CARMEN COLUCCI - 22 Months (2010) - Niagara Falls NY

A Niagara Falls couple who, while they slept, kept two of their young
children caged in a playpen were arraigned Monday on murder charges
after one of the children,
a 2-year-old girl, died. Nicole Colucci, 24, who is pregnant,
and her husband Randy Colucci Sr., 25, were indicted
after Niagara Falls police turned over evidence they began collecting
March 31 when they found the 2-year-old listless and near death inside a covered "Pack and Play"
in the couple's 22nd Street home. Both parents pleaded not guilty to first-degree
murder before Niagara County Judge Sara
Sheldon Sperrazza. The Coluccis also were charged with
second-degree manslaughter and five counts of
endangering the welfare of a child. They are accused of "acting
with inhumane indifference" in letting their daughter die of
asphyxiation after she was left unattended for 17 hours March 30 and 31
in a urine-soaked playpen covered by a mattress, Deputy District District Attorney Holly
E. Sloma said. The parents were home, authorities said, but
were asleep for most of the period. They called police when they discovered their
daughter seriously injured. "When we arrived on March 31," Falls Police Capt. William M. Thomson
said, "we found the Pack and Play with a twin mattress on top of it, and [the parents] had
put a television set on top of that. The 2-year-old was not breathing." Carmen Colucci
was taken to Women & Children's Hospital in Buffalo and was on life support
until her death April 8, said Thomson, chief of detectives.
In court Monday afternoon, Sloma compared the portable playpen to a cage.
She said an 11-month-old boy who also was found in the playpen
survived. Three other children also were in the house. Their
ages were unavailable. Sloma told the judge that four of the children had lice and the house was filled with
garbage. The children were turned over to county Child Protective Services. A grand
jury handed up its indictment Thursday. The Coluccis lost
another child in 2007 to sudden infant death syndrome, but police are not
investigating that death as suspicious, Thomson said. Sloma
asked for $250,000 bail for each parent, but Sperrazza set bail at
$75,000 each, and the couple was taken to the Niagara County Jail. Both parents
are unemployed and are being represented by a public defender.

An autopsy report said the March 31 death of a 2-year-old Niagara
Falls girl, whose parents are charged with murdering her, was accidental.
The disclosure by defense attorney Joseph Terranova came as he
appeared in Niagara County Court on Thursday to accept an assignment to defend the girl's father,
Randy Colucci Sr., 25, of 22nd Street in the Falls. Colucci and his wife, Nicole, 24,
pleaded not guilty June 21 to second-degree murder,
second-degree manslaughter and five counts of child endangerment.
Carmen Colucci died April 8 after being taken off life support in
Women & Children's Hospital. She allegedly had been left unattended with her 11-month-old
brother in a 3-by-2-foot playpen with a mattress atop it, held in place by a
television set. Terranova showed a reporter a copy of an
autopsy report by Dr. James Woytash, Erie County
chief medical examiner, which was co-signed by four other doctors.
It said the cause of Carmen's death was "mechanical asphyxia,
accidental." In other words, Terranova said, the girl's neck
became caught between the top rail of the
playpen and the mattress as she apparently tried to climb out.
"It appears it's not intentional conduct by either defendant that caused
the death of this child," Terranova said. "It raises the question of whether it's even a
homicide." Deputy District Attorney Holly E. Sloma said the
indictment does not charge the parents
with intentional murder but with a violation of the murder statute
referring to killing with "depraved indifference to human life." "The grand jury voted to
indict it as a murder," Sloma said. "It's charged under the
depraved indifference section, which is a separate and distinct culpable
mental state." The Coluccis allegedly put the two children in
the playpen about 7 p.m. March 30, and no
one checked on them until noon the next day, meaning they allegedly were
left unattended for 17 hours. "The kid [Carmen] would routinely crawl out of
whatever she was in," Terranova said. Niagara County Child
Protective Services took away the 11-month-old and three other Colucci
children, ages 4, 6 and 9. Sloma said at last week's
arraignment that the house was full of garbage and all four
living children had lice. Both Coluccis are being held in lieu
of $75,000 bail awaiting a pretrial conference Sept. 3, which is not expected to be held in open court.
Their tentative trial date is Nov. 8.

A Niagara Falls couple could serve as long as five to 15 years in
prison after pleading guilty today to second-degree manslaughter in the
death of their 22-month-old daughter last year.But it's also
possible that Randy Colucci Sr., 26, and Nicole Colucci, 25, might serve
no prison time at all, because a probation sentence is an option.

Niagara
County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza gave no indication of what she
might be thinking as she accepted the guilty pleas today."The
court is considering all options in the case, up to and including five
to 15 years," Sperrazza said. She scheduled sentencing for 2 p.m. March
24.Prosecutors said they will ask for the maximum sentence.Deputy
District Attorney Holly E. Sloma and Assistant District Attorney Robert
A. Zucco said the reason for the plea was to not force the Coluccis'
two oldest children, girls ages 9 and 6, to testify against their
parents in a trail that was scheduled to begin Jan. 31."I think
we had a solid manslaughter case without their testimony," Zucco said.
But in order to convict the Coluccis of second-degree murder, the
highest count in the original indictment, the children's accounts would
have been crucial, he said."My client wanted to take the plea so
her children wouldn't have to testify," said Assistant Public Defender
Christopher A. Privateer, who represented Nicole Colucci. "It's a hell
of a thing to have to make a decision on.""We didn't want to
traumatize them any further," Sloma said. But she added that if the plea
deal hadn't been made, the prosecution would have followed through and
called the girls to the witness stand.The 22-month-old daughter,
Carmen, and her 11-month-old brother were put into a portable playpen
about 7 p.m. March 30 in the Coluccis' 22nd Street home.About
noon the next day, Randy Colucci found Carmen with her neck trapped
between the top rail of the playpen and a mattress, weighed down with a
TV set, which had been placed over the playpen to keep the children from
escaping.On an earlier occasion, the 9-year-old had found
Carmen's head between the mattress and the rail and rescued her, but
this time, police said, no one checked on the baby for 17 hours.Carmen died April 8 after being taken off life support in Women and Children's Hospital.A
murder conviction would have resulted in a minimum sentence of 15 years
to life in prison and a maximum sentence of 25 years to life."We explained all the potential outcomes at trial," Privateer said.The
Coluccis were not charged with intentionally killing their daughter.
They were indicted under a section of the law charging "depraved
indifference to human life."The manslaughter charge required the Coluccis to admit that they recklessly caused Carmen's death. Tearfully, they both did so."Guilty," said Nicole, dabbing at her eyes with tissue and sniffling loudly into her microphone."Guilty," Randy said through a choked sob.They
remain free on $75,000 bail pending sentencing. The Coluccis were in
Niagara County Jail for almost two months after their arraignment before
they were bailed out by Randy Colucci's mother and grandmother, who
used their homes as collateral for bail bonds.The two oldest girls were fathered by men other than Randy Colucci, but they considered him their father, Sloma said.The
couple's five living children, including a daughter they had in August,
are in foster homes. They also lost a son to Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome in 2007.Both Coluccis said in court they dropped out of
school in ninth grade. Nicole, who was 16 at the time, said she left
school because she was pregnant. Randy said he quit because "school for
me was way too hard."

The parents of a toddler who died last spring when she tried to get
out of her playpen tearfully told a judge this afternoon they were good
parents, then they were each sentenced to three to nine years in state
prison."I really want everybody to know we really are loving
people," Randy Colucci Sr., 26, said as he and his wife, Nicole Colucci,
25, appeared before Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza.Both
pleaded guilty in January to recklessly causing the death of their
toddler daughter in March 2010 after leaving her unsupervised for 17
hours.Carmen Colucci was 22 months old when she asphyxiated as
her neck was trapped between the top rail of her playpen and a mattress,
weighted down by a TV set, which her parents had placed atop the
playpen to keep her from climbing out.The prosecution asked for the maximum sentence of five to 15 years, while the defense argued for probation."I'm very comfortable with something in between," Sperrazza told the couple. "I have agonized over this."A
prosector and the parents all shed tears during a sentencing proceeding
that had to be stopped twice so those involved could collect
themselves.Deputy District Attorney Holly E. Sloma said she had
listened to recorded phone calls that Randy Colucci made from Niagara
County Jail after his arrest last June 18. In one of them, he said, "I
don't want to live in a world where people think I'm a baby killer."Sloma told him, "We'll Randy, I have news for you. You're a baby killer, and the world thinks you are, too."Randy
Colucci broke down sobbing when he addressed the judge. When he
regained some composure, he said the mattress and TV arrangement was
"the most protective way to keep Carmen safe."After he finished his remarks to the judge, he sat down and vomited.Nicole
Colucci said, "We were going to get a bigger Pack 'n Play for Carmen
the next day ... We really are good people. We believe we were good
parents."Carmen and her 11-month-old brother were put into a portable playpen at about 7 p.m. March 30 in the Coluccis' 22nd Street home.At
about noon the next day, Randy Colucci found Carmen with her neck
trapped between the top rail of the playpen and a mattress. On an
earlier occasion, a 9-year-old sibling had found Carmen's head between
the mattress and the rail and rescued her, but this time, police said,
no one checked on the baby for 17 hours.Carmen died April 8 after being taken off life support in Women & Children's Hospital, Buffalo.The couple initially was charged with second-degree murder. They pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to second-degree manslaughter.The
Coluccis were not charged with intentionally killing their daughter
Carmen. The murder count was indicted under a section of the law
charging "depraved indifference to human life."The manslaughter charge required the Coluccis to admit that they recklessly caused Carmen's death.Social Services took the other three Colucci children into their care after the parents were arrested.
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