Tulsa World: Closing arguments begin in New Jersey 'fat defense' case

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Closing arguments begin in New Jersey 'fat defense' case

Edward Ates is shown in this undated photo provided by his attorney and released by the Trenton, New Jersey prosecutor's office, AP Photo

By BETH DeFALCO Associated Press Writer
Published: 11/4/2009 12:02 PM
Last Modified: 11/4/2009 12:02 PM

HACKENSACK, N.J. — The lawyer for a Florida man who claims he's too fat to have killed his former son-in-law told jurors on Wednesday all they have to do is is look at his client to see that he's obese, old, and in no condition to commit such a murder.

Prosecutors agreed that Edward Ates is far from fit, but said he's still capable of methodically planning and executing the killing of Paul Duncsak.

"He's not running a marathon. I'll agree he probably can't do that," Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello told the jury during closing arguments. "What he can do is execute his son."

Prosecutors claim Ates drove from his home in Fort Pierce, Fla., to Duncsak's $1.1 million home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, in August 2006 and shot him as he came home from work. Police quickly suspected Ates and found him 24 hours later at his mother's home in Sibley, La.

Defense lawyer Walter Lesnevich said his client — age 62 and at least 285 pounds at the time of the murder — didn't have the energy to run up a staircase, accurately shoot Duncsak, leave before police arrived, then make a 21-hour drive to his mother's home in order to create an alibi as prosecutors claim.

"Look at him!" Lesnevich told jurors, adding that Ates was 60 pounds heavier at the time of the crime.

Prosecutors also said there was evidence that the killer was hungry: A Burger King hamburger wrapper was found near Duncsak's body, and Duncsak was on his cell phone moments before he was shot asking his girlfriend

if she had left the Whopper wrapper there. She said she had not.

Prosecutors have said Duncsak, a pharmaceutical executive, and Ates' daughter, Stacey, were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their divorce and that Stacey had serious money trouble.

Ates' attorney told jurors that a custody agreement had already settled on by the time of the murder.

"If he was planning this for a year, wouldn't it have made sense to get rid of Paul Duncsak while the divorce was going on?" Lesnevich posed to jurors.

But prosecutors countered that Duncsak had set up a $1.5 million trust for the children which Stacey would have control were Duncsak to die.

"She was spiraling downward into an abyss from which there appeared no return," Mello told the jury. "All she had, really, was daddy."

During the trial, the prosecution portrayed Ates, a former Marine, as a skilled marksman who methodically planned the murder for over a year. Mello pointed to the fact that at one point during his trip to Louisiana, Ates shot at a snake — inferring that Ates was still an accurate shooter.

The prosecution claimed Ates scouted Duncsak's neighborhood, used prepaid cell phones, did Internet searches and ordered books — including one entitled "How to Commit a Perfect Murder" — to help him learn to pick locks and build a gun silencer, and that Ates trip to visit his elderly mother was as a means to create an alibi.

Lesnevich disputes that his client could have made the trip to Louisiana without stopping, as prosecutors have suggested, and called upon doctors to talk about Ates' physical limitations.

Dr. Michael Farber, an internal medicine specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center, testified that bounding up the stairs would have caused Ates to become short of breath and shake, making it difficult to keep his wrist straight enough to accurately fire a gun at someone from a distance. He called it "highly improbable" that Ates could have driven for 21 hours straight.

Ates took the stand in his own defense. He said he had no reason to want Duncsak dead, but didn't delve much into his weight. By BETH DeFALCO Associated Press Writer

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	Report Comment okierose, Tulsa County (11/4/2009 12:13:14 PM) 'A Burger King hamburger wrapper was found near Duncsak's body', and 'didn't have the energy to run up a staircase, accurately shoot Duncsak, leave before police arrived' Wouldn't there possibly be DNA on the wrapper? Also, if he was a marksman in the Marines, why would he need to 'run up a staircase' to shoot? Hope the DA and they jury think of these things.
	Report Comment SS_Hippy, Tulsa (11/4/2009 12:29:14 PM) Wow. The Defense lawyer is going to be famous after his client loses the case.
	Report Comment Elusive, the burbs (11/4/2009 1:58:35 PM) Pretty strange to bring a cheesburger to the killing.
	Report Comment Faith, (11/4/2009 4:01:35 PM) Now I have heard everything. This still doesn't mean he could not have committed this crime.
	Report Comment AllSmiles, Sperry (11/4/2009 4:38:32 PM) I agree! If he was a sharp shooter in the marines, why would he have to run up the stairs? (Whew! Had to run back up stairs to get my Mcd's warpper before TPD see's it!!! =0p)
	Report Comment AllSmiles, Sperry (11/4/2009 4:38:44 PM) *wrapper
	Report Comment mayor_maynot, Tulsa (11/4/2009 5:25:48 PM) Did the butler do it? Was ole boy waiting at the top of the stairs polishing off 2 whopper$ @ once?
	Report Comment aint missbehavin, .. (11/4/2009 11:04:30 PM) Notice it was a whopper wrapper and not a big mac wrapper.But Im sure glad it wasnt an M&M wrapper.
	Report Comment SS_Hippy, Tulsa (11/5/2009 7:42:46 AM) i would freak too if i found a Whopper wrapper in my house.
	Report Comment SS_Hippy, Tulsa (11/5/2009 7:44:11 AM) The poor dude probably called his gfriend HOPING against hope that she left the burger trash, but knew deep down it was the "calling card" of Big Daddy in law.

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