Contos' attorney plans appeal
Published on February 10th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA The prosecutor claimed that he was a cold-blooded killer, intent on saving his marriage and avoiding child support by killing his mistress and her two sons. The defense attorney said the alleged murderer has a troubled childhood and did not pre meditate the three gruesome murders.
The jury and judge in the murder trial of Peter Contos sided with the state in convicting the former Stoneham resident of three counts of first degree murder last Thursday and sentencing him to three consecutive life sentences on Friday.
"It's just one of those situations where it's such a tragedy and there's only so much you can do through a court of law," said Assistant District Attorney Richard Grundy who prosecuted the case. "We got a conviction and we got three life sentences. "You've got to feel good about that, but you see how little it does for the family in a tragedy like this."
Contos, 34, killed his mistress, Catherine Rice, 35, and her two sons, Benjamin Rice, 4, and Ryan Contos, two months, in the early morning hours of September 27, 1997. Catherine was found strangled in her bathtub by police. The two sons were found soon after, also strangled, in Contos' foot locker on the grounds of Otis Air Force Base in Bourne.
According to Stephen Hrones, the defense attorney in the case, the way in which Contos dis posed of the boys bodies was the most damning evidence against him.
"We can see that he did it,n the attorney told the Independent. The two bodies in the locker ruled out any defense other than the diminished capacity." To this end, Hrones tried to persuade the jury that Contos "snapped" when, after numerous attempts to break off the affair, Catherine refused to accept a life without him. The prosecution claimed that Contos not only wanted to sever his ties with his mistress, but also wanted to avoid the responsibility of fathering her two children.
DNA evidence proving that both Benjamin and Ryan were fathered by Contos were presented to the jury.
"It's my opinion that these murders were planned for some time," Grundy offered when questioned about the case. "He knew that as long as that kid
(Benjamin) was alive and had live tissue, he was going to be responsible and he wanted to get rid of that responsibility."
Aside from a plethora of evidence linking Contos to the murders, the prosecutor said, the most compelling indicator of Contos' premeditation were his statements to state police soon after his arrest. The taped inter rogation was played for the jury as the last piece of evidence presented by the prosecution. "They heard it from the horse's mouth," Grundy said of the tape. "I think hearing him was most beneficial to the jury.
"He lays out his mindset of a plan to kill this family and get away with it."
Hrones says that this evidence may have been too heavily relied upon.
"A lot of people lie to police," he said. "It (the confession) doesn't mean it's premeditation. The thing that really did us in was the kids."
Grundy also presented semen samples taken from Catherine Rice's body which indicated that Contos had had sex with the woman just hours prior to the murder. This evidence, the attorney stated, goes against the defense's claim that the former Air National Guard technical sergeant wanted to break off the affair.
Hrones now says that his client was treated unfairly by the system and filed an appeal on Monday. He claims that the boys' bodies were found illegally since a search warrant for Contos' foot locker was never requested or issued. Hrones also says that the prosecution failed to allow Contos to contact his lawyer when he was interviewed by a psychologist and denied his attempts to stop the questioning.
"We have some real good issues," Hrones said.
"That's going to be a key issue on appeal."
Grundy responded by saying that the prosecution followed normal procedures in the inter view and, if there was a mistake, it was on the part of the defense attorney.
"It's interesting that none of that was mentioned prior to his client's receiving three consecutive life sentences," he said of Hrones' claims.
"If he (Contos) didn't know about his rights, that would be a shortfalling on Mr. Hrones part as far as advising his client." Contos, who had lived on Pearl Street with his wife and in-laws at the time of the murders, has shown remorse for his crimes, his attorney said.
"He broke down many times when he's talking to me and to his psychologist," Hrones said. "He preferred not to do that (apologize to the Rice family) because no words would be adequate to console the parents. He prefers to do that privately if that possibility ever arises."
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