White River Junction
Fucci, through his attorney, Dan Sedon, went before Judge Robert P. Gerety Jr. in April and asked to have his 10- to 15-year sentence reduced to six to 15 years.
At the time, Fucci said the court failed to consider a number of factors into his sentence, including an untreated mental illness at the time he set up a plot to kill Bruce Weissman and Joy Barney in summer 2011.
In a ruling issued on Wednesday, Gerety said he wasn’t convinced at the April hearing that Fucci’s sentence should be reduced.
“There is no question that the conduct that formed the factual basis for these convictions was extremely serious conduct involving an unsuccessful criminal effort by the defendant to kill a member of the community,” Gerety wrote in his three-page ruling, filed in Windsor Superior Court. “The court continues to be persuaded that the proper judicial response to (the) defendant’s behavior should include substantial punishment and incapacitation.”
At the April hearing, a mental health professional, a friend of Fucci’s and Fucci himself took the stand and provided additional testimony to Gerety, who imposed Fucci’s 10- to 15-year sentence in March 2013. Fucci that month pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing justice and two counts of inciting another to commit a felony.
In summer 2011, Fucci paid Sean Meiklejohn to kill Weissman and Barney, but the plan was foiled when Meiklejohn notified police.
In addition to not giving serious weight to mitigating factors, such as the collapse of his business and lack of a prior criminal record, Fucci in April argued the court lacked testimony on how mental illness played a role in his criminal conduct and the uselessness of punishing behavior caused in part by a mental illness.
Fucci claimed a slew of factors worsened his depression and anxiety and changed him.
“The court did give consideration to the defendant’s emotional state and to his remorsefulness when the original sentence was imposed,” Gerety wrote in his ruling.
Gerety also wrote that he expected the defense in April to present testimony about Fucci’s mental illness. He wrote that the defense missed the mark.
“The court’s expectation was that (the) defendant would present expert testimony establishing that the defendant suffers from a particular mental illness and that the failure to provide mental health treatment would have a negative impact on public safety and cause the defendant to be at a higher risk to re-offend otherwise,” Gerety wrote. “The evidence presented was not persuasive on this point.”
The court imposed a sentence that was less than the maximum time Fucci could have received, Gerety wrote, and instead accepted a lesser sentence that was outlined in a plea agreement.
Weissman, one of the victims in the case, said on Thursday he felt Gerety made the right decision by denying Fucci’s motion for a reduced sentence.
When an official called on Thursday to notify him of the ruling, “it was a sign of relief,” he said.
“This gives us some more time to figure out how to handle all of this,” Weissman said.
If Gerety had granted the motion, Fucci could have been released next fall. He is eligible for release in 2021.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.