Judge To Decide If Malone’s Comments Can Be Used At Trial

OSWEGO, NY – A judge will rule in a little more than a week whether statements made by Joyce Malone can be used at her pending her murder trial.

Oswego County Court Judge Walter Hafner said today (Aug. 2) that he would issue a written ruling by Aug. 12.

Malone and her attorney James Eby were in court today for a Huntley Hearing to determine if her statements could be used at trial.

Malone, 69, of 128 Tug Hill Road, Oswego Town, was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of her husband, Ralph, 74, in their home on March 19.

She pleaded not guilty in May.

Testifying at the hearing were: Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd, sheriff’s office Investigator Eugene Sullivan III; deputy Mathew Saltalamachia; Oswego County Jail Corrections Officer Wendy Czirr and the registered nurse at the jail Karen Knopp.

Todd said he’s been friends with the Malones for “a long time.”

He testified that he was the first police officer on the scene.

“I knew at that time there was a problem,” he told Assistant District Attorney Greg Oakes.

He said that Malone told him she “couldn’t take it any more.”

He placed her in his vehicle’s front passenger seat, to get her away from everyone. The door was left open, he added.

He testified how she told him that she was sorry, but just couldn’t take it anymore.

She said she and her husband had had an argument earlier in the day. He threw two $20 bills at her and called her a whore and said, if she wanted “to have a good time then here,” the sheriff said Malone had told him.

After Ralph fell asleep on the couch, is when she allegedly shot him.

Investigator Sullivan later brought Malone to the sheriff’s office, Todd said.

The sheriff described Malone as calm and maybe a little nervous during their talk.

When asked by Eby if she was crying, the sheriff replied, “I don’t believe she was crying.”

When she was placed in his unmarked patrol vehicle, Sullivan said he read Malone her Miranda rights and she didn’t ask for a lawyer nor did she say she refused to say anything further, he said.

He said he asked her what had happened and she replied Brenda (her daughter) told her not to say anything about it, he testified.

He said OK and they talked about other things, he said.

At one point, Malone said “I screwed up Brenda’s life by doing what I did,” the investigator said.

When he asked her what that was, she again replied that Brenda didn’t want her to talk about it, he said.

When Malone made those comments, they were spontaneous, not a response to a question from the investigator, Eby asked him.

“That’s correct,” Sullivan replied.

Sullivan was with her for about six straight hours; he described Malone as very calm and perhaps a bit melancholy.

Saltalamachia told of how he took Malone to her arraignment in Oswego Town Court.

He said he was talking with ADA Oakes about missing the Syracuse University basketball game.

Malone, who was seated nearby, said, “I guess I ruined everybody’s night,” the deputy testified.

Czirr described the process in which she booked Malone into jail.

Knopp testified that she later brought medication to Malone in her cell.

The RN said she told Malone that she had lived next door to Joe Malone (Joyce’s son) and his girlfriend, Kathy.

“I think Joe is mad at me because of what I did to his father,” Knopp said Malone told her.

Asked by Oakes if she asked Malone what she had done, Knopp replied, “No.”

Malone will be back in county court at 10 a.m. Aug. 12. She is currently free after posting $100,000 bond shortly after her arrest. missing or outdated ad config

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