DATE:
April 13, 2005
PUBLICATION:
Palm Beach
Post, The (FL)
EDITION:
MARTIN-ST. LUCIE
SECTION:
LOCAL
MEMO:
METRO REPORT
FORT PIERCE - Prosecutors in St. Lucie County
Tuesday began laying out their case against a Port
St. Lucie man charged with soliciting his 6-year-old
son to murder the boy's mother, his ex-girlfriend.
They say Edward Munao, 40, told his son "to
go into the kitchen, pick up a knife and kill his
mother." Munao is on trial on charges of
solicitation to commit first- and second-degree
murder, solicitation to commit aggravated battery,
and child abuse.
In opening statements, prosecutors also said
Munao encouraged the boy, who already suffered
from a psychological disorder and was violent toward
his mother, to hit and harass her. Defense attorneys
said Munao and his ex-girlfriend had
different parenting styles and urged the jury to pay
close attention to "motive and intent" while
listening to testimony. The trial will continue
today.
"He's a 6-year-old, and he was to be this man's
instrument in the crime," Bakkedahl said in closing
arguments.
After the trial, defense attorney Linda Capobianco
still disputed that.
"There was no solicitation of murder," she said. "It
just wasn't there."
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