...And Never Let HerGo

significant factor in my sentencing decision today.
    “Thomas J. Capano entered this courtroom on trial for his life,a man presumed innocent, and almost immediately embarked on a course of conduct to rebut that presumption. Intelligent, educated, affluent, accomplished, and charming by reputation, he proceeded to negate all of the advantages his life had provided during the harsh confrontation with reality which is a criminal trial, and eventually revealed an angry, sinister, controlling, and malignant force which dominated the courtroom for months.
    “From the beginning, he systematically and contemptuously degraded all of those who participated in the proceedings: the prosecutors, the witnesses, prison personnel, the Court, and his own attorneys.
    “From direct insults to prosecutors to withering stares at witnesses, continuous claims of privilege from correction officers, constant violation of the rules of the Department of Correction and the limitations established by the Court, and suborning perjury, to the constant undermining of the efforts of the excellent team of lawyers he assembled to represent him, Thomas Capano needed to show everyone that he was in charge and that he held all those who he viewed as adversaries with contempt.
    “In spite of imposing his will on his attorneys in matters where, by law, the decision was rightfully theirs, the possibility remained that he would be acquitted, until he insisted they adopt his unsupported theory of the case in the defense opening statement, which all but required his testimony once a promised credible witness failed to materialize.
    “Again
against the unanimous advice of his counsel, the defendant insisted on testifying and solidifying the remaining area of weakness in the state’s case by presenting a story of Anne Marie Fahey’s death which the jury found incredible.
    “Having sealed his fate on the question of guilt or innocence, he displayed the malevolence of his nature, which became crucial in determining sentence.”
    Judge Lee continued to read, each sentence blasting the man who had made a mockery of his courtroom for well over three months. “The defendant,” he said forcefully, “insisted on a ‘chain-saw’ approach, attacking, maiming, and destroying the character and lives of lovers, friends, and family who had, in his eyes, been disloyal to him in his time of need. . . .
    “The defendant fully expected to get away with murder and, were it not for his own arrogance and controlling nature, he might well have succeeded. . . .
    “If the virtuous Tom Capano ever existed, he no longer did atthat time. He chose to use his family as a shield, make his brothers and his mistress accomplices, use his friends and attorneys for disinformation, attack the character of the prosecutor, make his mother and daughters part of a spectacle in an effort to gain sympathy, chide his brother [Gerry] to ‘be a man’ when the weight of the investigation fell upon him, rely on character assassination when that brother is compelled to testify, and insist that the family ostracize him for telling the truth. . . .
    “He even bullied, berated, and undermined the efforts of his own lawyers, who believed they could gain his acquittal. The defendant has no one to blame for the circumstances he finds himself in today except himself. . . .
    “The selfishness, arrogance, and manipulativeness of Thomas Capano,” Judge Lee continued, “destroyed his own family as well as the Fahey family. He did not hesitate to use his family to commit or suborn perjury or to ask for the mercy he specifically refused to ask for himself. His only remorse is for himself. . . .
    “Tom Capano does not face judgment today because his friends and family failed him. He faces judgment because he is a ruthless murderer who feels compassion for no one, and remorse only for the circumstances he finds himself in.
    “He is a malignant force from whom no one he deems disloyal or adversarial can be secure, even if he is incarcerated for the rest of his life.
    “No one except the defendant will ever know exactly how or why Anne Marie Fahey died. What
is
certain is that it was not a crime of passion but, rather, a crime of control. By all accounts, she had ceased to be the defendant’s lover but had never escaped his sphere of influence, control, and manipulation. Anne Marie Fahey could not be permitted to end the relationship unless he said so. She could not be allowed to reject him.
    “The