Duquesne man guilty of murdering estranged wife
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani had no doubts that James Karr purposely set the fire at his estranged wife’s Duquesne home.
But whether Karr killed Maureen Karr with specific intent and premeditation, the judge wasn’t sure — even though police found her neck, hands and feet bound with wire.
Instead, the judge said, the binding could have been part of the cover-up plot Karr claimed in his confession.
So, instead of finding Karr guilty of first-degree murder and having to contemplate whether the defendant ought to be sentenced to death, Judge Mariani on Monday found Karr guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Formal sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20.
Karr, 50, was taken into custody a few hours after investigators found Ms. Karr’s body
inside her burned-out home on Friendship Street early Dec. 30, 2014.
The two had separated, and Ms. Karr, 56, had previously sought a temporary protection-from-abuse order against him after he slashed her tires Dec. 12.
Prosecutors also presented evidence that Karr had previously threatened to burn Ms. Karr’s house down. On the day of the fire, Dec. 29, they were scheduled to be in court on the PFA.
Karr, the prosecution said, had hoped his wife would agree to counseling and to get back together. When that didn’t happen, said Deputy District Attorney Mike Sullivan, Karr appeared to have a seizure, and the case was rescheduled.
During closing arguments, Mr. Sullivan argued that Karr was guilty of firstdegree murder, even if his initial intention in entering the house that night was just to talk, as he claimed to police.
At some point, the prosecutor continued, Karr bound his wife with wire, doused her with vodka, left a trail of liquor to the door and lit it.
“I don’t know that you can conclude anything other than that James Karr wanted Maureen Karr dead.”
Karr told detectives in his statement that his wife attacked him that night with an ax, and that he shoved her to protect himself. He said she struck her head, and he thought she was dead. He set the fire, he said, to cover that up.
But the prosecutor discounted that, saying that part of Karr’s statement was not credible.
“The fire is what killed Maureen Karr,” Mr. Sullivan said. “She was alive and breathing. I can’t stress that enough.”
Defense attorney Christopher Patarini asked the judge to disregard Karr’s statement in its entirety because, he said, it wasn’t given voluntarily.
Karr was held in a police interview room for more than 13 hours that day, asking for an attorney at least five times.
At one point in the interrogation video, Allegheny County Police Detective Michael Feeney said to him, “You can’t hide behind this attorney thing.”
Mr. Sullivan said he couldn’t defend the statement.
But, he continued, it wasn’t until more than six hours later that Karr knocked on the doors and requested to talk to detectives.
“He initiates that last set of questions,” the prosecutor said. “When you look at the totality of the circumstances, we see a man who wants to talk.”
Although Judge Mariani said he found Detective Feeney’s comment to be “improper” and “outrageous,” he still found Karr’s confession to be voluntary.
“There’s no doubt in my mind, he’s guilty of murder in the second degree,” the judge said. “I have a doubt whether he committed murder in the first degree.”
Chris Lion, Ms. Karr’s sister, said the family had been hoping for a first-degree conviction and for Karr to be sentenced to death row — if only for the isolation he would endure there.
But with second-degree, they recognized that Karr’s appeals will be limited, and so they were pleased with the verdict.
Ms. Karr, whose nickname was Reene, worked as a receptionist at a medical office and also as a home health aide, Ms. Lion said.
She was one of seven siblings.
“She made you feel special,” Ms. Lion said. “That’s just the way she was.”