NORWICH – Following twelve days of testimony in the trial of accused murderer Peter Wlasiuk, Binghamton attorney Mark Loughran wrapped up his defense of the former Oxford resident and owner of the Angel Inn in Guilford, calling a total of seven witnesses to the stand over the past two days.
“The defense rests,” stated Loughran Wednesday afternoon.
It’s alleged that Wlasiuk, in April of 2002, killed his wife at their Oxford home and later staged an accident at Guilford Lake in an effort to cover-up the crime. He has twice been charged – and convicted – of second degree murder, a class A-1 felony. Both convictions were overturned on appeal, in 2006 and 2011, respectively.
According to Wlasiuk, Patricia was driving his 1998 GMC pick-up truck east along County Road 35 when she swerved to miss a deer, crashing into the lake. The couple, he says, were on their way to the babysitter’s to pick up their three children. Wlasiuk, however, later changed his story, stating Patricia intentionally drove into the lake as the couple argued.
Wlasiuk could face up to 25 years to life in state prison if convicted for a third time.
Joyce Worden, who was babysitting the Wlasiuks’ three daughters at her Guilford residence the night of Patricia’s death, testified she had known the couple for approximately 10 years. In addition, Worden admitted she and the Wlasiuks had formed a three-way, sexual relationship; one she said was requested by Patricia.
As the couple’s babysitter, Worden said she would watch the three children from 3 to 11 p.m., while Patricia was working second shift as a nurse at the Sidney-based The Hospital, now known as Tri-Town Regional Hospital. On the night of her alleged murder, however, Patricia never picked the children up on her way home. Worden said she called Peter Wlasiuk around 11:30 p.m. to inform him that his wife had not arrived, calling again at approximately 11:50 p.m. Shortly after midnight, she received a call from Wlasiuk, testifying that she heard “scuffling” noises of some kind – as well as what sounded like a slamming door – during that call.
Worden said she was under the assumption that the couple were on their way to pick up the kids. At approximately 12:35 a.m., she testified that she heard the Guilford fire whistle go off, and was informed shortly thereafter by a Chenango County Sheriff’s deputy that the Wlasiuks had been in an accident, later travelling to The Hospital, where she was told Patricia was dead.
Worden, in tears on the witness stand, said she remembered the Wlasiuks’ three daughters waking up that morning and being told their mother was dead. Peter Wlasiuk also burst into tears at that point, requiring several moments to compose himself in the courtroom yesterday.
Additional testimony given by Worden included her experiences with the couple’s troubled relationship, and Peter’s anger whenever his wife was caught drinking alcohol. She also witnessed a physical encounter between the two, she said, sometime in the fall of 2001, when Peter kicked his wife in the chest. She and Patricia, stated Worden, had been “scouting” male strip clubs in an effort to find one that was “tasteful” for the Angel Inn. When Peter became aware that his wife had been drinking during the excursion, said Worden, he asked her to take Patricia home. Patricia “threw herself on the ground” in the parking lot of the Angel Inn, she added, clutching her husband’s foot when he “kicked her off.”
During her cross examination by Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride, Worden testified that Wlasiuk – when angry – had threatened to kill his wife on more than one occasion. When asked about the sexual relationship between she and the Wlasiuks, Worden admitted Patricia had been excluded approximately two weeks prior to her death.
Accident reconstruction consultant Dale Leonard was the last to take the stand for the defense, testifying on a number of alleged errors in the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office’s handling of the scene, as well as the agency’s accident reconstruction efforts. Discrepancies in an accident reconstruction diagram submitted as evidence by the prosecution in Wlasiuk’s two previous trials proved the system of measurement used by the county’s reconstruction team was inaccurate.
During his cross examination, Leonard admitted there was no evidence of any skidmarks at the scene of the incident, although Wlasiuk’s story is that his wife was driving more than 50 miles per hour when she lost control of the vehicle in order to miss a deer.
The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. today in the Chenango County Courthouse with closing statements by the prosecution and defense. The jury is expected to have the case sometime today, said acting Chenango County Court Judge Joseph F. Cawley at the end of Wednesday’s proceedings.