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Last year, Dutchess County resident Nicole Addimando, now 32, of the Town of Poughkeepsie, was sentenced to a term of 19 years to life in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the fatal shooting of her former boyfriend, Christopher Grover.
However, an appeals court issued a decision this week reducing her sentence to seven-and-a-half years with five years of parole after it was determined she should be sentenced under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act.
While her sentence is reduced, the conviction itself stands. She remains remanded to the Bedford Hills Correction Facility.
“The County Court found that while it was presumed the defendant may have been abused in her life, the choice she made that night and the manner in which the murder occurred outweighed what the court referred to as the defendant’s 'undetermined abusive history,’ the court's decision states.
"Upon our extensive review of the evidence, we reject the County Court’s methodology, approach, application, and analysis of the three factors, as set forth under" the survivor's act.”
“The defendant is a 32-year-old mother of two young children, and has no known prior arrests or convictions. The defendant testified that she was repeatedly physically and sexually abused by Grover, as well as by other men in her past, and reportedly was sexually assaulted at the age of 5," the judges wrote in the decision.
"However, our examination under this factor does not end there. We also consider, among other things, the details of the crimes, including that the defendant shot Grover in the head as he was lying on the couch.
“Grover’s fatal injury was described as a hard contact wound in which the gun fired by the defendant was pressed against Grover’s skin, leaving a muzzle imprint."
On Sept. 28, 2017, Addimando flagged down a patrol officer in the area and said that “she had been involved in an incident with her boyfriend,” according to the Town of Poughkeepsie police. Officers proceeded to check on Grover and found him dead in their Van Wagner Road apartment.
Addimando has never denied the shooting, but alleges that she did so after being worn down by years of physical and emotional abuse, though no evidence has been provided to prove that Grover was the abuser.
The couple had two children at the time of the murder.
Grover, a 2006 graduate of Red Hook High School in Northwest Dutchess, was a head coach at Mr. Todd’s Gymnastics in Poughkeepsie.
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