Too fat to be a killer?

Updated on: 02 November,2009 08:10 AM IST |
Agencies |

A 130-kg man accused of killing his son-in-law claims he could not have committed the crime because he was too fat.

A 130-kg man accused of killing his son-in-law claims he could not have committed the crime because he was too fat.

Edward Ates is accused of shooting Paul Duncsak, a 40-year-old pharmaceutical executive, in 2006.

But Ates plans to tell jurors at his trial that he wouldn't have had the energy needed to climb and descend the staircase where prosecutors say the lethal shots were fired from.

An attorney for Ates claims that in 2006, the 62-year-old, who tipped the scales at 130 kg, was in such bad physical shape that couldn't have pulled off the shooting or the fast getaway the killer made.

Custody dispute

At the time of the killing, Duncsak and Ates' daughter, Stacey, were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their 2005 divorce.

Prosecutors claim Ates drove from Fort Pierce, Florida, to Duncsak's home in New Jersey, in August 2006 and shot him as he came home from work.

Although police arrived at the scene within minutes, the killer was gone. Police suspected Ates and found him 24 hours later at his mother's home in Louisiana.

Lesnevich said the trajectory of the bullets shows that Ates wasn't physically capable of the shooting. He said the shooter first fired from a staircase leading to the basement.
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That was followed by several shots fired head-on. In order to do that, Ates would have had to run up the stairs.

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