March 15, 2001
(TRENTON, N.J.) – The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that convicted copkiller Thomas Trantino can leave the state.
Trantino has been living in a Camden halfway house since his recent release from prison. The high court ruled that he must be granted parole after spending 37 years behind bars for shooting two Lodi police officers.
Corrections officials say that he will be moving to a halfway house in an unidentified state.
Trantino originally received the death penalty but the sentence was commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned all existing capital punishment laws. At the time of his parole, he was the longest-serving prisoner in New Jersey and had been rejected for parole nine times.
Trantino and another man were celebrating a successful robbery in a Lodi bar when they were interrupted by Detective Sgt. Peter Voto, 40, and probationary officer Gary Tedesco, 22.