| HUDSON - For the second time in 11 years, Warren Powell has been convicted of strangling his pregnant, 22-year-old wife, Mary Ann, and then dumping her body in the Hudson River. The jury reached its verdict at about 11 a.m. today. The jury had deliberated since Thursday afternoon. Powell faces 25 years to life in prison after the jury convicted him of second-degree murder, the top charge he faced. The Columbia County District Attorney's case hinged on marks that were found on seats of a boat Powell purchased the day his wife died. Powell sank her body in the Hudson River after hiding it inside a hockey equipment bag. A forensic expert testified that marks on the boat's seats matched ridges on the bag, which washed ashore with Mary Ann Powell's body in 1996. Juror Robert Firth said the forensic evidence from the boat and the bag convinced him. "It was cut and dried," Firth, 61, of Copake, said. Assistant District Attorney Neal Conolly said the jury's decision was probably tied to several factors prosecutors raised, including Powell's inability on the stand to explain a two-hour time gap after he and his wife ate breakfast out on Oct. 1, 1994, the day she disappeared. Powell's attorney, Stephen Coffey, built his case on suggestions that State Police investigators fabricated evidence to frame Powell. "Challenging the truthfulness of the State Police fell flat on its face," Conolly said. Powell's first trial in 1997 ended with a murder conviction that was overturned by an appeals court on a technicality. He is also serving 15-30 years for an unrelated drug conviction. Powell was retried nearly 15 years after his wife disappeared. The two lived in an apartment in Halfmoon. Her remains were found inside the bag when it washed up nearly two years later at a waterfront campground on the Hudson River in Columbia County. The jury deliberated for about six hours Thursday before breaking for the night and resuming today. When they arrived at the Columbia County Courthouse this morning, the panel of seven women and five men asked Judge Jonathan Nichols to again explain the difference between second-degree murder, the top charge Powell faces, and the lesser offense of first-degree manslaughter. The jury also wanted instructions again on circumstantial evidence. The case against Powell, 38, in this retrial, was built on circumstantial evidence. On Wednesday, Coffey told jurors that police fabricated evidence against Powell but Conolly scoffed at the idea that investigators would conspire to frame Powell. Judge Nichols told jurors that they could consider second-degree murder as charged in the indictment and the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter, which alleges Powell intended to cause serious physical injury. Powell will be sentenced June 16. He faces 25 years to life in prison. Coffey's theme throughout much of the trial and during his summation was police misconduct. Coffey zeroed in on several State Police investigators, including Jeffrey Ullman, a forensic expert, who testified that scuff marks on the seats of a boat police say Powell used to transport her body matched ridges on the hockey equipment bag. Powell bought the used boat the day his wife disappeared. Coffey accused officers of using the hockey bag after it was found to create the marks on the seats of the boat. "Police in this case manufactured evidence to sustain" what they believe was Powell's guilt, Coffey said. Conolly, who was joined in the prosecution by Assistant District Attorney David Costanzo, retorted by telling the jury there was no conspiracy. "Do you really think that more than a dozen policemen from several agencies some with more than 30 years' experience with all their training and what they're true to would frame Warren Powell?" Conolly asked. Conolly told jurors they could view a photo showing the skeletal remains of the victim with a knotted rope around her neck and through her mouth. "Someone came up behind her, violently, thoroughly," he said. The crime was well planned, but "not a perfect crime by any stretch," he said, adding, ''That's why you have all this evidence" to review. Coffey also lambasted former Senior Investigator James Horton, who headed the major crimes unit, for his interrogation of Powell. The questioning lasted for more than 30 hours over three sessions and Horton did not take a written statement. Powell only reported his wife as missing after three days to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department. Horton testified that Powell told him he and his wife had a "most severe argument" on the day she disappeared. He said they fought over many things, including the five cats she kept in their Halfmoon apartment, a speeding ticket Powell had gotten, and the fact she smoked while she was pregnant. But what angered Powell the most, Horton said, was that his wife wanted to name the baby Stephen if it were a boy and Stephanie if it were a girl. Powell said her former boyfriend's name was Stephen. Powell, who holds an associate degree in criminal justice from Hudson Valley Community College, downplayed the incident when he testified Wednesday, saying the other man was a good friend of both he and his wife. The baby she was carrying was a boy. |
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