By Lisa Roose-Church
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
An argument that included "nasty" comments attacking a son-in-law's character led a Madison Heights man to fatally shoot his mother-in-law at her Brighton Township home, according to testimony Wednesday.
At a preliminary hearing, Livingston County District Judge L. Suzanne Geddis ordered Americo DeCiantis Jr., 62, to stand trial on a charge of open murder in connection to the shooting death of Louise DeRosia. Police say she was killed early on the afternoon of Jan. 25, the day before her body was found in the living room of her home in the 5400 block of Lawnwood Drive in the Larkins Road Estates subdivision off Larkins Road, near Interstate 96 and Kensington Road. She had been shot in the head.
Defense attorney Michael Dennis said at best the state may have a case for second-degree murder against his client, who also is charged with possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony as well as larceny in a building.
"There's no evidence to show it was premeditated," he told the judge.
Assistant Prosecutor Pamela Maas disagreed, pointing to testimony from Detective Sgt. Sean Furlong from the Brighton post of the Michigan State Police.
"The testimony ... is the defendant said they had an argument; he went to his car for the sole purpose of getting a gun and shot her more than once. That is premeditation," Maas countered.
Furlong testified DeCiantis' silver 2003 Jeep Liberty — which a neighbor saw at DeRosia's residence — and cell phone records place him in the area of DeRosia's home at the time of the murder.
Furlong said he got DeRosia's family members, including her daughters, DeCiantis and his children, to the post on a Sunday in March by creating a ruse of interviewing them to create a timeline of events. However, Furlong said his intention was to arrest DeCiantis that day because police "believed he was responsible for this crime."
Furlong spent an hour "getting to know DeCiantis" and trying to establish that the Jeep the neighbor saw was DeCiantis' and that he drove it the day of the shooting. The sergeant also wanted to verify DeCiantis' cell phone number and ask when the defendant last spoke to his mother-in-law.
"Christmas 2009," DeCiantis told Furlong.
Then Furlong directly accused DeCiantis of killing DeRosia, but DeCiantis denied the allegation. Furlong outlined his evidence, including the phone records, and asked the suspect whether he committed the crime himself or if his wife and children helped.
"He said his family didn't know anything," testified Furlong, who again accused DeCiantis of killing his mother-in-law.
"At that point, he said, 'Yes I did,' " the sergeant said.
Furlong said DeCiantis indicated that he went to DeRosia's home to drop off a wheelchair and the two had argued about how DeRosia was handling her elderly mother's care.
DeCiantis told Furlong that DeRosia "got nasty" with him, telling him he was "not good enough" for her daughter and that he "was not a good person," Furlong testified.
"He said at one point in the argument, he decided to go back out to his Jeep to retrieve a gun," Furlong said, noting that the weapon was a .38-caliber revolver. Police have not recovered the murder weapon.
DeCiantis appeared to wipe tears as Furlong testified that DeCiantis admitted he followed DeRosia through the kitchen into the living room and hit her. When Furlong asked if he physically struck the woman, DeCiantis replied: "I shot her," Furlong said, holding up his hand and if he were holding a gun.
DeCiantis said he couldn't recall how many times he pulled the trigger, but he thought it was twice. He knew the first time he shot her, "she wasn't looking at him," Furlong said.
After the shooting, DeCiantis told Furlong, he was disoriented, sat down and then decided to ransack the house. He took his mother-in-law's wallet and cell phone before going home, where he went tuxedo shopping with his son before going to White Castle in Eastpointe.
It was there, Furlong said, that DeCiantis ditched the dead woman's belongings next to a lamppost. The items were later found by police, which prompted DeCiantis' wife to call Livingston County authorities and ask them to check on her mother's welfare.
When county sheriff's deputies said they found nothing out of order, they asked permission to enter the home, but Linda DeCiantis denied that request — a move that initially led investigators to question if she was involved in her mother's murder.
Furlong said all family members were initially considered people of interest in the investigation, which is typical in similar murder cases.
On cross-examination, Dennis asked Furlong if he questioned DeCiantis about how bad the argument was and how "nasty" DeRosia had been during that argument. Furlong said he did not.
"Did you know Louise DeRosia was arrested?" Dennis asked.
Maas immediately objected, saying that line of questioning was not pertinent to the murder. She accused the defense attorney of grandstanding for the media.
"Do we want to trash the dead?" Maas said vehemently. "The woman's not here to defend herself."
Dennis said DeRosia "had a tendency to say bad things and get into arguments with people," but Geddis told him he could not raise the issue because it wasn't pertinent to the matter at hand.
After the court hearing, Dennis declined to provide details of his claim or say why the information was important.
The defense attorney said he plans to file pretrial motions challenging the validity of his client's alleged statements to police.
Furlong testified that he knew he was going to arrest DeCiantis for DeRosia's murder when he interviewed the man March 14, but DeCiantis did not know that. He admitted that during his March 14 interview, he did not give DeCiantis his Miranda rights, which include the right to remain silent.
Dennis asked why, and Furlong replied: "I didn't have to."
"That remains to be seen," Dennis countered.
No comments:
Post a Comment