Closing arguments wrap up in NJ 'fat defense' case

HACKENSACK, N.J. — The lawyer for a Florida man who claims he's too fat to have killed his former son-in-law told jurors Wednesday that all they have to do is look at his client to see that he's obese, old and in no condition to have committed such a murder.

Prosecutors agreed that Edward Ates is far from fit but said he's still capable of methodically planning and carrying out the killing of Paul Duncsak.

"He's not running a marathon. I'll agree he probably can't do that," Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello told the jury during closing arguments. "What he can do is execute his son-in-law."

Prosecutors claim Ates drove from his home in Fort Pierce, Fla., to Duncsak's $1.1 million home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, in August 2006 and shot him as he returned from work. Police quickly suspected Ates and foundhim 24 hours later at his mother's home in Sibley, La.

Defense lawyer Walter Lesnevich said his client — 62 years old and at least 285 pounds at the time of the murder — didn't have the energy to run up a staircase, accurately shoot Duncsak and leave before police arrived, then make a 21-hour drive to his mother's home in order to create an alibi, as prosecutors claim.

"Look at him," Lesnevich told jurors, noting that Ates was 60 pounds heavier at the time of the crime.

Prosecutors also said there was evidence that the killer was hungry: A Burger King hamburger wrapper was found near Duncsak's body, and Duncsak was on his cell phone moments before he was shot asking his girlfriend if she had left the Whopper wrapper there. She said she had not.

Prosecutors say that Duncsak, a pharmaceutical executive, and Ates' daughter, Stacey, were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their divorce and that Stacey had serious money trouble. But Ates' attorney told jurors that a custody agreement had already been settled on by the time of the killing.

Prosecutors say Duncsak had set up a $1.5 million trust for the children that Stacey would control were Duncsak to die.

Ates took the stand in his own defense during the trial, saying he had no reason to want Duncsak dead. He didn't delve much into his weight.

Attorneys expected the case to head to the jury by Thursday afternoon.

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Nov 4, 2009 - 09:20 p.m. EDT

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