Second man charged in millionaire's death
Authorities accuse electrician of assisting in slaying of financier
Ryan Gowing and Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
(CNN) -- A second man has been charged in connection with the October 2001 beating death of Long Island multimillionaire Ted Ammon.
Christopher Parinno, 36, a Long Island carpenter and electrician, Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges that he was an accomplice to the crime and was expected to post $50,000 bail.
He was indicted Wednesday on charges of criminal facilitation -- allegedly engaging "in conduct which provided" the killer the "means or opportunity" to commit the murder -- and hindering prosecution for allegedly "suppressing physical evidence that might aid in the discovery or apprehension" of the killer.
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota has charged Daniel Pelosi, 40, also an electrician, with committing the crime, striking Ammon in the head 31 times with a blunt object. Ammon was found dead in the bedroom of his mansion in the tony Long Island beach town of East Hampton.
Pelosi pleaded not guilty on a single charge of second-degree murder on March 23 and is being held without bail. If convicted he could receive 25 years to life in prison.
If convicted of aiding Pelosi, Parinno could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
"We've always maintained that we have no complicity in the murder," Parinno's attorney Ray Perini said in a telephone interview. "When we get this in front of a jury we are confident he will be found not guilty."
Parinno is married with a 6-year-old child, and his wife is expecting a second child.
Perini said that Parinno and Pelosi had worked together for a number of years.
"They're friends. They know each other," said Pelosi attorney Paul Bergman. "He [Parrino] is not any more guilty of aiding Danny Pelosi ... than Danny Pelosi is guilty of what he's been charged."
Ammon, 52, was an investment banker worth more than $50 million.
A grand jury was impaneled last June to review evidence and testimony regarding his murder.
Suspicion has hovered over Pelosi because of his romance at the time with the victim's estranged wife, Generosa, who went on to inherit half of Ammon's fortune, and married Pelosi three months later.
Generosa Ammon died of breast cancer in July 2003. She left Pelosi $2 million and the rest of her money -- more than $30 million -- to the now 14-year-old twins from Ukraine she had adopted with Ammon. Pelosi is contesting her will.
