The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jury deliberations begin in CT Fitbit murder trial
VERNON — After two hours of closing arguments, the Ellington “Fitbit” homicide case is now in the hands of the jury.
Attorneys made their final arguments Monday after a five-week trial based on allegations that Richard Dabate, 45, killed his wife Connie in December 2015 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 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.”
The 15-member jury, including three alternates, began deliberating Monday afternoon after hearing more than 130 witnesses and viewing more than 600 pieces of evidence. Gedansky built a 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.
Richard Dabate was charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and making a false statement in April 2017. The case was about to go to trial in March 2020 when the pandemic interrupted court operations.
“This was not an inadequate investigation,” Gedansky said after Dabate’s attorney Trent LaLima repeatedly told the jury that the case had several holes, including answering the question of why his client would kill his wife shortly after a romantic getaway.
“After five weeks, you should know that every T was crossed and every I was dotted,” Gedansky said.
But LaLima 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. “There were six locations where his DNA was not found. No neighbors saw him walk around the house and a neighbor did see a dark green figure pass by her window.”
Prosecutors have presented data from Connie Dabate’s Fitbit device they say doesn’t match the timeline her husband initially provided to investigators.
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.
Dabate initially told police that a man dressed in camouflage confronted him when he came home to pick up his laptop. Dabate told investigators his wife came home while the man was in the house, and she headed for the basement where the family kept a gun. Dabate claimed the intruder chased his wife into the basement, and he witnessed the man shoot her.