Judge says jury can see video in McGuire case Defense: Video does not conclusively identify McGuire BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer NEW BRUNSWICK - After five days of pre-trial motions and more to come, a Middlesex County Superior Court Judge decided that a jury would see a grainy black and white surveillance videotape of a woman who could be the 34-year-old former fertility clinic nurse accused of killing her husband in their Woodbridge Center Plaza apartment and later dismembering his body two years ago. A Middlesex County jury will decide for themselves if they believe the second-long image is Melanie McGuire or not. McGuire, who resides in Brick Township, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her and remains free on $2.1 million bail. State police arrested McGuire on June 2, 2005, and charged her with first-degree murder of her husband, William T. McGuire, 39, a Woodbridge resident at the time of his death. McGuire is suspected of sending anonymous letters to authorities to throw them off her trail. The prosecution alleges that McGuire used an American Express gift card that was purchased at a store in Passaic County to ship a package via FedEx containing one of the letters, authorities said. The FedEx package was sent to Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso containing a letter, the victim's custom wedding ring, a bracelet and a key to the victim's car, while Prezioso was presenting the Middlesex County grand jury the original charges against McGuire in October 2005. McGuire is also accused of allegedly sending a package to then-Attorney General Peter Harvey, the Trentonian newspaper and her former lawyer between on or about Oct. 9, 2005, and on or about Oct. 11, 2005, authorities said. The store's video surveillance camera - dated Oct. 9, 2005, - captured an image of a woman who closely resembles McGuire just three minutes before the gift card was bought, authorities said. Joseph Tacopina, one of McGuire's attorneys, has argued that the video surveillance tape that Prezioso brought up as new evidence is questionable. "I have watched the videotape several times," he said. "The FBI is right; there is no way to determine who the person is on the tape. I am also concerned with the videotape. It was shown by the police department to friends to see if they could recognized the person on the tape." The tape was shown to 10 people, who knew McGuire very well, and none could conclusively say that Melanie was the woman on the tape, Tacopina said. Prezioso said the tape was very important to the state's case. "Some people said it may have been Melanie," she said. "The FBI report doesn't say it's not Melanie, it just said it has insufficient pixels to make an identification. The purchase of the American Express gift card and the videotape is consistent with Ms. McGuire." Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa dismissed the defense's motion to throw the state's second indictment out, which was an additional eight-count indictment against McGuire that was unsealed at a hearing in Superior Court in New Brunswick on Oct. 30, 2006. The judge also allowed for the consolidation of the first and second indictments together for the trial. The first indictment includes a first-degree charge of murder, desecrating human remains, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and perjury. The second indictment includes a third-degree charge of hindering prosecution; a fourth-degree charge of tampering with, or fabricating physical evidence; a fourth-degree charge of providing false reports to law enforcement authorities and a third-degree charge for possession of a controlled dangerous substance. In the second indictment, authorities allege that McGuire conducted several Internet searches for the sedative chloral hydrate, which is used in the short-term treatment of insomnia and to relieve anxiety and induce sleep before surgery. It is also used after surgery for pain and to treat alcohol withdrawal. McGuire is accused of allegedly forging a prescription for the sedative at a Walgreens just days before the murder of her husband, authorities said. Details of the grisly murder surfaced when a local fisherman discovered a small piece of luggage floating in the water between the fourth island and the high-rise bridge near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel at 11:30 a.m. on May 5, 2004. A second suitcase was discovered almost a week later on May 11 and the third suitcase was found on May 16. Investigators determined the remains found in all three suitcases belonged to one man, William T. McGuire, 39, an adjunct professor and senior programmer analyst with the information resource development department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, authorities said. He had graduated from NJIT in 2001. The investigation was coordinated by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police. It also included the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, the Woodbridge Police Department, and the Virginia Beach Police Department. Authorities allege Melanie McGuire shot her husband on or about April 29, 2004, chopped up his body and put the pieces in black plastic trash bags inside three suitcases, which were later dropped in the Chesapeake Bay. William McGuire's Nissan Maxima was towed and impounded on May 8, 2004, after it had sat idle for several days at the Flamingo Motel on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, local authorities said last June. Authorities allege on April 26, 2004, three days before the murder, Melanie McGuire purchased a .38-caliber handgun from John's Gun and Tackle in Easton, Pa., Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, has said. "We believe the bullets were also purchased at the same location," he has said. The Virginia medical examiner determined McGuire sustained at least two gunshot wounds - one to the head and a second to the chest, authorities said. A paint chip found on the tape used to seal one of the trash bags containing William McGuire's remains was determined to be consistent with red nail polish, authorities said. The nail polishes that were seized from McGuire's home did not match the nail polish found on the tape, authorities said. The jury will hear testimony from Special FBI Agent James R. Fitzgerald, a forensic linguist, who analyzed the anonymous letters and Thomas Lesniak of the New Jersey State Police Office of Forensic Science, who specializes in trace evidence. Lesniak analyzed the garbage bags that the body parts were found in. The judge will decide on Jan. 31 the allowance of 39 taped phone conversations, which were secretly taped by the N.J. State Police, between McGuire and close relatives and friends. The defense said they would like all the obscenities taken out of the conversations; however, the prosecution said taking out the obscenities would downplay the defendant's state of mind after her husband's killing. The continuation hearing on the taped phone conversations will be held at 9 a.m. on Jan. 31. The tapes are not being played in court, the attorneys are reading from transcripts. The tapes that the judge decides to allow will be played during the anticipated Feb. 26 trial. The trial is expected to last five to six weeks. DeVesa will also hear the testimony of Frank Ruiz, of Texas, an expert on plastic bags, at the Jan. 31 pretrial hearing. The court has issued between 3,000 to 6,000 summonses for jury selection that will start on Feb. 2.