Former N.O. TV/radio broadcaster convicted of murder

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http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/relieved_family_of_victim_awai.html

 

Relieved family of victim awaits Marinello sentence

 

by Michelle Hunter, East Jefferson bureau, The Times-Picayune Sunday December 14, 2008, 9:00 PM

 

As dozens of lawyers, witnesses, investigators, court officials, reporters and trial spectators made their way home from Lafayette on Sunday, Vince Marinello remained behind bars at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, where he has been confined since a jury convicted him of murdering his estranged wife.

 

Relatives of Liz Marinello spent the day after Saturday's verdict making plans to place Christmas poinsettias at her grave later that afternoon, while Vince Marinello's defense attorney, Paul Fleming, stopped by the jail to see his client.

 

"All things considered, he's holding up well," Fleming said of Marinello, 71, a once-popular New Orleans sportscaster and talk radio personality.

The two discussed the case, the process for an appeal and the upcoming sentencing hearing, where 24th Judicial District Judge Conn Regan will hand down the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder and condemn Marinello to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

 

That hearing won't be held until sometime in January, so Liz Marinello's family must wait a few more weeks for their chance to confront the man who meticulously planned her murder and on Aug. 31, 2006, donned a scruffy disguise, stalked her at an Old Metairie office building and then shot her twice in the face.

 

But on Sunday, they seemed to have found a kind of peace, a sense of relief after a tense trial that included heartbreaking photos of Liz -- before and after the murder -- and contentious testimony from Vince Marinello himself.

 

"It's so strange," said Claudia LaBue, Liz Marinello's younger sister, an hour after walking back into her home in Purvis, Miss. "For two years, we've been with this in the back of our minds, waiting for this to get here and be over. Now, this overwhelming weight is lifted. It's over. We've got this done."

 

Marinello's guilty verdict came after a 12-day trial that drew splashy media coverage, even in Lafayette, where the case was transferred because of the publicity it generated in Jefferson Parish. Each morning and evening, Marinello, his attorneys, the prosecutors and the victim's family walked a gauntlet of cameras outside the downtown federal courthouse.

 

The state laid out its case against Marinello, showing jurors the infamous murder checklist he admitted to compiling, which included entries including "Gun -- river on way to mama" and "Mustache OK." Prosecutors presented witnesses who recalled selling to Marinello the rare ammunition found to be the same kind used to kill his wife, and who sold him a mustache a week before the crime.

 

Prosecutors also compared the eerily similar postures and mannerisms of Marinello, seen on videotape during a visit to the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office, to that of the suspect, who was caught on surveillance cameras at the crime scene.

 

Assistant District Attorney Tommy Block used cell phone records to hammer Marinello's alibi that he was driving to a friend's home in Mississippi when the murder occurred.

 

Many watching the trial were surprised when Marinello took the witness stand to testify in his defense. During the heated two-day cross-examination, Marinello gave rambling accounts of his actions, told stories and often verbally sparred with Block. Block aggressively challenged Marinello, calling him liar, while Marinello refused to back down; each accused the other of arrogance.

 

But in the end, Marinello's words held no sway with the jury, at least according to Liz Marinello's family members, who had the chance to speak with jurors after the trial.

 

The unusual encounter was at the request of the jurors, who wanted to personally pass along their condolences, their concerns and some Christmas wishes, said Bertha Norman, Liz Marinello's mother. The two sides formed a receiving line of sorts in the hallway outside of the courtroom, shaking hands and hugging. More than a few jurors were in tears.

 

"Some of them were very emotional," Norman said.

 

Jurors told the family the decision to convict was an easy one with all the evidence presented, LaBue said.

 

"If they could have wrapped it up in the first week, it would have been done," she said, quoting the jurors' sentiments. LaBue said the jurors didn't discuss Vince Marinello with them, except to say, "He didn't help himself at all."

 

"I feel sorry for him, honestly," LaBue said. "I feel sorry for that man. He's ruined so many lives, and he'll never know the hole he left."

 

Next month, Vince Marinello will return to court, but it will be Liz Marinello's family on the witness stand, addressing him during his sentencing hearing.

 

LaBue has already drafted her letter. Liz Marinello's 12-year-old daughter is composing hers now. Norman said her statement is only one word long.

 

"Why? That's what I want him to answer," she said.

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This is one of the craziest things to hit NOLA.