September 16, 2008 07:31 am
—
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
NORWICH _With testimony
Monday from law enforcement officials
and a former bartender,
Chenango County District Attorney
Joseph McBride sought to convince
jurors that Peter Wlasiuk murdered
his wife 6½ years ago.
But Wlasiuk’s attorney, Randel
Scharf of Cooperstown,
continued
to peck away at the
prosecution’s case,
suggesting his client
was framed.
According to Mc-
Bride, Peter Wlasiuk
smothered Patricia
Wlasiuk at their Oxford
home, then staged an accident
by sending her body down an
embankment into Guilford Lake in
the back of their 1999 GMC pickup
truck.
Patricia Wlasiuk’s body was
found in the lake at about 1 a.m.,
April 3, 2002. Police have said her
black Motorola pager was found in
the truck bed when the vehicle was
winched out of the water.
Peter Wlasiuk says his wife was
driving and he was riding as they
went to pick up their three children
at the home of their baby sitter,
Joyce Worden, shortly after
midnight. According to Wlasiuk’s
signed statement, a deer jumped in
front of the truck, causing Patricia
to swerve off county Route 35 and
into the lake.
Not long after the tragic
incident, however, police
suspected it was no
accident. Deputy Dwight
Meade, first officer on the
scene that morning, found
tire tracks on the shoulder
on the far side of the road.
Those tracks appeared
to arc gradually toward
the spot where the truck
plunged into the lake.
Monday’s first witness,
Chenango County Detective
Sergeant Richard
Cobb, said he traced those
tracks, which disappeared
near the center of the road,
but seemed to continue as
impressions in the grass
on the lake side.
``Was that a slow, continuous
curve?’’ McBride
asked.
``Yes,’’ said Cobb, an
advanced accident investigator.
``Was there any evidence
that the vehicle went into
the lake to avoid a deer?’’
``No, sir,’’ said Cobb,
adding that he found no
rubber on pavement nor
shredded grass that would
come from skidding.
Cobb said a vehicle
could not have been traveling
more than 30 miles
per hour to have left
the tracks he observed,
whereas Wlasiuk has said
his wife was driving 56
miles per hour.
``If someone got out of
the truck by the edge of the
road, and put it in drive,
would it go down the slope
into the lake?’’ the district
attorney asked.
``Based on my training
and experience, yes; it’s a
slope of 27 degrees,’’ said
Cobb.
Under cross examination
from Scharf, Cobb
noted he is not certified
as an accident reconstructionist
and this was
his first investigation of
this type of accident.
Cobb said he worked
on the case with Norwich
City Patrolman Craig Berry,
who is an accident reconstructionist.
On April
8, 2002, they placed the
discovered pager in a pan
of water to see if it would
float, he said in response
to questions from Scharf.
``Did you receive any
training in dunking evidence?’’
asked Scharf.
McBride objected and
presiding judge Martin
Smith ruled that the question
was improper.
Corrections Officer
Tonya Schoals testified
that after Wlasiuk was arrested,
she overheard a
conversation between him
and his mother in which he
said, ``If I’d thought about
what I did before I did it, I
wouldn’t be in jail.’’’
“The way you’re saying
that, does `did’ mean `kill
his wife?’’’ asked Scharf.
Schoals said she was
just repeating what she’d
heard.
Lorraine Cornish of
Bainbridge, who worked
for the Wlasiuks at their
Guilford bar, the Angel Inn,
said Peter was angry and
swearing after two telephone
calls from his wife
the day before she died.
Under cross examination,
Cornish said she
didn’t disclose this information
to police until this
year, although she was
interviewed April 4, 2002,
and April 23, 2002.
``Why didn’t you tell
police about the phone
calls?’’ Scharf asked.
``He told us not to talk to
the police,’’ said Cornish.
``Did you write to Peter
after he was arrested?’’
``One letter,’’ she said.
Scharf produced two
personal letters, and she
acknowledged writing
them.
``Did you file a complaint
this year that Peter’s
father was stalking
you?’’ he asked.
Cornish said she had
complained to police
about Wlasiuk’s father,
Thomas Wlasiuk of Oxford,
who has custody of
Peter’s three girls, stalking
her at Bainbridge
Guilford Central School,
among other places.
The girls attend the
school.
At about the time she
filed this complaint, she
told police about telephone
calls from more than six
years ago, she said.
Monday’s proceedings
ended where today’s are
scheduled to begin, with
Chenango County Lieutenant
James Lloyd being
cross-examined by Scharf.
Lloyd, the prosecution’s
32nd witness, said it
was clear to him early on
that Patricia Wlasiuk was
murdered.
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