Accused killer's lawyer argues self defense
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By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: June 20, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — When David Boglioli shot and killed his neighbor and former friend George Riccitelli, it was a patently illegal act, Windham County Deputy State's Attorney David Gartenstein said Friday during his opening arguments.
"The defendant shot and killed George Riccitelli; unlawfully, intentionally and unjustifiably," said Gartenstein.
Not so, countered Boglioli's lawyer, Matthew Harnett of Rutland, who said that Boglioli was defending himself from a volatile, unpredictable, dangerous and armed man, whom he shot in self-defense, and thus is innocent of second-degree murder.
There was a time, Harnett said, when Boglioli, 60, and Riccitelli, 51, were friends and hung out and drummed together.
Boglioli had rhythm, Harnett said, and Riccitelli didn't, but that isn't what pulled the friends apart years ago. Something else did, although Harnett said Boglioli didn't know what it was.
But last Aug. 15, a Friday morning, Boglioli pulled out a Ruger .357 handgun and shot his former friend, turned tormentor to death after Riccitelli had snuck up on him, armed with a pickax handle, Harnett said.
Both attorneys focused on the ax handle, with Gartenstein noting it was found in a corner of a trash container, and that none of the immediate witnesses reported seeing it in Riccitelli's hand.
But Harnett told the jury that the ax handle was found on top of Boglioli's white bag of trash, meaning that it was deposited after the confrontation in the driveway serving the handful of homes where the two men lived.
The shooting capped years of escalating bad feelings between the two: Boglioli accused Riccitelli of putting a cat into his house to harm his pet birds and hamster. When he complained about it, cat excrement appeared on his doorstep, Harnett said.
Harnett suggested that any one of three people, all close friends of Riccitelli who were openly hostile to Boglioli, had the motivation and enough time to pick up the ax handle and hide it in the trash before the police arrived.
Boglioli, whom Harnett described as a recluse and a "difficult man," left the security of his small home for few things – taking out his trash and waiting for the bus to take him on his errands. Riccitelli had a long criminal record, was known as "Crazy George," and grew pot in his apartment in Willis' home. Police found more than 160 plants after Riccitelli's death.
Harnett told the nine women and three men on the jury that Boglioli's first statements to police mentioned the ax handle, although police at that time couldn't see it.
The defense attorney said that the ax handle, when tested by the state crime laboratory, didn't reveal anyone's fingerprints or DNA, Harnett said.
The three people in question included Kenny Willis, who was Riccitelli's landlord, housemate and friend, Harnett said, and who had been trying to evict Boglioli, as well as two women, Deb Valois and her daughter Tiffany Oxley, who were loyal to Riccitelli and Willis.
The confrontation between Boglioli and Riccitelli was over a half-dozen marijuana plants, which Riccitelli had put on Boglioli's porch the night before, and which Boglioli threw in the driveway, infuriating Riccitelli.
The first officer on the scene, Wilmington Police Officer Matthew Morano, described first coming on the Greenwich Road scene and what he found, and how he arrested Boglioli without incident.
Harnett took pains to show that from the first 911 calls from Valois and another neighbor, it was more than three minutes before Morano got to the rural development off Higley Hill Road. The trash container was only 15 to 20 feet away from where Riccitelli fell.
Gartenstein noted that Boglioli told police later that day, "I did you guys a favor," and "yeah, I would do it again."
The trial, which started Monday with jury selection, is expected to last another two weeks.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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