Defense attorney asks judge to acquit Michelle Lodzinski of murdering her 5-year-old-son.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Michelle Lodzinski's attorney, Gerald Krovatin argued Wednesday morning that a judge should throw out the murder case against his client because the state had not proven she murdered her 5-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey in 1991
Speaking the day after the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office rested its case against Lodzinski, Krovatin told Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves that the state has failed to prove the essential elements of the crime of first degree murder."
"They have failed to show that Miss Lodzinski caused the death of her son," he said.
He pointed out prosecutors concede the case against his client is circumstantial with no direct evidence, but he said the evidence they presented--three witnesses who identified a blanket found with the boy's remains as one they saw in Lodzinski's apartments--is not enough.
"It doesn't amount to the kind of evidence to allow a jury to draw reasonable or rational inferences that Miss Lodzinski caused the death of her son," Krovatin argued. "To permit this case to go to the jury is to invite rampant, vile speculation."
But, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott La Mountain told the judge that granting Krovatin's motion would be like "rewarding his client for placing her child in a swamp so there was nothing for the state to find to determine how he died."
"She should not be given a gold star and a pat on the back for that," La Mountain said.
He said besides the three witnesses who identified the blanket, prosecutors also presented the various different statements that Lodzinski gave to police, beginning May 25, 1991 when she reported her son missing from a carnival in Sayreville.
"We have no confession from her," La Mountain said. "What we have is a confession of lies. She continually lies and turns police in the wrong direction. No mother does that."
Timothy Wiltsey's skeletal remains were found in a creek in a swampy area of Raritan Center in Edison 11 months after he was reported missing, along with sneakers similar to those Lodzinski said he was wearing when he disappeared, the blanket, remnants of clothing, and a pillow case.
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2016/04/medical_examiner_says_timothy_wiltsey_was_killed.html
Lodzinski was charged with her son's murder in August 2014, but witnesses in the trial said she was the prime suspect early in the investigation after she gave several different versions of his disappearance within the first several weeks. The prosecutor's case reopened the case in 2011 and it was the reinvestigation that led to the indictment against her, according to testimony in the trial.
Lodzinski has always maintained she had nothing to do with her son's disappearance or death.
The judge said he would make his decision on the motion sometime Wednesday afternoon.
The trial is set to resume Thursday morning when Krovatin begins presenting the defense witnesses.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.