Lawyer for former CT doctor refutes claims in road rage killing

His lawyer, Adam Hescock, contends the state’s case “invents a motive that is not supported by credible evidence,” based on a latest submitting in Vermont Superior Court at Windham.

Vermont state police say Piri, who was driving a 2018 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, shot Fonseca-Rivera, 44, with a 9 mm handgun from the rear window of the pickup as each automobiles traveled south on Route 103. Piri, now 50, was headed again to Connecticut from a second residence in Londonderry, Vt. 

Police say a number of cameras alongside the two-lane freeway recorded Piri’s pickup touring forward of the produce supply truck early in the afternoon. The supply truck lastly stopped on the facet of the road about 1:20 p.m., GPS on the automobile confirmed. Fonseca-Rivera was discovered later that day slumped over the wheel and pronounced useless on the scene.

Piri, a former Hartford Healthcare doctor, had left his spouse and two youngsters residence in Connecticut on Halloween and headed to Vermont. He had been coping with recurrent issues with the nicely on the Londonderry home, which sits on a 6.24-acre lot, based on police. Piri instructed police he left Londonderry about 12:15 p.m., after a contractor changed the nicely pump, however ought to have left earlier as a result of he had tickets for a present at Foxwoods on line casino and was going to be late, the arrest warrant said.

He bought caught in visitors and was rerouted by GPS however bought misplaced earlier than lastly discovering his manner south on Route 103, police stated. When he stopped to get his truck washed, the machine wouldn’t learn his bank card, the affidavit said. Police stated Piri instructed investigators that he was having a “(expletive) day.”

Piri denied carrying a weapon in the automobile, however police discovered a magnetic holster on the Toyota’s middle console. They additionally seized a 9 mm handgun from the Vermont residence that was lacking the barrel and slide wanted to conduct a full ballistic take a look at, police stated. Detectives additionally famous a goal vary at Piri’s Londonderry residence and a number of other hiding spots for weapons. In the affidavit, detectives described the doctor as an “above average firearms enthusiast.”

But Hescock contends in the latest courtroom submitting that prosecutors exaggerated Piri’s talents.

“The state’s case must also postulate that Dr. Piri is an incredible marksman with a 9 mm handgun,” Hescock wrote. “According to the state, he was able to roll down his truck’s rear window, grab a handgun, establish a ‘reasonably stable firearm discharge platform,’ quickly fire at least two 
shots accurately between his truck’s rear headrests, while driving alone, and on a very windy day, on a busy highway, openly, on a Friday afternoon.”

Police, nonetheless, say in the affidavit that the rear window opened and closed vertically with the contact of a button on the console.

The arrest warrant affidavit, as Hescock wrote, contains no studies of any witnesses to the taking pictures.

“Dr. Piri’s marksmanship,” Hescock wrote, “must have been not only expert, but also exceedingly efficient and undetectable. So efficient, in fact, that the driver following seven seconds behind Mr. Fonseca-Rivera has not come forward with any evidence linking Dr. Piri to the shooting. So undetectable that no one — not a neighbor, motorist, or any witness — has come forward with evidence of shots being fired from a grey Toyota Tundra that afternoon.”

The state’s case falls aside until it could possibly show that Piri fired at Fonseca-Rivera whereas each had been driving, Hescock wrote.

“For this to be true, you must believe that Mr. Fonesca-Rivera retained consciousness and composure long enough to slow down, drive to the side of Route 103 completely out of the travel lane, straighten his wheels, turn his hazard lights on, and put his truck into park,” he wrote.

The post-mortem discovered a bullet entered Fonseca-Rivera’s chin and pierced his proper carotid artery. The health worker discovered, nonetheless, that his dying was not instant and he would have had time to drag over earlier than passing out, police stated.

A good friend of Fonseca-Rivera was on the cellphone with him across the time he was shot, police stated. The good friend instructed detectives that Fonseca-Rivera complained a few driver who had been rushing up and slowing down in entrance of him, the affidavit stated. The good friend stated he instructed Fonseca-Rivera to “honk” on the automotive. Shortly after, the person stated, he heard Fonseca-Rivera inhale deeply and what appeared like a cellphone dropping.

Hescock, nonetheless, cites a tow truck driver who instructed police he noticed Fonseca-Rivera’s inexperienced field truck parked with the motive force door open as if he was about to exit. Another witness stated he noticed the field truck come to a cease and noticed the motive force reaching as much as his visor, Hescock wrote, and neither witness reported seeing pictures fired from a gray Toyota Tundra or something suspicious in regards to the parked field truck.

Police stated an computerized license plate reader operated by the FBI in an ongoing drug investigation caught Piri’s pickup on I-91 about 2 p.m., not lengthy after Fonseca-Rivera’s truck got here to a cease. But Hescock is looking for extra information on the request for the plate reader information, contending in the latest courtroom submitting that the fabric could possibly be related to the protection and “Piri should have access to any discoverable information at this early stage when VSP may have been pursuing other leads or failed to do so.”

Hescock additionally famous Fonseca-Rivera’s function in a drug investigation, writing that he testified in opposition to his co-defendants in trade for a lighter sentence. A Boston police report supplied in discovery confirmed pictures had been fired at  Fonseca-Rivera’s residence in August 2019, Hescock wrote. Police recovered three 9mm bullet casings and noticed bullet harm to 2 automobiles, he wrote.

Hescock contends there may be “ample motive and evidence for an alternate shooter,” however police apparently dismissed the chance early in their investigation. He cited video proof from a number of totally different sources displaying an unidentified automobile parked close to the place Fonseca-Rivera’s truck was discovered. Police famous the automobile in the affidavit, however stated they didn’t imagine it was concerned in the murder.

Police stated they examined Piri’s cellphone and found a number of searches for crime-related news in Vermont on the day of the taking pictures, together with some earlier than Fonseca-Rivera’s physique was discovered. When police interviewed Piri once more in February 2020, they wrote in the affidavit that his fingers had been “shaking drastically.”

But Piri has adamantly denied involvement in Fonseca-Rivera’s dying, Hescock wrote, and Vermont state police have taken statements out of context “and attributed motive where there was none.”

Piri was licensed to observe drugs in Connecticut and Florida. However, his license in Connecticut expired in May 2021, based on state licensing information. Piri acquired his license in Connecticut in 2006 after finishing his post-graduate coaching on the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, based on the state Department of Public Health. He had beforehand attended medical faculty in Hungary.

At the time of his arrest, Piri’s most up-to-date affiliated observe was at Starling Physicians in Bloomfield, based on his information, which be aware that he was not actively concerned in affected person care. Piri has a license to observe drugs in Florida , based on that state’s information. Neither Connecticut nor Florida reported any disciplinary actions, main malpractice claims or every other actions taken in opposition to his licenses on the time of his arrest.