TO: ALL NEWS MEDIA
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: MAY 9, 2019
The Appellate Division, Third Department has unanimously affirmed the December 16, 2016 conviction of Nicholas Pascarella, Jr. following a jury verdict convicting him of the crime of murder in the second degree, a class A-I felony.
On December 27, 2014, the defendant brutally bludgeoned his 66 year old father to death with a baseball bat in the driveway of the family home. The defendant repeatedly struck his father in the head while he begged for mercy and the defendant’s mother watched in horror from her bedroom window. Following a trial prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Kavanagh Pascarella was convicted as charged and subsequently sentenced to a State prison term of 25 years to life.
Defendant’s primary contention on appeal was that the jury’s rejection of his extreme emotional disturbance defense was against the weight of the evidence. However, the Appellate Division, Third Department noted it was solely within the jury’s province to determine whether such defense was applicable and well within the jury’s province to credit the testimony of the witnesses, including the psychiatric experts who testified on behalf of the People and the defense.
The Appellate Division also rejected defendant’s claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because the defense expert was subject to impeachment after it was discovered that the expert failed to turn over notes of his second and third interview with the defendant. Finally, the court rejected Pascarella’s argument that his sentence was unduly harsh and excessive.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by John Ferrara, Esq. of Monticello, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.