Tucker Cipriano Update: Possible plea deal rejected for 20-yr.-old Mich. man charged in attack on family, report says
(CBS) DETROIT - An Oakland County prosecutor has rejected a possible plea deal for Tucker Cipriano, a 20-year-old man accused of beating his father to death with a baseball bat in the family's Farmington Hills, Mich. home in April 2012, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Cipriano and 21-year-old Mitchell Young are scheduled to go on trial Monday, June 10 on charges of first-degree murder in the April 16, 2012 death of 52-year-old Robert Cipriano.
Tucker Cipriano and Young are also charged in the severe beatings of Cipriano's 51-year-old mother, Rosemary, and his brother, Salvatore, who was 17 at the time.
According to the paper, at least one of Tucker Cipriano's family members recently approached prosecutors about a possible plea deal that would allow the 20-year-old to avoid trial.
"There have been no discussions, nor will there by any," Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper reportedly said regarding the rumored plea deal. "Not a chance. Zip. Zero..."
The paper reports Tucker Cipriano's attorney, Mitchell Ribitwer, said he had spoken with Greg Cipriano, Robert Cipriano's brother, about a way to avoid a trial.
Ribitwer says his client is "despondent and distraught" as he awaits trial in the Oakland County Jail.
"...Now that he's clean, the reality has hit home," Ribitwer said, according to the paper.
Tucker Cipriano and Mitchell Young are accused of being high on synthetic marijuana when they broke into the Cipriano's home in search of money for drugs on the night of the attack.
Cipriano reportedly denies assaulting either of his parents but does admit to striking his brother with a BB gun multiple times.
If convicted of first-degree murder, the two men face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.