Jurors will likely be proven photos of the stabbed coronary heart of a beloved Queens EMS lieutenant murdered by a maniac who randomly knifed her greater than 20 occasions, officers stated in court docket Monday.
The 43-year-old daughter of tragic sufferer Alison Russo-Elling wept in court docket at occasions throughout Monday’s opening testimony.
The disturbing photos of Russo-Elling’s fatally broken coronary heart will likely be a part of the case involving defendant Peter Zisopoulos, 36, who’s charged within the horrific assault on the 9/11 first-responder, who was on a meal break only a half-block from her stationhouse Sept. 29, 2022, when she was killed.
The accused killer’s lawyer cautioned jurors throughout opening argument that the proof might be grisly.
“The medical examiner will describe the stab wounds, some 5 inches deep, to her heart, her liver, her lungs,” Queens public defender Gina Mitchell informed the jury.
“You will see her heart removed for autopsy, stabbed multiple times.”
Greater than 40 metropolis firefighters and EMS personnel packed the courtroom for the trial alongside the 61-year-old sufferer’s kin, as prosecutors indicated they plan to rely closely on surveillance footage and eyewitness accounts of the mindless assault.
“The knife had blood on it. Blood with DNA from two individuals,” Queens Assistant District Legal professional Jonathan Selkowe stated. “One, Alison Russo. The opposite, that [of the] defendant.
“When the police found the defendant, he still had the murder weapon in the right front pocket of his pants,” Selkowe stated.
“He was caught red-handed — his hand covered in blood.”
The troubled accused killer lived together with his hoarder mother and two siblings in a railroad condo close to the crime scene, Mitchell stated Monday.
“You will see the bed in which he sleeps directly beside his mother,” she stated.
In court docket, Zisopouolos, who wore an orange parka and orange winter pants in court docket regardless of the nice and cozy climate, refused to make use of an madness protection — regardless of the opinion of two psychiatrists who examined him earlier than trial, the choose stated.
“The doctor was of the opinion that there was a viable psychological defense here, but your client does not wish to use that defense, and that’s what he told two psychiatrists,” Queens Choose Ushir Pandit-Durant informed Mitchell. “So he does not want that defense.”
Pandit-Durant stated Zisopoulos denies it’s even him within the stunning video of the deadly assault.
Mitchell left that protection choice open throughout her opening statements.
“If you decide the video is real and Peter Zisopolous is the man in the video, the next question is, did he intend to kill her?” she stated. “The million-dollar question is, if you decide that was Peter Zisopolis, what was in his mind? Did he intend his actions?”
However prosecutors contend that two digital camera angles of the incident present Zisopoulos developing behind Russo-Elling on twentieth Avenue and forty first Avenue shortly earlier than 2:30 p.m. on the day of the assault — after which is seen operating at her, knocking her to the bottom and repeatedly stabbing the helpless FDNY employee.
Prosecution witness Courtney Bryson, who noticed the incident, shot video of the attacker strolling away and leaving the mortally wounded sufferer bleeding out.
The sufferer’s daughter, Danielle Fuoco, stated outdoors court docket that she struggled to look at footage of her mother’s mindless dying.
“It was disturbing, but it needs to be done,” Fuocco informed The Put up of airing the footage in court docket. “I’m here to make sure this all turns out the way it’s supposed to and to get justice for my family.”
The stricken daughter had wept throughout testimony from EMT John Nicosia, 28, who recalled discovering her mother dying on the sidewalk.
“She was very critical. She was not breathing. She had no pulse,” Nicosia stated. “She was bleeding from her chest stomach space.
“I performed CPR and started breathing for her,” stated the EMT earlier than breaking down in tears.
“Sorry,” he stated, composing himself, then including, “Her clothes were saturated in blood.”
