New Trial Sought in 2004 Pelosi Conviction
A lawyer for Daniel Pelosi, who was convicted in 2004 of murdering the financier Ted Ammon at Mr. Ammon’s summer house in East Hampton Village, argued in a Brooklyn appeals court on Friday that the conviction should be overturned because of misconduct on the part of the prosecuting attorney.
Richard E. Mischel, the lawyer, told four State Supreme Court Appellate Division judges that the prosecutor, Janet Albertson, was so prejudiced against his client that she violated his right to a fair trial, citing among other things her mentioning during cross-examination that he had threatened her children.
Mr. Pelosi, a Manorville electrician, pleaded guilty after the trial ended to witness intimidation, and 41/2 years were added to his 25-years-to-life sentence. He is incarcerated at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility in Stormville, N.Y., ineligible for parole until 2031.
The murder attracted media attention worldwide, thanks to the circumstances, the protagonists, and the setting, and later became the subject of a made-for-TV movie. It took place in the early morning hours of Oct. 21, 2001, in Robert Theodore Ammon’s bedroom at 59 Middle Lane. He was struck some 35 times with what the coroner surmised was either a baseball bat or a flashlight, and wounded several times by a stun gun as well. Neither weapon was ever recovered.
Mr. Pelosi was living at the time at the Stanhope Hotel, across from the Metropolitan Museum, with Mr. Ammon’s estranged wife, Generosa Ammon, whom he had met the year before while working at her nearby townhouse. The pair took turns with Mr. Ammon sharing the East Hampton house on weekends. The Ammons, who were approaching the end of a protracted, bitter divorce settlement, had two children, adopted in the Ukraine; Mr. Pelosi was married with three children.
Generosa Ammon reportedly believed that her husband was worth some $300 million, and was incensed by his offer of a $23.5 million divorce settlement. She and Mr. Pelosi were profligate spenders, and they were running out of money. In the days leading up to the murder, she was said to be drinking heavily.
It emerged at the trial that there was a system of surveillance cameras in the Middle Lane house, which Mr. Pelosiwas able to access remotely, although, according to the technician who installed them, he did not know how to shut them off. Ms. Ammon knew of the cameras’ existence, as did the children’s nanny and Mr. Pelosi’s sister, Barbara Lukert, though not Mr. Ammon himself. The cameras were reportedly put in to spy on Mr. Ammon.
On the night of the murder, a panel concealing the system was pried open and the hard drive removed. Like the weapons, it was never recovered.
The jury in the 2004 trial was told that Mr. Pelosi had driven out that night to his sister’s house in Center Moriches, leaving a laptop with her that could access the remote cameras. He arrived at 1:20 a.m. and accessed the security system for about 16 minutes. According to the prosecution, a friend of his, Chris Perrino, met him there and drove him in the 1999 Audi that Mr. Pelosi called “the beach car” to Middle Lane. His sister said Mr. Pelosi hugged her on his way out and she felt something concealed in his leather jacket.
Mr. Perrino later admitted to disposing of the jacket and pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigation. He was sentenced to six months in prison. Mr. Pelosi was said to have had the Audi’s interior shampooed and detailed.
The murdered man never changed his will, and Generosa Ammon inherited over $91 million. She died of cancer less than two years later.
Besides arguing on Friday that Ms. Albertson, the prosecutor, had prejudiced the jury with her conduct during the trial, Mr. Mischel claimed on Mr. Pelosi’s behalf that the evidence did not support a guilty verdict.
It could be many weeks before the Appeals Court releases its decision.