GUILTY NY - Colleen Meadow, 27, found strangled, Syracuse, 4 March 1985

PastTense

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
1,908
Reaction score
4,250
For seven days, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and defense lawyer Ed Menkin have circled each other in the courtroom while trying a murder from 29 years ago. For Fitzpatrick, the case is personal: he was at the crime scene after Colleen Meadow, 27, was hog-tied and strangled in her Syracuse apartment on March 4, 1985. Then an assistant district attorney, Fitzpatrick also attended her funeral, Meadow's sister said.

Though authorities say the investigation pointed to Meadow's estranged husband, there wasn't enough evidence. The trail went cold. Fitzpatrick went on and was elected the county's top prosecutor in 1991. Then, late last year, new DNA appeared to point again to the estranged husband...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index....rtroom_drama_as_jury_gets_cold-case_murd.html
 
An appeals court today overturned a Georgia man's murder conviction in the strangulation of his estranged wife 31 years ago in Syracuse.

Ronald Meadow, 62, will get a new trial in the death of his wife, Colleen, after a four-judge appeals court unanimously faulted a key ruling by County Court Judge Anthony Aloi during the first trial in 2014.

Meadow had been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index...iumph_by_da_fitzpatrick_blames_judge_err.html
 
Man facing retrial in cold-case murder sues Syracuse DA for 'vindictive' jail arrest

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/03/man_facing_retrial_in_cold-case_murder_sues_syracuse_da_for_vindictive_jail_arre.html

A Georgia man, whose murder conviction in a 1985 cold case was overturned on appeal, is now suing Onondaga County's district attorney for "vindictively" pursuing another charge against him.

When Meadow was returned from Attica prison, he was accused of "stockpiling" anxiety medication in the downtown Syracuse jail.

Meadow did not deny that there were two pills rolled up in a piece of toilet paper under the sheet in his cell. But he said he simply wanted to take the pills later in the day because he had a big court appearance the next morning.

Meadow was sent to solitary confinement for a week for the infraction. The sheriff's office also filed a misdemeanor prison contraband charge against him.

And Fitzpatrick's office pushed to have Meadow's pill case go to trial before his murder case did. Prosecutors wanted Meadow to spend a year in jail for the infraction.

Meadow's appellate lawyer, Andy Frisch, filed a lawsuit this month accusing Fitzpatrick of "vindictive" prosecution for pursuing the pill charge after Meadow had already been punished by the jail.

The retrial is scheduled for June 19th.
 
http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/01/da_fitzpatrick_preparing_for_murder_trial_again_after_1st_conviction_tossed.html

A murder case dear to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick's heart will go to trial again next week after the first jury verdict was thrown out on appeal.

Colleen Meadow was found strangled to death inside her Syracuse apartment in 1985. It was a horrific death, but one that especially affected Fitzpatrick, who was the assistant prosecutor on the scene at the time.
 
DA Fitzpatrick gets 2nd crack at cold-case murder; new opponent seizes on 'Love John'

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/01/da_fitzpatrick_gets_second_crack_at_cold-case_murder_new_lawyer_seizes_on_love_j.html

Frisch didn't assert that another love interest might be responsible. But he suggested that the police investigation -- which went cold for three decades -- wasn't as complete as authorities wanted the jury to believe.

He also attacked the DNA evidence, which he suggested would be as dubious to the jurors as the idea that Colleen had remained single after the breakup.

Fitzpatrick, for his part, refined the same strategy that won him a short-lived victory the first time around. He painted Ronald Meadow as a jealous, jilted husband who convinced Colleen to allow him to remain in her life, only to kill her.
 
'Surprise': After winning appeal, B'ville husband admits killing wife 33 years ago

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/01/surprise_after_winning_appeal_bville_husband_admits_killing_wife_33_years_ago.html

Ronald Meadow spent more than three decades denying his role in the 1985 strangulation of his estranged wife in a Syracuse apartment.

But today, a week into his second trial, the former Baldwinsville resident pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Colleen Meadow's brutal death.

Meadow, who had successfully overturned his 25-year-to-life murder conviction, will now spend 5 to 15 years in prison after a manslaughter plea, Fitzpatrick said. (A manslaughter plea in 2017 typically does not provide a range of possible prison time, but he will be sentenced under the rules in 1985, the DA added.)

Meadow will be sentenced March 8. And this time, he gave up his right to appeal.
 
After 33 years, ex-Baldwinsville man finally apologizes for strangling wife

Ronald Meadow, 63, now of Georgia, spent more than three decades pleading his innocence in Colleen Meadow's death: first at a 2014 murder trial, then during his successful appeal and continuing all the way until Jan. 16 of this year.

That's when he suddenly pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the March 5, 1985 death of his estranged 27-year-old wife. He was sentenced today to 5 to 15 years in prison.

"I take full responsibility and full remorse for everything," Meadow said at sentencing today, turning toward the victim's family in court.

But Colleen's sister, Nancy Moran, told the court that Ron was only sorry for himself.

"His pathetic excuse of an apology after his guilty plea was actually just an attempt to gain sympathy, and he was crying only for himself," Moran said.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
160
Guests online
1,085
Total visitors
1,245

Forum statistics

Threads
589,931
Messages
17,927,830
Members
228,004
Latest member
CarpSleuth
Back
Top