Contorno(Photo: Contributed)
PRATTVILLE This much is clear:There was a struggle late that afternoon of Aug. 7, 2015, when 19-year-old Remington Foradori was stabbed to death. Its also clear that his fiancee who is themother of the couples 3-month-old son, Vegas Amore Contorno, stabbed him.
Vegas Contorno to go on trial for Prattville homicide. Marty Roney/ Advertiser
It will be up to a jury to determine if Contorno, also 19 at the time, acted in self-defense. Her case took a blow Tuesday when Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds ruled Alabamas Stand Your Ground law does not apply in her defense, court records show. If Reynolds had ruled in her favor, the murder charge against Contorno would have been dropped.
Reynolds decision came after a two-and-a-half hour motion hearing where Contornos defense team called as witnesses a neighbor who rushed to Foradoris aid mere moments after the incident, and several Prattville Police Department investigators. Contorno did not testify.
The hearing began with the playing of the 911 tape, in whichnext door neighbor Sean Hartaway called for an ambulance. Testimony brought out that, after being stabbed, Foradori ran out of the home the couple shared on Strength Street and collapsed in the street. Contorno came to Hartaways back door asking for help because there had been an accident with her husband, he testified. Thats when Hartaway rushed to give assistance to Foradori.
Cmon man, hold on, hold on! Hartaway said on the tape, as he was relaying information to dispatchers. In the background Foradori was heard moaning loudly and struggling for breath. The ambulance is coming. Cmon man, stay awake, stay with me.
Testimony: Suspect aggressor in Prattville slaying
Foradori received a single stab wound to the upper left chest and was pronounced dead at the Prattville Baptist Hospital emergency room, testimony brought out.
Contorno made three statements to PPD investigators. In the first statement she told investigator Melissa Shepherd just after the incident that Foradori was stabbed by accident and she didnt know about it until he called for help because she was in another room. During a following interview at police headquarters a few hours later, Contorno told Shepherd and investigator John Coscette, once again that the stabbing was accidental.
About an hour into the two-hour interview, Coscette testified that he informed Contorno that Foradori had died. It was then the Contorno changed her story and said the couple had gotten into a physical altercation in the master bedroom because she was upset the Foradori would not help her with the baby.
The child was born premature and needed specialized medical attention, testimony brought out. Contorno told investigators that during the argument, Foradori bent down to kiss the baby on the head and thats when Contorno pushed him away.
Investigators felt that statement showed that Contorno was the aggressor in the case, because she made physical contact first, Shepherd testified.
Defense attorney Jeff Duffey asked Shepherd and Coscette, and then case agent investigator Richard White, if they had investigated the possibility that Contorno was acting in self-defense when she stabbed Foradori. The investigators said that her statements and the evidence showed she was the aggressor.
Prattville murder suspect's bond revoked
After Contorno pushed Foradori away, she told investigators that he cursed her and shoved her against the wall. She then told investigators that Foradori shoved her head against the wall, causing damage to the wall. And that she then ran down the hall to the kitchen and grabbed a knife to protect herself. She told investigators that Foradori chased her down the hall and grabbed her hand that was holding the knife.
White testified that there was no damage found anywhere in the house that backed up Contornos claims about her head being shoved against the wall.
Investigators testified that Contorno admitted to stabbing Foradori, but also said she blacked out and didnt remember stabbing him.
The Stand Your Ground law, passed in 2013, gives immunity to a person who uses deadly physical force to protect themselves, or another person.
the Defendant has not been able to show to this Court, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her use of 'deadly physical force'was justified, Reynolds ruling reads Therefore, this case shall proceed to trial as scheduled.
Susan James, Contornos lead attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment after Reynolds ruling came down.
Contorno can still argue self-defense at trial, said Chief Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson.
That is a question of fact for the jury to decide, he said. Todays motion hearing was to determine if a certain law applied, a question of law before the judge. We feel, and the evidence shows, that Miss Contorno did not act in self-defense. In fact, in her own statements to investigators, she admits to being the aggressor. To making the first physical contact that led up to the subsequent altercation.
Contorno remains in the Autauga Metro Jail under no bond. In December, Reynolds revoked her $250,000 bond after she was arrested in October on an unrelated DUI charge in Baldwin County.
A trial date has not been set, court records show. Kevin Foradori, Remington Foradoris father, has custody of the child, court records show.
The law passed in 2013 holds that if a person has a right to be where they lawfully are, and are not committing an unlawful act, then they have no duty to retreat. The law also states that a person can respond with deadly physical force if they feel imminent deadly force is being used or about to be used against themselves or another person, or if physical force is used or about to be used against them in their dwelling, or if they are defending themselves or another person against kidnapping, rape, sodomy, assault or other violent crime.
If a judge rules that any of these elements exist, a person is immune from prosecution.
Source: C.J. Robinson, chief assistant district attorney.
Read or Share this story: http://on.mgmadv.com/2mCD5OP
Here is the original post:
Stand Your Ground immunity denied in Prattville murder case - Montgomery Advertiser