For the third time in more than nine years, Peter Wlasiuk was found guilty of the second-degree murder of his wife, Patricia Wlasiuk. Two previous Chenango County Court verdicts were overturned in appeals.
With the Tuesday decision that took the jury 10 hours to decide, "all parties did everything they could to make sure the judgement stands (through the appeals process)," District Attorney Joseph McBride said Thursday.
Wlasiuk, formerly of Oxford, was convicted in 2003 of driving his wife's body into Guilford Lake in April 2002 in a failed effort to make her death appear accidental.
The first retrial was ordered in 2006 by the Appellate Division for a "litany of errors" during the proceedings, by then Judge W. Howard Sullivan and McBride. A jury decided in 2008 that Wlasiuk was guilty.
A five-judge panel of the Appelate Division found in December 2011 that the verdict was supported by the evidence but Wlasiuk received ineffective representation from Cooperstown lawyer Randel Scharf.
This allowed a juror who should have been disqualified to decide in the case, and permitted a diary to be considered without restricting evidence already found to be admissible.
Wlasiuk was represented in the latest trial by Binghamton attorney Mark Loughran, with acting county Judge Joseph Cawley presiding.
McBride said he is "very happy with the verdict, for Patty's family (and the community)."
"We're glad to put this case behind us," he said. "I feel very comfortable" that the trial that lasted about four weeks will be the final one in this case."
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Third Wlasiuk trial yields same result: Guilty verdict
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