Thursday, 4:30 PM
Convicted sex offender sentenced to two life terms for slaying mother, daughter in Woburn
By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
CAMBRIDGE -- A judge made the symbolic gesture today of sentencing an already convicted sex offender to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the rape and murder of a mother and stabbing death of her daughter in Woburn in 2004.
Judge Geraldine Hines told 20 friends and relatives of Joanne Presti, 34, and Alyssa Presti, 12, that she hoped it would be some small comfort to know that Michael Bizanowicz will never be released from prison.
Six immediate family members gave victim impact statements in Middlesex Superior Court, telling Bizanowicz that he was the "personification of evil" and "a disgrace to human race" as they described battles with depression and post traumatic stress syndrome. Lobbying by the Presti family led to a change in the Massachusetts sex-offender law after the arrest of Bizanowicz, who had been convicted in 1998 of raping two children.
"What you didn't know, Mr. Bizanowicz, is that the Presti family and all of its friends don't quit. Just so you know," said Peter Presti, the father and grandfather of the victims, as he faced the defendant.
Bizanowicz, 44, a short, burly man who was dressed in a gray prison jumpsuit, said nothing. He was convicted Tuesday of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated rape. He fatally stabbed Joanne Presti in her Woburn duplex after binding, gagging, and raping her, authorities said. Alyssa, a seventh-grade cheerleader, is thought to have interrupted the attack, according to prosecutors, who alleged that Bizanowicz chased her up the stairs to her bedroom and slashed her throat.
The two bodies were not discovered for three days, when Peter Presti entered the apartment because he had not heard from his daughter. Police arrested Bizanowicz nine days after the killings.
Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Lynch said at trial that Bizanowicz was linked to the crime by DNA taken from both bodies and other physical evidence.
Defense attorney Stanley Norkunas argued that his client and Joanne Presti engaged in consensual sex, that the age of the semen retrieved at the scene was unclear, and that other evidence presented at trial was circumstantial.
Bizanowicz served two years in prison after his 1998 conviction for raping two North Andover children. He had been registered in Lowell as a Level 3 offender, which is the most dangerous ranking and indicates a likelihood to reoffend. He was not required, however, to register in Woburn, where he often visited a girlfriend who was a close friend of Joanne Presti and lived near her apartment.
The Massachusetts sex-offender law now requires registration if an offender lives in a community for 14 days during a year.
