Lawyers duel in closing arguments: Arson suspect Joseph Gulluni either dangerous swindler or wrongfully accused [masslive.com]

MassLive.com

SPRINGFIELD — Arson suspect Joseph F. Gulluni Jr. either torched his rental property, endangering his tenants and a dog inside, or has been wrongfully accused for a fire caused by the ramshackle state of the building.

These were the dueling closing arguments offered to jurors by lawyers on both sides of the case after a week of testimony in Hampden Superior Court.

The jury began its deliberations Monday afternoon, but failed to return a verdict.

Gulluni, a cousin of Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, faces four counts of arson and insurance fraud in connection with a huge blaze at 2002-2006 Palmer Road in Three Rivers on June 4, 2019.

A special prosecutor from Worcester County was brought in, but Joseph Gulluni had his pick of jury pools and the case is being tried in Springfield.

Gulluni purchased the six-unit property for $32,500 in 2018, and Assistant District Attorney Joseph Simmons argued to jurors the investment became a money pit for the contractor and real estate investor who was already underwater and facing college and private school payments for his children. It needed a lot of work, and the prosecutor contended it put Gulluni up against a wall financially.

The property started to fill with smoke less than a minute after nearby surveillance cameras captured his Audi backing out of the driveway, and after the video showed a “flash” in the first-floor garage while Gulluni was there. Two tenants and a dog narrowly escaped with their lives, according to a Palmer police detective.

“A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. But video’s worth a lot more,” Simmons argued to the panel Monday afternoon, after Judge Edward McDonough Jr. offered jury instructions.

The prosecution contends Gulluni was angling to collect on a $500,000 insurance policy that was set to expire days after the fire, while the defense argued Gulluni was not that hard up for the money.

Defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly said the flash was a “distraction” and that one of the tenants who escaped told investigators the place was a “firetrap” where two small fires had broken out in the months before the inferno that gutted the building.

“You heard from one of his own tenants. She called the place a ‘firetrap.’” Kelly said during his closing argument. “He had no financial motive ... He’s going to start in the big leagues burning a house down with people in it for a couple hundred thousand dollars?”

Kelly told jurors his client could have simply put one or more of his several rental properties on the market, as opposed to endangering his tenants’ lives for a payout.

Simmons countered that it wasn’t that easy to liquidate his assets and get back on top financially.

“What was he going to do? Was he going to go to the casino? Bet on black? The money wasn’t there,” Simmons said.

While the prosecution argued Gulluni set the building ablaze, investigators and a specially trained Massachusetts State Police dog found no signs of an accelerant at the property or in Gulluni’s car when they searched it later that day.

Jurors will resume deliberations on Tuesday morning.