New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Dabate guilty in Fitbit murder trial
VERNON — A jury on Tuesday found Richard Dabate, accused of killing his wife in their Ellington home in December 2015, guilty of all charges after deliberating for seven hours in the five-week trial.
Dabate, 45, killed his wife Connie and then tried to hide the crime by claiming a masked intruder had entered their Ellington home, according to evidence presented by Tolland State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky.
Dabate was free on $1 million bond as the trial proceeded. But his bond was increased to $5 million after the verdict. He is now in custody and will have to post the additional $4 million in bond at court to be fitted with electronic monitoring until his sentencing on Sept. 16, court staff said.
The 15-member jury began deliberating Monday afternoon after hearing more than 130 witnesses and viewing more than
600 pieces of evidence. They ended deliberations Monday after about two hours and then returned at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The jury rendered their verdict around 2:40 p.m., court staff said.
Gedansky built the state’s case on electronic evidence, including the couple’s alarm system, which registered movement, the couple’s cellphones, emails, Facebook posts and messages, and the movements recorded by the victim’s Fitbit.
“The thorough and thoughtful examination of technology was key to this investigation and was significant in proving that the defendant was guilty of this crime,” Gedansky said in a statement Tuesday. “In the end, though, this was another case of domestic violence.”
“And though much progress has been made in recent years to support victims and survivors and to hold abusers accountable, these domestic violence homicides are still happening so we must continue to work together to end domestic violence,” he continued.
Dabate was desperate to get rid of his wife because he was having an affair with a woman who became pregnant, Gedansky said Monday.
“It was all about to crash,” Gedansky told the jury. “He comes up with this ridiculous plan to be the hero, the failed hero.”
Dabate maintained his innocence, saying his wife was killed by an intruder. On Thursday, he testified that the intruder, who he claimed had a voice that sounded like actor Vin Diesel, tied him to a chair and stabbed him.
He previously told investigators he eventually managed to burn the intruder, prompting him to flee the home, according to a recording of his interview with state police that was played during the trial. Dabate recounted that he was able to crawl upstairs and alert authorities.
Attorney Trent LaLima, representing Dabate, told the jury Monday there was no evidence his client preplanned the crime and no trace of Dabate’s DNA on several key items, including the basement door and the couple’s safe.
There was DNA from an unidentified source and from an unidentified man on the doorknob to the Dabate’s second-floor bedroom where his client said he found the intruder, LaLima said.
“The DNA is the key to reasonable doubt,” LaLima said.
During the trial, prosecutors presented data from Connie Dabate’s Fitbit device they said did not match the timeline her husband initially provided to investigators.
Richard Dabate initially said he found the intruder in their second-floor bedroom around 9:05 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2015, and his wife came home unexpectedly a few minutes later.
Police were called after Richard Dabate hit the panic alarm on the home security system around 10:05 a.m. and called 911 at 10:11 a.m. When authorities arrived, they found Richard Dabate tied to a metal folding chair in the kitchen. Connie Dabate was found dead in the basement, shot in the head and abdomen.
Her Fitbit continued to register movement until about 10:05 a.m., indicating she was walking through the house and not incapacitated for nearly an hour after arriving home, state police said.