Dec 4, 2008 6:10 am US/Eastern
Accused Clifton Church Shooter Back In N.J.
CBS 2 HD Catches Images Of Joseph Pallipurath Before Officers Escort Him Into Passaic County Jail
Reporting
Lou Young
PATERSON, N.J. (CBS) ―
-
-
Joseph Pallipurath was successfully extradited from Georgia to New Jersey on Dec. 3. He is accused murdering two people and critically injuring another inside a N.J. church on Nov. 23.
CBS
An accused killer was back in New Jersey on Wednesday night as one of his alleged victims solidified a legacy of heroism.
Joseph Pallipurath arrived at the Passaic County Jail under a heavy-armed escort 10 days after a bloody attack at a Clifton church.
The suspect was extradited from Georgia. CBS 2 HD saw him moments before sheriff's deputies took him to the cell here that is his new home.
Pallipurath is a small man who police said embraced a tremendous evil, gunning down three people in a Clifton church. Two are dead and one is still in a coma.
On Wednesday, the mother of one victim gave him more than he can expect from the state of New Jersey.
"I have already forgiven him," Aley John said.
Pallipurath is accused of killing his estranged wife and the Good Samaritan who came to her aid. It is no small irony that on the very day he was brought back to face justice CBS 2 HD discovered one of his alleged victims, Dennis Johns, did save a life after all.
"How gifted he was that's the thing I learned," Aley John said. "I had no idea. I had no idea he was that great."
John Muscarella received both of the Good Samaritan's lungs. He's mindful now of the debt he owes the brave man killed so mindlessly in the Clifton church.
"I am grateful he was an organ donor," Muscarella said. "It was sad. He was a brave guy."
It is a strange thing how good and evil converge. One man's death is another's life and a hero is able to make his presence felt from beyond the grave.
"How wonderful it is even if he is not in this world living as a person, he is living through somebody," Aley John said. "I saw him laying down. That's the thing that's always in my eyes."
But now there will be more. A man with a second chance -- a hero's work even a killer couldn't stop.
Dennis John's organs, in fact, are now living inside six different patents. His family plans to meet them all.
Pallipurath will face a judge on Friday. He faces charges from double homicide to aggravated assault.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
World's Most Useless Facts
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments