KINGSTON – More than two years after he pumped five bullets into his wife, Tracey, in their Saugerties home in front of his two young children, Anthony Passaro was sentenced to a term Monday of 25-years to life after being convicted of second-degree murder in March.

Passaro was supposed to be sentenced in April after State Supreme Court Judge Roger McDonough convicted him during a bench trial. But Pazzaro’s health status and a pair of subsequent postponements delayed the sentencing until Monday.

Andrew Kossover, Pazzaro’s defense attorney, claims his client suffers from diabetes, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. During his trial with McDonough, the defense claimed that mental illness, prescription drugs, and a lack understanding for his actions contributed to the fatal shooting.

McDonough, though, rejected that claim and convicted Passaro of second-degree murder. Monday’s sentencing was not conducted in a court room. Instead it was conducted in a wide vestibule in a hallway at the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center, where Passaro has been confined to the infirmary.

Passaro was present at the sentencing, his body propped up on an angle in a hospital bed. Passaro did not speak and only moved his head back and forth when the sentence was rendered, and McDonough openly questioned Passaro’s unwillingness or inability to understand what was happening.

“I’ll note for the record Mr. Passaro is weeping,” said McDonough, after he issued the sentence.

In addition to his sentence for second-degree murder, Passaro was also given a seven-year sentence for a weapons charge and two years for endangering the welfare of his two children. Those sentences will run concurrently after he’s finished serving time for second-degree murder.

Prior to the sentencing, Theresa Letterio-Maxwell, niece of the slain woman and guardian to Passaro’s children, addressed Passaro.

“I’m sorry you became who you are. You could have had a great life with you wife,” said Letterio-Maxwell. “All you did was shoot her five times and let her bleed to death.”

McDonough announced his sentence at a table directly across from the bed-ridden Passaro, just a few feet away, and he said the defendant had a “visceral response” to Maxwell’s comments.

After the sentencing was adjourned, Letterio-Maxwell said legal justice had been served.

“Justice isn’t being served because my aunt can’t come home. But legally for as much as we could get, yes,” she said. “His life could have very different, but Anthony is a very selfish person. And he did what he wanted to do.”

Ulster County District Attorney Holly Carnright agreed with McDonough’s sentence.

“It was the sentence we asked for. I think it’s an appropriate sentence, given the circumstances,” he said. “Mostly I glad this matter is over. Hopefully the family will find some closure, and we can move on from here.”

Kossover said any sentence, whether the minimum or maximum, will have an effect on Passaro because of his health problems.
“I think the sentence was somewhat academic, given his medical condition. Any sentence, even the minimum of 15 to life that he would be entitled to is essentially a life sentence or a death sentence in this case,” said Kossover.