Figliola trial closing arguments

(Update)

The crown began laying out its side of the Frank Figliola murder case at the John Sopinka Courthouse in Hamilton Wednesday. Figliola’s widow Maria is facing first-degree murder in his 2001 beating death near the family home in Stoney Creek.

Lisa Hepfner has been covering this trial and has the details.

Maria Figliola is accused of hiring a hitman to kill her husband. So we heard a lot about her connections in Stoney Creek and the phone calls made between Figliola & her lover who was a witness in the case, and Figliola and the alleged hit man Daniele di Trapani who has biker gang ties. The timing and number of calls leading up until Frank’s death are suspicious. The crown says there’s no DNA evidence, no fingerprints in this case, but the cell phone evidence is just as reliable.

Maria Figliola hunches in the passenger seat and hides her face as she leaves court. After a day in which she was branded as contemptuous and deceitful even before her husband died.

Court heard that she told co-workers she only stayed married to Frank Figliola because she coveted the money from his Dofasco fund and his insurance policy. And the prosecutor says Frank Figliola did not have a gambling problem, contrary to the defence position that that’s why he was killed.

Figliola passed time at the casino, mostly playing 25 cent slots. Because his Stoney Creek home was lonely. His children were grown and working. His wife was having an affair as he suspected in his diary. But his account was never overdrawn, he never missed a bill payment, and he had access to at least $50,000 at the time of his death.

The crown says someone was waiting for Frank Figliola when he went for his usual walk on a path off Millen Road. He was ambushed. No sign that he struggled. Felled first by a heavy blow to the face with what was likely a pool cue. Then the back of his skull was shattered as he lay face down. His finger broke as if he was trying to protect himself.

Then his trackpants were taken to clean the murder weapon, which was never found. His keys were also missing. And police found his car near the path; locked, with a cash-filled wallet inside. The prosecutor says that wouldn’t make sense if Frank Figliola was killed for gambling debts or was the victim of robbery.

Crown says she lied repeatedly to police and we heard different interviews they had with her in which she contradicts herself.

But the crown is not done; we’ll hear the rest of the crown’s case starting Thursday.