A jury in Bergen County, New Jersey on Friday convicted of murder a Florida man accused of killing his former son-in-law, refusing to believe that the man, Edward Ates, was as he claimed 'too-fat-to-kill'.
On the second day of deliberations, which the
Telegraph says followed a six-week trial, a jury of eight women and four men decided that Ates had in 2006 driven from his home in Florida to the home of his former son-in-law Paul Duncsak in Ramsey, New Jersey, shot Mr Duncsak six times, and then fled south to his mother's home in Louisiana.
At the time of Mr Duncsak's murder Ates was 62 years old and weighed 285 pounds . And it was his weight, he also stands at five feet and eight inches tall, that formed the basis of the defense offered up by Ates, namely that he would not have had the energy to commit the murder of which he was eventually convicted. Walter Lesnevich, the attorney acting for Ates, said of his client:
He's a classic overweight, morbidly obese, diabetic man. He medically could not have done it
WCCO/CBS reports Lesnevich as saying that Ates was not physically capable, having climbed the staircase, of shooting with the accuracy that was required to kill 40-year-old Mr Duncsak. Nor, was it argued, could Ates have endured the 21-and-a-half-hour drive to his mother's home, the convicted man stating that he had to take frequent breaks whilst driving.
Ates was arrested at his mother's home in Louisiana and he claimed to have been at that home at the time Mr Duncsak, who was speaking on the phone to his girlfriend when he was killed, was shot the previous day. It was Mr Duncsak's girlfriend who alerted police to the shooting.
However the alibi offered by Ates was refuted by his own sister, who testified on videotape that she had lied about when her brother had arrived at the home of their mother. She said that she lied because her brother asked her to.
With regard to Ates saying that he could not have held the gun steady to shoot Mr Duncsak, after the effort of climbing the stairs,
NPR notes that prosecutors spoke of how Ates was a good shot when he served in the military and had shot a snake in recent times.
According to the
Telegraph a doctor appeared in court to testify that the ability of Ates to shoot a gun with any accuracy would have been impaired by him having climbed the stairs in a brisk manner. Apparently the accused man would have been shaking by the time he confronted Mr Duncsak.
Other evidence produced by prosecutors showed that Ates, who acknowledged that he owned a gun, had purchased books containing information on how to make a gun silencer, and searched the Internet for details on how to pick a lock and commit the perfect crime.
As for motive, there was the question of a bitter custody battle between the victim and Ates' daughter, following the couple's divorce. Alternatively a dispute over money may have been the motive.
Mr Duncsak's mother Sophia has stated that Ates was angry that her son would not lend him $250,000 to keep his golf course in Okeechobee, Florida in business.
Ates, whose defense was described as "nonsense" by Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello, will be sentenced on December 17.
