Judge pushes McGuire murder trial to Feb. 26 Move gives both legal teams an extra month to prepare BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer NEW BRUNSWICK - State Superior Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa has rescheduled the trial of Melanie McGuire to Feb. 26, 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. The original start date was Jan. 22. "I think this a reasonable move," said DeVesa at a status hearing Nov. 9. "This gives the [defense and prosecution] time on the tied-up matters." Joseph Tacopina, Melanie McGuire's defense attorney, and Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso agreed on the change. During the 45-minute status hearing, Tacopina argued that new evidence in the eight-count indictment brought up at an Oct. 30 hearing required them to get new linguistic, computer and poison experts. "We are also waiting for the grand jury testimony tapes," he said. "It will take at least a month for us to be ready." Stephen Turano, McGuire's other defense attorney, also said they have received the discovery only recently and are waiting for more. "We are dealing with over 32,000 pages of discovery," said Turano. "Some have not been in our possession until the past few weeks; actually it was faxed to us a week ago, and we are awaiting more with the new discovery." Eight new charges were unsealed at a hearing Oct. 30, which include 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. Authorities determined 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. McGuire is suspected of sending anonymous letters to authorities to throw them off her trail. The store's video surveillance camera captured an image of a woman who closely resembles McGuire just three minutes before the gift card was bought, authorities said. Tacopina 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 recognize the person on the tape." Prezioso said the videotape was not shown to strangers, but to people who know McGuire very well to see if they could recognize the person on the video, if it was Melanie or not. "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." Prezioso said the tape could be relevant to the state's case. "What if the defendant cut or straightened her hair right before the trail started?" she said. "The person on the video tape could very well be McGuire." Tacopina said the state's video is probative and should not be used. Prezioso said at this point, the state would not use the video. State police arrested McGuire on June 2, 2005, and charged her with first-degree murder of her husband, William T. McGuire, 39, an adjunct professor and senior programmer analyst with the Information Resource Development department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. McGuire had just dropped off her two young boys, then ages 3 and 5, at two Metuchen day-care centers. McGuire was indicted in October 2005 with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, desecrating human remains, and perjury. McGuire, who currently resides in Brick Township, is free on $2.1 million bail. McGuire is accused of allegedly sending packages containing a letter allegedly written by her to mislead authorities in the latest charges. A package was sent to then-Attorney General Peter Harvey, the Trentonian newspaper and her former lawyer between Oct. 9 and Oct. 11, 2005, authorities said. McGuire is suspected of sending Prezioso a package 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. Authorities also 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 forging a prescription for the sedative at a Walgreens just days before she murdered her husband, authorities said. William McGuire's dismembered body was found over a course of 12 days in three separate suitcases that washed up on the shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia in May 2004. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20. Jury selection will begin in early February, and the trial is set to begin Feb. 26.