Shane McMahon's Ass
10-30-2009, 09:00 AM
Edward Ates is accused of shooting Paul Duncsak, a 40-year-old pharmaceutical executive, in 2006. But Ates plans to tell jurors at his trial that he wouldn't have had the energy needed to climb and descend the staircase where prosecutors say the lethal shots were fired from.
An attorney for Ates claims that in 2006, the 62-year-old tipped the scales at 285lb (over 20 stone) was in such bad physical shape that couldn't have pulled off the shooting or the fast getaway the killer made.
'You look at Ed and you don't need to hear it from a doctor,' attorney Walter Lesnevich said.
At the time of the killing, Duncsak and Ates' daughter, Stacey, were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their 2005 divorce. Prosecutors claim Ates drove from Fort Pierce, Florida, to Duncsak's $1.1 million home in Ramsey, New Jersey, in August 2006 and shot him as he came home from work.
Although police arrived at the scene within minutes, the killer was gone. Police quickly suspected Ates and found him 24 hours later at his mother's home in Sibley, Louisiana.
According to Lesnevich, the trajectory of the bullets shows that Ates wasn't physically capable of the shooting. He said the shooter first fired from a staircase leading to the basement. That was followed by several shots fired head-on. In order to do that, Lesnevich said, Ates would have had to run up the stairs.
Lesnevich also says it would have been impossible for Ates to clean up all the shell casings and flee the house before police arrived minutes later, let alone to have driven alone 21 hours straight to his mother's house in Louisiana.
Prosecutors have little physical evidence, but have presented evidence to show Ates bought books detailing how to build a gun silencer, did Internet searches on how to pick locks and how to commit the perfect murder.
Ates defence might be hurt by the fact that he's now considerably slimmer than when the murder occurred: he says he lost 60lb while in jail awaiting trial.
'It visually impacts it,' Lesnevich said. 'I'm probably the only person in his life that told him not to lose weight.'
An attorney for Ates claims that in 2006, the 62-year-old tipped the scales at 285lb (over 20 stone) was in such bad physical shape that couldn't have pulled off the shooting or the fast getaway the killer made.
'You look at Ed and you don't need to hear it from a doctor,' attorney Walter Lesnevich said.
At the time of the killing, Duncsak and Ates' daughter, Stacey, were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their 2005 divorce. Prosecutors claim Ates drove from Fort Pierce, Florida, to Duncsak's $1.1 million home in Ramsey, New Jersey, in August 2006 and shot him as he came home from work.
Although police arrived at the scene within minutes, the killer was gone. Police quickly suspected Ates and found him 24 hours later at his mother's home in Sibley, Louisiana.
According to Lesnevich, the trajectory of the bullets shows that Ates wasn't physically capable of the shooting. He said the shooter first fired from a staircase leading to the basement. That was followed by several shots fired head-on. In order to do that, Lesnevich said, Ates would have had to run up the stairs.
Lesnevich also says it would have been impossible for Ates to clean up all the shell casings and flee the house before police arrived minutes later, let alone to have driven alone 21 hours straight to his mother's house in Louisiana.
Prosecutors have little physical evidence, but have presented evidence to show Ates bought books detailing how to build a gun silencer, did Internet searches on how to pick locks and how to commit the perfect murder.
Ates defence might be hurt by the fact that he's now considerably slimmer than when the murder occurred: he says he lost 60lb while in jail awaiting trial.
'It visually impacts it,' Lesnevich said. 'I'm probably the only person in his life that told him not to lose weight.'