Life sentence reimposed for Felton-area man who drowned wife
Joseph Fitzpatrick III, 44, then had his life sentence reinstated by presiding Common Pleas Judge
Unlike Fitzpatrick's first sentencing hearing, which happened immediately after a jury found him guilty in 2015, family members of his dead wife,
They included his two daughters, both of whom are now teenagers and are being raised by their grandparents in
Sixteen-year-old
At that time, she said, she was angry that her father was being taken away from her and jailed, and distraught that she and her sister were forced to move to
Her mother's voice: Emily said she was "lonely and miserable" for a while, but that eventually things got better. Still, she grieves for her dead mother.
"I don't remember the sound of my mother's voice," she said in court.
Emily told Renn that she had to consider the possibility that her father was "the monster" others had made him out to be. After her own careful review, she said, she now believes her father killed her mother.
But her younger sister, 14-year-old
"I love you very much Daddy, and I don't believe you did it," she said. "I will always have faith in you."
"Family was her priority, and being a mother was her calling," Kessler said.
Special person:
"Annemarie was a special person from the day she was born," her mother said.
Vassalotti said it's been her privilege to raise Emily and Rachel, who she called "true survivors" and wonderful young ladies.
In reinstating Fitzpatrick's verdict and punishment, Renn noted that he doesn't believe appeals courts have yet engaged in any "meaningful appellate review" of the case.
"Today is a hard day. My heart breaks for the families involved,"
Legal rulings: In April, the state
In
At trial, a forensic pathologist could only say her injuries were consistent with both being involved in a vehicle crash and being assaulted. Proving a death was unlawful is a requirement for a first-degree murder conviction in
Fitzpatrick was released from prison for a few hours in
The background: A jury on
He drowned her on
In explaining his decision to grant the judgment of acquittal, Renn wrote that jurors could not have determined Annemarie's death was unlawful without speculating.
"Perhaps the jury was correct in its assessment, but our system of justice was not founded upon mere suspicions or gut feelings," Renn's opinion states.
Prosecutors used circumstantial evidence to prove their case, Renn noted. But prosecutors in
The circumstantial evidence against Fitzpatrick included notes left by Annemarie that implicated her husband, as well as the fact that he was involved in an emotional affair with another woman.
Also, Fitzpatrick had
Victim's notes: Just hours before her death, Annemarie wrote, dated and signed a note in her day-planner at work that said, "If anything happens to me -- Joe."
She also wrote an email to herself the same morning, with the subject line "if something happens to me."
It stated: "Joe and I are having marital problems. Last night we almost had an accident where a huge log fell on me. Joe was on the pile with the log and had me untying a tarp directly below."
The night of Annemarie's death, she and her husband ate dinner at their picnic table next to the creek. Prosecutors told jurors that Fitzpatrick physically forced his wife into the water and drowned her.
He then rolled their ATV into the creek and called 911, reporting Annemarie had been driving the ATV, with him on the back, when it went into the creek, according to testimony.
Hearsay issue? While Ferro maintains Annemarie's notes constitute hearsay and therefore should have been inadmissible at trial, chief deputy prosecutor
Barker said prosecutors "have no concern whatsoever" that the hearsay argument could lead to a new trial. He said there's clear case law regarding state-of-mind hearsay exceptions, and Annemarie's notes fall into that category.
"They were introduced to show what her state of mind was -- and to rebut the fact that (Fitzpatrick) asserted they had a happy marriage," Barker said.
-- Reach
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