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Oct 29, 2005 12:04 pm US/Eastern
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Transsexual Cop Killer Receives Award In Prison
TRENTON (AP) ―
Transsexual go-go dancer Leslie Ann Nelson shot to death two law enforcement officers in a 1995 standoff. But now, officials at her prison have given her an award, as well as a hug, an honor that has infuriated a statewide police organization.
"The idea that our state would award a vicious and cold-blooded murderer like Leslie Ann Nelson is both outrageous and disgusting," state Policemen's Benevolent Association President Michael J. Madonna told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Saturday newspapers.
Nelson received a certificate; a hug and a special lunch during an Oct. 20 Inmate of the Month ceremony at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, where Nelson is serving a life sentence.
Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman said Edna Mahan presents 120 of the inmate awards annually, a number equal to 10 percent of the Hunterdon County prison's population. Schuman said the award is a piece of paper for a certificate and the choice of a turkey, vegetable or tuna wrap for lunch, along with a soda and a doughnut.
The "restorative justice" program, he said, provides an incentive for inmates to behave themselves.
But Madonna at the PBA said no reward is going to John McLaughlin, an investigator for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, and John Norcross, a Haddon Heights patrolman. Armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 mm handgun, Nelson killed the two officers during a 1995 standoff at her Haddon Heights home. Two juries have handed down death sentences against Nelson, known as Glenn Nelson before a 1992 sex-change operation, and both times, the state Supreme Court has overturned the sentence because of prosecutors' handling of the case.
Nelson, who works as a paralegal in Edna Mahan's law library and teaches other inmates how to read, has been arguing for the right to defend herself in an upcoming sentencing trial.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)