NORWICH – Seven witnesses took the stand in Chenango County Court Tuesday, each recalling circumstances surrounding the death of Patricia Wlasiuk and the events which preceded it six years ago.
Peter M. Wlasiuk, 39, is currently in the midst of his second murder trial in Chenango County Court. Convicted of second degree murder of his wife Patricia in 2002, Wlasiuk fought a successful appeal and saw the verdict overturned due to procedural errors in the first trial.
In a 30-minute opening statement yesterday, District Attorney Joseph A. McBride told jurors that Wlasiuk had begun planning his wife’s death nearly a year before it took place in 2002. McBride claimed that Patricia was strangled at the couple’s Oxford home and then dumped in Guilford Lake in April of that year.
Defense Attorney Randel Scharf said in his opening remarks that Mrs. Wlasiuk had been suicidal and that much of the evidence in the case had been mishandled by investigators.
The first of seven witnesses called during yesterday’s testimony was Patricia’s mother, Joyce Cardozo of Bainbridge. She testified she did not have a good relationship with her son-in-law and that he controlled her daughter to the point that they saw very little of each other outside of work. Back in 2002, the mother and daughter worked together as nurses at The Hospital in Sidney.
“She pretty much did what Pete wanted her to do,” Cardozo said on the stand.
On cross-examination, Scharf presented a 2001 family court petition filed by Cardozo seeking custody of Patricia’s son, Will Schoonmaker. Scharf asked Cardozo repeated questions about Patricia’s alleged problem with alcohol and she admitted her daughter struggled with drinking at certain points in her life.
Laurinda Cardozo, Patricia’s sister, testified that she observed Peter Wlasiuk being very critical of his wife and that he frequently harassed her for drinking alcohol, even when she was not consuming any. “He was usually yelling at her about drinking,” she said.
Veronica Palmer lived near Guilford Lake at the time of the incident and testified that on the night of Patricia’s death, she heard no screams or screeching tires, only a truck door slam. Palmer said she was about 180 feet away and watching TV when she heard a door slam; she then went to bed.
The fourth witness called was Clarence Edick, who said he was hunting with a friend on the land adjacent to the Wlasiuks’ along New Virginia Road, Oxford, in mid-November 2001.
Edick testified that he and his friend heard a loud argument taking place near the Wlasiuk residence and that he walked out to see what the commotion was about. Edick said he knew Peter Wlasiuk as his friend’s neighbor and recognized him and his wife arguing behind their home in front of two children.
“I heard him say, ‘Don’t ever speak to me like that again or I’ll kill you,’” testified Edick. The witness also said he watched with hunting binoculars as Peter Wlasiuk struck his wife “two to three times.”
On cross-examination, Scharf asked why Edick hadn’t reported the incident to authorities. “Let me get this right; you saw a man punch a woman in the face in front of two children and you didn’t want to get involved?”
Edick responded, “I didn’t want to get involved.”
Scharf also pointed out that in testimony at the first trial, Edick said he was 70 yards from the argument, and Tuesday he said he was 125 yards away.
Other witnesses who took the stand included a nurse who worked with Patricia Wlasiuk in Sidney who said she saw the deceased leave in a pickup truck the night of the alleged murder at about 11:10 p.m., but wasn’t sure who she left with.
A gas station employee testified she saw Patricia Wlasiuk pick up cigarettes and get into the passenger side of a pickup before leaving at around 11:10 p.m. the night of her death. She could not identify the driver and did not know the Wlasiuks personally.
Also testifying was Lori Hoag of Maryland, who said she witnessed Peter Wlasiuk threaten his wife at a party she hosted on the Labor Day weekend of 2001. Hoag said Peter Wlasiuk threatened to hurt Patricia if any of the kids got hurt at the party. Scharf pointed out that Hoag’s roommate was involved in a small claims suit against his client sometime after the incident at the party, but did not elaborate.
Testimony continues today at the Chenango County Courthouse in Norwich.