Husband convicted of stabbing wife to death
BY ANN GIVENS | ann.givens@newsday.com The fact that Jose Toxtle's wife admitted having an affair -- and blamed it on her husband's small penis -- still was not enough to help him beat a murder rap Tuesday.
It took a Nassau County jury less than three hours to convict Toxtle, 42, of killing Teresa Barrera, 42, his wife of five years. The mostly male jury rejected a defense lawyer's claim that the affair and subsequent insult would have caused Toxtle extreme emotional disturbance, which would have resulted in a conviction for manslaughter rather than murder.
Prosecutor Anna Acquafredda said Toxtle, who was a lawyer in Mexico before leaving his job and family to marry Barrera, did not commit the crime in the heat of passion. Instead, she said, he suspected for days that his wife was cheating, and concealed a knife behind his back for about 30 seconds while he was waiting to kill her.
"She believes they're having a conversation about their marriage, but he has a knife behind his back," Acquafredda said.
Defense lawyer David Haber of Woodbury said he was disappointed that the jury did not see the distress his client was under.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-listab0625,0,5689945.story
BY ANN GIVENS | ann.givens@newsday.com The fact that Jose Toxtle's wife admitted having an affair -- and blamed it on her husband's small penis -- still was not enough to help him beat a murder rap Tuesday.
It took a Nassau County jury less than three hours to convict Toxtle, 42, of killing Teresa Barrera, 42, his wife of five years. The mostly male jury rejected a defense lawyer's claim that the affair and subsequent insult would have caused Toxtle extreme emotional disturbance, which would have resulted in a conviction for manslaughter rather than murder.
Prosecutor Anna Acquafredda said Toxtle, who was a lawyer in Mexico before leaving his job and family to marry Barrera, did not commit the crime in the heat of passion. Instead, she said, he suspected for days that his wife was cheating, and concealed a knife behind his back for about 30 seconds while he was waiting to kill her.
"She believes they're having a conversation about their marriage, but he has a knife behind his back," Acquafredda said.
Defense lawyer David Haber of Woodbury said he was disappointed that the jury did not see the distress his client was under.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-listab0625,0,5689945.story
