Update: Bigamist's Brother Guilty of Hiring Hit Men
Maggie
just been declared the heir to her dead husband's estate (over the husband's
second wife, to whom he had never been legally married) was shot a number of
times outside her home. From the NY Daily News (I think):
Bigamist's Brother Found Guilty
MINEOLA, N.Y.- A man was convicted of hiring two hit men to kill his bigamist
brother's first wife, prosecutors said Monday.
Aly Dominique was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree and
conspiracy in the second degree, prosecutors said. He faces up to 25 years in
prison when he is sentenced April 9.
Prosecutors said that in October 2000, Dominique arranged for the murder of his
sister-in-law, Eliette Dominique, outside her home on Long Island. They said he
wanted to gain control of his brother's estate.
Eliette Dominique was shot three times but survived.
Dominique's brother, Jean-Claude Dominique, was killed the previous year by a
hit-and-run driver. When Eliette Dominique arrived at the hospital where he
husband was in a coma, she discovered he had a second wife and two other
children in New Jersey.
Aly Dominique considered the second wife, Betsy Dominique, as the legitimate
heir to his brother's estate, prosecutors said.
A judge had declared Eliette Dominique the legal wife of Jean-Claude Dominique,
ruling that the second marriage was accomplished only by forging the first
wife's signature.
The two hit men, Alexander Exama, 21, of Newark, N.J., and Mavin Gedin, 21, of
Maplewood, N.J., pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree,
prosecutors said.
Exama was sentenced to 12 years in prison; Gedin received 19 years.
Defense attorney Gregory Watts, who represented Dominique at his arraignment
but not during his trial, had denied that Dominique was involved.
Maggie
"DSM IV is the fabrication upon which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine
in general. Insiders know it is more a political than scientific document. ...
It is the way to get paid. ..."--Loren R. Moshner, M.D.
Sarah
> We discussed this one when it happened in October of 2000. A woman who had
> just been declared the heir to her dead husband's estate (over the husband's
> second wife, to whom he had never been legally married) was shot a number of
> times outside her home. From the NY Daily News (I think):
>
> Bigamist's Brother Found Guilty
>
> MINEOLA, N.Y.- A man was convicted of hiring two hit men to kill his bigamist
> brother's first wife, prosecutors said Monday.
<snipped>
Interesting story, so I went looking for more info on the original events:
http://www.polygamyinfo.com/plygmedia%2000%20118btnglb.htm
Doctor's bigamy ends in tragedy
Shooting follows fatal disclosure
By Verena Dobnik
ALDWIN HARBOR, N.Y. - Dr. Jean-Claude Dominique was living
the American dream - twice over, it turns out.
The Haitian-born doctor shared a waterfront Long Island home with his wife
and two children. When he wasn't there, he spent time in a New Jersey
suburb with his other wife and their two kids.
Dominique's double life began unraveling last year, when the 50-year-old
doctor was killed in a hit-and-run accident. The two widows met in a
hospital emergency room, an encounter that triggered a chain of events
ending with an alleged murder attempt.
Wife No. 1 was shot last week outside her Long Island home by two men
allegedly hired by her brother-in-law, Aly Dominique. He viewed the second
wife as the legitimate heir to Dominique's estate, authorities said.
Eliette Dominique was released from the hospital Wednesday with pieces of
.22-caliber shrapnel lodged in her head and her right hand. Gunmen opened
fire on the 56-year-old widow as she left home for her job as an intensive
care nurse last Monday morning, police said. Struck three times, she
crawled back into the house and collapsed before her two teenage children.
''It was murder for hire,'' said Charles Sloane, her attorney.
Aly Dominique, 44, was held on $500,000 bail on a charge of attempted
murder. His lawyer, Gregory Watts, denied that Dominique was involved.
The shooting ended a dream that started in the late 1970s, when Eliette
sponsored Jean-Claude Dominique's immigration. After he arrived, she paid
his way through medical school. They got married in 1980, lived in a
Brooklyn apartment, and he landed a job at a hospital.
But two years later the doctor secretly married his childhood sweetheart.
Marie Betsy Barlabier had followed him to the United States from their
Haitian hometown of St. Louis du Nord.
Using a female impostor to pose as Eliette and forge her signature,
Dominique - unbeknownst to his first wife - secured an uncontested divorce
and married Marie. They set up house in Irvington, N.J., where she raised
their son and daughter.
Eliette and her husband continued to have ''a very normal marriage
relationship,'' Sloane said. ''She had no inkling that there was anything
more.''
In the mid-1990s, the doctor and his first wife moved to Nassau County's
South Shore. Dominique didn't make it home every night. On occasion, he
would tell Eliette that he was spending the night at their Brooklyn condo
rather than risk falling asleep on the drive to Long Island.
It was in Brooklyn, just before midnight on April 30, 1999, that his secret
unraveled.
A driver in a stolen car slammed into the doctor, leaving him in a coma. Both
Mrs. Dominiques arrived in the emergency room of Kings County Hospital.
While their husband lingered for 39 days before dying, both wives asserted
that they were the legitimate spouse. Three months ago, a Nassau County
judge ruled in Eliette's favor because Marie's marriage was based on the
forged signature.
But Aly Dominique, a high school chemistry teacher, apparently sided with
the 50-year-old Marie because she grew up with the 23 Dominique siblings.
Aly barred Eliette from attending her husband's funeral and threatened her,
her lawyer said.
And then, police charged, Aly Dominique promised two men $10,000 if
they would kill her.
Marvin Gedin, 20, of Maplewood, N.J., and Alexander Exama, 19, of
Newark, allegedly botched the hit. Exama was arrested when he allegedly
got lost trying to flee the Dominiques' waterfront neighborhood. Gedin, a
paroled robber, was arrested Thursday.