to death penalty cases, because they aren’t explicitly referred to in the statute.
Freundlich said that argument did not make any sense, because a death row inmate wouldn’t have more rights than someone serving a life sentence.
He also knocked down Wilson’s argument that since he filed his petition in August — before he was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the 2003 murders of undercover officers Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin — that he should get a break.
Wilson still “began his petition while incarcerated, and was therefore civilly dead,” the judge wrote.
Freundlich was similarly unmoved by Wilson’s argument that he could be spared the needle if his appeal of the conviction is successful.
Even “if he is not executed, he will remain imprisoned for the rest of his natural life,” the judge wrote, taking note of “the vicious and abhorrent nature” of Wilson’s crimes.
Gonzalez lost her job as a result of her two-minute tryst with Wilson in 2012. She pleaded guilty to related criminal charges, and faces up to 16 months behind bars when she’s sentenced next week.
El Ashmawy said Wilson “has several family members who’ve spent time with his son on multiple occasions,” and that denying them the chance to take the boy is punishing the baby “solely for being the son of Mr. Wilson.”