It was one of the saddest student incidents in recent Fairfield history:’ Mark Fisher ’06 was murdered on a late night trip to New York City in 2003. Fisher’s killers, two New York men, were convicted in 2005.
Now the case has taken an odd turn after the mother of one of the incarcerated men, John Giuca, started flirting with a member of the jury in hopes of getting her son a new trial, according to a New York Times article.
Doreen Giuliano, 46, became ‘Dee Quinn’ and struck up a flirtatious relationship with Jason Allo, a contractor from Brooklyn, who served on the jury that put her son behind bars. Over the course of this relationship, Giuliano was able to record conversation in which she claims prove Allo knew her son prior to the trial, the article said.
Giuliano dyed her hair, joined a gym, went tanning, and assumed a false identity all in an attempt to discover information that would give her son another chance at escaping prison, according to the Times article.
She said that she recorded Allo saying that he knew members of her son’s clique, people who were said to have abused Allo’s brother, but that he kept the information to himself during jury selection.
Fairfield Psychology Professor Dorothea Braginsky, who has served as an expert witness in both state and federal civil courts, said the media might have had a significant influence on actions of ‘a mother driven a bit mad by her son’s conviction.’
‘Clearly she does not accept the verdict, and she has probably seen to many movies and TV shows on which she based her entire strategy to release her son,’ she told The Mirror. ‘The new identity and seduction of a juror is right out of some grade B screenplay.’
Braginsky added that the case is not to be taken lightly, and is a terrible tragedy for everyone whom it involved.
On Oct. 12, 2004, Fisher went into the city and was drinking with his friends and ended up bar-hopping with a female he had met that night, a woman who also knew’ Giuca, the son of Giuliano according to an article in The New York Times.
Fisher was found beaten and shot five times.
Prosecutors at the trial said Giuca, a leader of a local criminal gang, became enraged when Fisher drunkenly sat on a table, and were able to convict Giuca and another man, Anthony Russo for the murder, which has Giuca behind bars for 25 years to life.
Fairfield Associate Psychology Professor Laura Henkel, who is qualified to testify as an expert witness on matters concerning eyewitness identification and potentially false confessions, said she sympathizes with both parents, but acknowledged that each family’s loss is very different.
‘I can understand a mother believing his son is innocent, and I can understand that her loss is great as well, though of a very different sort than what the Fisher family faces, who can never again see their son,’ she said. ‘ ‘I can also state with great certainty that there are many people in jail today who have been wrongfully convicted.’
‘ Henkel cites the ‘Innocence Project,’ which has documented over 200 cases where information later exonerates people after a conviction.
Despite the high number of false convictions, Henkel noted that she did not think the new developments would result in some sort of retrial.
‘I cannot say that I have enough evidence to have any idea if in this a miscarriage of justice has occurred in this case,’ she said.
In recordings obtained by Giuliano over the course of their three month relationship, she claims that Allo admitted to knowing her son prior to the trial, as well as swaying other jurors to cast guilty verdicts, the article said.
These conversations will be the basis of a request, to be filed next week that her son’s conviction be overturned. Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, told The New York Times.
‘They have not filed papers with the trial judge on this matter, and if they do, we will respond,’ said Hynes.
‘Can the statements that the juror allegedly made to’ Giuliano be assumed to be accurate?’ asked Henkel. ‘They were obtained under conditions where he was not sworn into to uphold the letter of the law, and while it is also possible that he told her the truth and that his role as a juror was biased. I do not have the legal expertise to know whether that bias is enough to result in a mistrial or not.’
Aside from the legal ramifications of the development, Henkel echoed the resonating effect the murder had on the Fairfield community, as well as anyone else affected by the tragedy.
‘The death of Mark Fisher is a tragedy beyond comprehension,’ she said. ‘ ‘My heart goes out to his family and friends. I can think of nothing worse than knowing that your son with so much life left was cut down at the hands of another person, and thinking about the pain that his parents carry with them every day breaks my heart.’
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