Before guilty verdict, slay defendant is hospitalized
New trial sought in killing linked to love triangle
WOBURN - Yesterday, hours before a jury found a man prosecutors called a jealous husband guilty of hiring a hit man to kill his estranged wife's boyfriend, the defendant was taken to a hospital with stroke symptoms. His lawyer said that because of the illness, James Brescia deserves a new trial.
"A person who suffers a stroke while he is in the middle of testifying at his own trial is, in my opinion, unable to testify in an appropriate manner and would not be able to have a fair trial as a result," Brescia's lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., said minutes after the guilty verdict was rendered in Middlesex Superior Court.
Brescia, of Waltham, who had taken the stand in his own defense, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder with the alleged gunman in the case, Scott Foxworth, who will be tried in the fall.
Prosecutors said Brescia paid Foxworth $10,000 to kill Edward Schiller, 39, of Framingham, after Schiller had rekindled a romance with his high-school sweetheart, Brescia's estranged wife, Stacey. Stacey had filed for divorce from Brescia.
Schiller was found on Jan. 13, 2006, slumped in the driver's seat of his Nissan sedan in a garage near the insurance agency in Newton where he worked. He had been shot once in the head.
Brescia was not in court yesterday, having been taken to an undisclosed hospital at 10 p.m. Monday. Carney said Brescia had undergone brain imaging that showed "within 100 percent certainty" that his client had suffered a stroke.
Carney said Brescia probably suffered the stroke in the early morning hours of Friday, on the second day he took the witness stand in his own defense. The lawyer said that his symptoms grew worse over the following days and that someone at the jail finally sought medical care. He was expected to be released yesterday or today.
"He even stated from the witness stand how bad a headache he had," Carney said. "The basic components of the defense he presented quite well on Thursday, which he could not remember having said when he was back on the stand on Friday."
Carney plans to ask for a new trial and file an appeal. Appeal is automatic in any first-degree murder conviction.
Juror Patricia L. Byrne, 60, of Bedford, said that Brescia's own testimony and the prosecution's evidence, taken in its entirety, convinced her to support a verdict of guilty.
"After the defendant admitted he had paid the alleged shooter to beat up Ed Schiller, all of a sudden the whole story fell into place," said Byrne, who brokers vacation rentals in Italy. She added: "Only the prosecution's story matched the evidence."
Byrne said she did not know how a new trial could change the outcome if Brescia still admitted he paid Foxworth.
Byrne said that the prosecution's evidence of bank transactions, cellphone calls, and pay phone calls constituted "layers and layers of evidence that, when you stacked them up, a pattern emerged," she said.
She also said there were discrepancies in Brescia's testimony. "There were many things that didn't wash," she said.
Following the verdict, District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said: "We are pleased with today's verdict and thankful to the jury. This was both an extremely fact-intense and emotional trial, and they carefully considered the evidence and returned a just verdict.
"Ed Schiller followed his heart and returned to be with the love of his life," Leone said. "And for that, because of the jealous, vengeful, and cowardly acts of James Brescia, Ed Schiller was brutally murdered and taken away from his family and friends."
Schiller's brother also read a statement.
"We're relieved to know this coward, James Brescia, will serve the rest of his life in prison," said Carl Schiller. "Justice has been served today."
Using a trail of records for cellphone calls and bank accounts, prosecutors showed that Brescia had paid Foxworth and conspired to murder Schiller to get him out of the way so he could attempt to reconcile with Stacey. 