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“The bail remains the same” for 64-year-old Thomas Fabbricatore, Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi told defense attorney Frank Lucianna, who vociferously objected.
“I have the utmost respect for you, your Honor,” Lucianna told DeAvila-Silebi.
But his client, he said, “has lost the presumption of innocence.”
“When this hits the newspapers, which it will, everyone will think he is guilty because it’s $2 million bail,” said Lucianna, his voice rising.
“In 63 years as a defense attorney, I have never had a $2 million bail in a case between a husband and a wife, in a case that may not even be manslaughter,” he continued.
“$2 million bail is punitive, he can’t pay it, and it will rob the defendant of his will to defend himself,” Lucianna said, adding: “Judge, there will be an acquittal.”
Hackensack police said they went to the Fabbricatore residence Nov. 12 on an anonymous “welfare check” and found Elizabeth Fabbricatore, 58, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound.
She later underwent surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center and died Monday morning.
Fabbricatore was initially charged with aggravated assault and ordered held on the $2 million bail. The charges were upgraded to murder after his wife died.
He contends that she fell and hit her head as they were pushing one another during an argument.
STORY: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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