NORWICH – More than ten years after he was first accused of smothering his wife, Patricia, at their Oxford home, Peter Wlasiuk has once again been found guilty of second degree murder, his third conviction for the crime.
Wlasiuk was originally charged in April of 2002 with the class A-1 felony, which could carry a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. He was first convicted in 2003, a conviction that was overturned on appeal in 2006 due to errors regarding the admittance of prejudicial evidence. A second conviction, in 2008, would also be successfully appealed, dismissed on the grounds that Wlasiuk “received ineffective counsel” from his attorney at that time, Randel Scharf, according to a New York State Supreme Court memorandum.
The jury – following four weeks of testimony – returned with the guilty verdict at approximately 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday after two and a half days and more than ten hours of deliberations. There were visible signs of relief from the family of Patricia Wlasiuk, who were on hand throughout the trial. Outside the courtroom, on the steps of the Chenango County Courthouse, Patricia’s mother, Joyce Cardozo, thanked Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride for his efforts.
According to the prosecution, Wlasiuk killed his wife at their New Virginia Road home on or about April 3, 2002, later staging a motor vehicle accident along the southern shoreline of Guilford Lake in an effort to disguise the crime. Wlasiuk’s story, that his wife had swerved to miss a deer as the couple travelled east on County Road 35 before veering into the lake, was implausible at best, according to McBride. There was no evidence of such an accident, he added, and the forensic testimony of Dr. James Terzian – reviewed by the jury shortly before the verdict was announced – detailed the many injuries sustained by Patricia the night of her death.
Terzian’s determination as to the cause of Patricia’s death: Asphyxiation by smothering.
Burdocks found in Patricia Wlasiuk’s hair, on her clothing and in the cab of her husband’s 1998 GMC pick-up truck, also played a key role in the verdict. There are no burdocks in the area where the so-called accident took place, said the prosecution. Burdocks were, however, found in the backyard of the Wlasiuks’ home, including one burdock branch that had strands of Patricia’s hair snared in it.
Said McBride during his closing statement to jurors last week, “Thank God Patty got to those burdock bushes.”
Following the verdict, McBride – who has prosecuted all three trials in the case against Wlasiuk – stated that the most recent proceeding had been “a long, long road,” for Patricia’s family; the many agencies involved in the original investigation; and the community as a whole. The end result, however, was a “good example of the community coming together to do the right thing,” he added, noting that a total of 36 jurors have now found Wlasiuk guilty of murdering his wife thanks to “an overwhelming mountain of evidence.”
According to Chenango County Sheriff Ernest R. Cutting Jr., the verdict is a “tribute to the district attorney and all the hard work he’s done.”
Said Chenango County Undersheriff James Lloyd, who was in charge of the original investigation in 2002 as the agency’s sergeant-detective, “We’re very happy, we’re pleased with the verdict ... the defense tried to put the police on trial here and I’m so happy that the jury could see the truth in this case ... they made the correct decision.”
Wlasiuk will be sentenced at a later date to be announced, according to acting Chenango County Court Judge Joseph Cawley, who presided over the trial.