Conn. inmate seeks DNA testing with unusual twist: He wants authorities to prove victim’s ID

Conn. lifer seeks DNA testing _ on murder victim

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Alex Palmieri was 15 when witnesses say he was repeatedly beaten with a baseball bat in a Bridgeport garage in 1984.

“But boss! But boss!” he pleaded as he fell to the floor, they said.

The teenager, who had shown promise as an opera singer, was then stuffed into a refrigerator that was dumped in Bridgeport Harbor, the witnesses said. Two years later, a sneaker and foot bones washed ashore. His girlfriend identified the sneaker as Palmieri’s.

Now, 25 years later, the man convicted of the killing is trying to win a new trial with DNA testing. But there’s an unusual twist: Thomas Marra Jr. wants DNA tests done on the bones to determine whether authorities actually found the victim.

The Connecticut Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday on Marra’s appeal.

A Superior Court judge last year decided against requiring Palmieri’s brothers to give DNA samples to be compared with the remains.

Kenneth Fox, Marra’s attorney, said for now he is only seeking access to the bones to have them tested to see if DNA can be extracted. He argues in court papers that comparing the DNA samples with samples from the victim’s family will show the bones did not belong to the victim.

DNA testing was not available at the time the bones were found.

DNA cases typically involve showing whether a defendant matches physical evidence from a crime scene. Fox says the case is unusual because it involves using DNA to challenge the identity of the victim.

“We want to show they’re not Alex Palmieri’s bones,” Fox said. “The bones were the state’s only real evidence that Palmieri was dead, assuming you believe they were his bones.”

The Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association is supporting the appeal, saying in court papers the decision may affect the availability of DNA testing “for other present and future criminal defendants.”

Prosecutors didn’t immediately return telephone messages left by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

In rejecting the DNA request last year, the Superior Court judge said there was overwhelming evidence that Marra fatally beat Palmieri and that it was unlikely DNA evidence would have affected the outcome of the trial.

Fox acknowledges that a favorable DNA test would not prove Marra’s innocence, but said it would weaken the account of witnesses that he was beaten and that his body thrown in the harbor.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that convicts do not have a constitutional right to get evidence for DNA testing, even if it might conclusively prove guilt or innocence. In its 5-4 decision, the high court said states already are dealing with the question of how much access defendants should have to DNA evidence and that the federal government did not need to override those state legislative efforts.

Connecticut state Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the General Assembly’s judiciary committee, said lawmakers had not examined the question of compelling people who are not suspects to give DNA samples.

“I suppose if it were my brother I’d be curious to know, but I think the court has an obligation to respect the privacy of the victims,” said Lawlor, D-East Haven, who also is an attorney. “On one hand, you’re talking about the court ordering the victims’ relatives to do something they may not want to do. On the other hand, it may turn out to suggest their brother is still alive. It’s a hard question to answer.”

Marra, 56, is serving a 125-year prison sentence. Authorities say he feared Palmieri was preparing to testify against him about an interstate car-theft ring.

Authorities have said Palmieri looked up to Marra and that Marra took advantage of him.

“Marra was like Fagin and Alex was his Oliver Twist,” Robert Lacobelle, who prosecuted Marra, told The Connecticut Post in 2005.

During the trial, Marra argued that blood stains found on his garage floor came from live chickens that were fed to a cougar he kept there. The defense also claimed Palmieri might still be alive, living in Italy or Argentina.

Fox wasn’t pressing that argument any more and has conceded that Palmieri is probably dead given the passage of time.

“There’s reason to believe that Palmieri was killed by somebody else,” Fox said.

Associated Press writer Stephanie Reitz contributed to this story.