Jurors in the third trial of accused murderer Cara Rintala may be allowed to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Prosecutors asked a judge last week to consider instructing jurors that they have this option in deciding Rintala’s case. Two previous trials, in which jurors were permitted only to consider whether Rintala was guilty of first-degree murder, ended with hung juries.
Prosecutors allege that in March 2010, Rintala killed her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, in their Granby home. Her body was found at the bottom of the basement stairs, covered in paint. She had died of strangulation.
A conviction on a first-degree murder charge would mean a jury found Rintala guilty of killing her wife with premeditation. A manslaughter conviction, however, would mean a jury found there was no premeditation.
First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven Gagne said Monday this is the first time the prosecution has requested the manslaughter option. In the first trial, in 2013, the same request was made by Rintala’s defense attorney, David Hoose.
No decision on whether the jury will be allowed to consider the manslaughter charge is expected before the trial begins, Gagne said. Judge Mary-Lou Rup will first want to consider the evidence presented before deciding how to instruct the jurors. Friday’s hearing took place in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield, where Rup is currently seated.
Hoose and Gagne also appeared before Rup on Friday to argue whether Gagne’s new experts, as many as three of them, would be allowed to testify in the trial, due to start in September. Two would offer testimony related to crime-scene staging, and another would offer insight about the chemical nature of paint and how it dries.
Rup was still considering whether to allow the testimony of these new experts Monday afternoon, Gagne said.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com or 413-585-5234.