Shelton man gets 25-year sentence in death of wife
MILFORD — Almost three years after fatally shooting his wife, Lisa, in their Shelton home, an apologetic Thomas J. Infante Jr., 55, was sent to prison Tuesday for 40 years, suspended after 25 years.
With a large photo of the victim propped up on a chair, Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti sentenced Infante for first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. Upon his release, Infante must serve five years of probation; if he violates that, he must serve the remaining 15 years of his sentence.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Cornelius P. Kelly presented the state’s case. Infante “took the life of his wife and the mother of his children” on Sept. 27, 2015.
According to a court document, Infante at the time was a “very depressed” man who “had not planned to do this but just snapped.” He then fled hundreds of miles, but appeared a day later at Shelton police headquarters in a blood-covered T-shirt, the document said. The couple had been married about 26 years, it said, and Lisa Infante recently had hired a divorce attorney.
Lisa Infante, 53, was found dead in the master bedroom of the couple’s home. The family dog scratching on her bedroom door led a family member, and ultimately police, to her body, the document said. Lisa Infante was facedown, wrapped in a blanket, on her bed. She had been shot in the back of her head, which was covered in blood. She had no pulse and her body was cold, the document said. A .380-caliber bullet casing was found at the scene, it said.
Infante has been held in lieu of $1.5 million bail at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers.
Before sentencing, a tearful Infante apologized to all the family members involved and said he was sorry, and several people described the Infantes’ relationship.
Thomas Infante’s sisterin-law, Lynne Everlilthe, said the couple’s relationship was strained “from as far back as I can remember” and their four children were raised in a “toxic” lifestyle.
Lisa Infante’s slaying followed the death of their mother in 2014, and earlier, their father, Everlilthe said. “I do not want to sound hateful, or over-emotional,” Everlilthe told the judge. Everlilthe recalled a time almost 40 years ago when she watched Infante using a .22 rifle to shoot four crows on a clothesline. “The defendant was never a pleasure to be around,” she said.
“He executed my sister with a bullet to the back of her head,” Everlilthe said. “He left two of her children to discover her body,” she said.
Ultimately, Everlilthe said she is the legal guardian of her sister’s minor children.
“In an ideal world, he would be sent to prison for the rest of his natural life. ... Murder is permanent and forever.”
Infante’s attorney, John R. Gulash of Gulash & Riccio in Bridgeport, said his client “is very involved with religious services” in prison. After the shooting, Infante took off to end his life, Gulash said. The couple picked fights with each other, he said. “Nobody deserves to die.”
As for the couple’s children, “I see them ache all the time,” Gulash said. “The children lost a lot. ... They don’t deserve to lose their dad, too.”
The couple’s daughter said her father loved her mother, but she doesn’t remember when they got along. “I saw a lot of pain in both of them,” she said. She remembers Infante as the father who brought her Valentine’s Day presents every year, who dreamed of taking care of special needs kids. “I miss his laugh,” she said. There was a lot of verbal abuse in the family, the daughter said.
Her father was “de- stroyed” by his wife’s affair and desire for a divorce, she said. “My mom would push him away. All he needed was comfort, and he wasn’t getting it,” she said.
Infante didn’t get out of his bed and suffered from a mental illness, she said. “He never would have done any of this with a clear mind,” she said. “To this day, he still has no idea of what happened.”
“He has to pay, but if you know him ... you would know he’s not a bad person. I would do anything to have him walk me down the aisle when I get married,” she said.
For his part, Infante thanked his sister-in-law for taking his children after the shooting, acknowledged his “eloquent daughter,” and said he aimed to reach out and help as many people as he could in prison. He described having to wake up every morning with the realization of what he had done.
When handing down the sentence, Iannotti countered: “People for the most part don’t take the life of another person.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t keep the photographs of your four children in your head and understand what was happening,” Iannotti said.
“Not only did you take their mother away, but you took yourself away,” the judge said.
As for the special relationship he had with his daughter, the judge told Infante: “The only one who could have taken that away, sir, is you, and you successfully achieved that. You get up every morning and feel the pain. Their pain is with them for the rest of their lives,” Iannotti said.
Infante originally was charged with murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. The terms of the plea were worked out by Ansonia-Milford Judicial District State’s Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor and Gulash.