![]() Because she has served far more than the minimum 8 1/3 years that a conviction on that charge carries, she was set free. Instead of a new second-degree murder trial, however, prosecutors on Wednesday allowed LaPinta to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter. ![]() Marie LaPinta was convicted after prosecutors said she assisted Crociata in disposing of the body in a landfill. The judge agreed that Marie LaPinta was the victim of poor legal representation two decades ago because her lawyer came from the same firm as her co-defendant's attorney.Īt the time, her brother, Leonardo Crociata, was convicted of murder for firing the shots that killed Michael LaPinta. Last month, Anthony LaPinta persuaded a judge to overturn her 1984 conviction and grant her a new trial. "And now that she's going to have the opportunity to be home with us and to see her grandchildren's bedroom and to go into my back yard and do simple things like that, (it) is the greatest joy that we can ever feel." "It's been so long that we've learned to live without her around," he said. "Incredibly overwhelmed" is how Lenny LaPinta described his feelings after the court hearing. George Pataki and operated "," aimed at winning her freedom. She declined to say anything to reporters except, "Thank you."įreedom for the 69-year-old was especially sweet for her two sons: Anthony - who became a lawyer in part to win justice for his mother, and Lenny, a teacher who for years lobbied in vain for a pardon from Gov. ![]() Marie LaPinta left the Suffolk County Jail beaming and gripping a bouquet of roses sent by her three grandchildren. A woman convicted of participating in the 1983 murder of her husband was freed from prison Wednesday after prosecutors agreed she would have been eligible for a battered-wife defense if such laws had been on the books at the time.
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