On the Radar
Man pleads guilty in Marino killing
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by Associated Press
Monday, December 8, 2008
A college dropout from Minnesota pleaded guilty Monday to fatally stabbing a 31-year-old Madison resident in his home — a stranger killing that shocked the city and remains something of a mystery.
Adam Peterson, 20, acknowledged that he walked into Joel Marino’s home near the University of Wisconsin campus and used a knife to stab him in the abdomen and chest on Jan. 28. Marino, a musician and employee of a medical device company, was found dying in a nearby alley.
It remains unclear why Peterson went to Marino’s home that day, as the two had no prior relationship. Prosecutors have said Peterson was attempting a burglary, but the families of both men said Monday the homicide remained inexplicable.
Peterson’s attorney, Dennis Burke, said his client has been diagnosed as psychotic and schizophrenic but was able to tell right from wrong on the day of the slaying. Therefore, Burke said he concluded that pleading not guilty by reason of mental insanity was not going to succeed as a defense.
“Mr. Peterson was sane and rational at the time he committed this crime,” he said.
Still, the attorney said he had been preparing for a January trial when Peterson decided to enter the guilty plea.
Marino’s death went unsolved for months and, combined with two other unsolved and high-profile murders, prompted many city residents to take safety precautions.
Detectives started to focus on Peterson after he showed up on a Madison Police Department bulletin of potentially mentally ill residents. He matched the description of a man seen fleeing Marino’s home on the day of the stabbing and was arrested in June.
Peterson confessed to the crime, and police said his DNA matched a sample taken from the 4-inch paring knife used to kill Marino.
Peterson, who dropped out of UW-Madison last year, responded “yes, sir” when asked whether he understood the consequences of his guilty plea. He did not make any statement to the court.
Peterson, of Stillwater, Minn., appeared disheveled and wore a sleeveless garment given to inmates at risk of committing suicide. He has been on suicide watch in isolation at the Dane County Jail since September, when he attempted to hang himself.
Burke said Peterson has been unhappy living in isolation and hopes to be treated better in the state prison system, where he was to be transferred after the plea. But Burke said Peterson’s living conditions were not so oppressive as to coerce him into pleading guilty.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge James L. Martin said Peterson would be sentenced in the next 60 to 90 days and face mandatory life in prison. Martin will have to decide whether Peterson should ever qualify for parole but he said, at a minimum, Peterson must spend 20 years behind bars.
Prosecutors said they would ask Martin to imprison Peterson for 40 years before allowing him to petition for supervised release.
The victim’s father, Louis Marino, said Martin should give the maximum sentence of life without parole. He said he was relieved to avoid a trial but nothing will ever bring closure.
“The sadness will never go away,” he told reporters after the hearing. “He took 54 years of my son’s life away … He destroyed the life of my family.”
Louis Marino, who sobbed at times during the court hearing, said he still did not understand what caused the crime and believed “it was a random act.”
Peterson’s parents and twin brother also attended the hearing. Afterward, his father Melvin Peterson called the guilty plea “a step toward closure” for both families involved.
He said he hopes his son receives a “just and equitable sentence” short of life behind bars, saying his mental illness was a factor in the crime.
“This kid is obviously very troubled,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll find out one day what was going on in his mind.”
