Fate of 'Junkie With a Gun' Rests With Jury

For most of us, Feb. 2, 2005 was an ordinary day.

But Christopher DiMeo was in downtown Fairfield that afternoon, “preparing to execute – once again – a well-developed scheme of robbery, and ultimately death,” senior assistant state’s attorney Joseph Corradino told the jury earlier today in Bridgeport Superior Court.

After hearing closing arguments from Corradino and DiMeo’s lead defense attorney, Michael Courtney, the jury was set to receive instructions from Judge Robert Devlin Jr. before they began deliberating the charges against DiMeo for the murders of Tim and Kim Donnelly.

Corradino described to the jury what was seemingly an ordinary day in Fairfield on Feb. 2, 2005: “Liam Burke was working in his law office…Dale Nell was working in her dress shop…Tim and Kim Donnelly were working in their store,” meanwhile DiMeo and his girlfriend, Nicole Pearce, were getting ready to execute their scheme.

“The plan was calculated and cold,” Corradino told the jury Tuesday morning. “This was no spontaneous crime – this was well-thought out and well-organized.”

When the trial began more than three weeks ago, DiMeo’s defense team conceded DiMeo committed the Donnelly’s murders, but has attempted to poke holes in the state’s argument that DiMeo had intended to kill Tim and Kim Donnelly, both 52, in their downtown Fairfield jewelry store, claiming the heroin addict was in a drug-induced haze.

Seeking their sympathy, Courtney described DiMeo as “just a junkie with a gun” to the jury. But Corradino reminded the jurors that sympathy has no place in the deliberation process: rather they are tasked with deciding whether DiMeo is guilty of two counts of murder and one count each of first-degree robbery and capital felony.

Holding up pieces of evidence for the jury and recounting DiMeo’s plan, Corradino showed them pages torn out from the Yellow Pages and a sketch of the Donnelly’s store interior. “It’s amazing in its accuracy,” he said of the drawing done by Pearce.

The state's attorney went on to recall the testimonies of Burke, Nell, Howard Diamond of Fairfield Center Jewelers and Greg French from Henry C. Reid & Son – all of whom were going about an “ordinary” day at their respective places of business.

Referring to Diamond and French, Corradino said, “[DiMeo’s] accomplice, his partner-in-crime, is seen in their surveillance tapes…but the Donnelly’s had no surveillance. They were the ones being surveyed,” as DiMeo drove his black SUV past their Post Road store carrying Pearce...and this,” he said while holding up the semi-automatic gun that killed the Donnelly’s.

“Tim and Kim Donnelly were working in their jewelry store and little did they know that up and down the Post Road was this black SUV with this defendant and his girlfriend preparing to execute this well-planned-out scheme of robbery and death.”

Autopsy photos of the Donnelly’s bare bodies were shown to the jury as Corradino detailed how their wounds were inflicted: Tim Donnelly was shot four times, and Kim Donnelly was shot five times – she also had bullet entry points from both the front and back, Corradino said. “That is intent to kill.”

After shooting the Donnelly’s, DiMeo proceeded to take trays of jewelry and dump them into his bag, and wave to Burke signaling everything was OK. DiMeo then left the store, walked past Burke and said to him, “I’m da uncle.” Burke then went into the store to find Tim Donnelly dead and Kim “breathes her last breaths shortly after his,” Corradino told the transfixed jurors.

Holding up more evidence for the jury, Corradino showed them DiMeo’s gray sweatshirt, black boots and a gun, “all of which bear Tim Donnelly’s blood as proven by DNA testing,” he said.

Despite a 50-to-100-bag-a-day heroin habit, Corradino said DiMeo had a common scheme and intent, pointing to similar plans that were executed by DiMeo with the help of his ex-girlfriend: a robbery in Westbury, N.Y, another in Nanuet, N.Y, and a robbery and murder in Glen Head, N.Y.

Recalling one of the New York crimes, Corradino said of the robbery at the Rockland Jewelry Center, former employee Candice Tchor testified DiMeo yelled at her: “Give me all the f***ing jewelry in there or I’m going to kill you.”

“Look at the conduct of the defendant. He puts jewelry in a bag, waves everything is OK, then he finishes the job,” Corradino said of the Donnelly robbery. “Clearly he intended to kill them…he kills them, and then he robs them.”

In his closing argument, Courtney said the state gives a so-called junkie like DiMeo too much credit.

“You can’t make a master criminal out of a junkie with a gun,” Courtney said, adding that it’s the state’s burden to prove DiMeo had a conscious objective. “That’s what this case was always about. We never ever said he didn’t do this,” Courtney told the jury. “I don’t blame it on Nicole; I don’t blame it on his mother. He did this. He’s just a junkie with a gun. He just wants the jewelry, he wants money, he wants to shoot up. He’s desperate.”

In wrapping his closing argument, Courtney concluded, “There is no common plan, this is not a serial killer. This is a junkie with a gun.”

But Corradino countered: “You don’t have to be a criminal mastermind to have a plan,” warning jurors, “Don’t be tempted to sympathy because of the defendant’s addiction.”

The jury took a recess before lunch and reconvened to receive instructions on the law from Judge Devlin at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The jury has to weigh each of the four charges against DiMeo individually, senior assistant state’s attorney Margaret Kelley told Patch.

If the jury finds DiMeo guilty, the penalty phase will begin Feb. 28.