NORWICH – Defense attorney in the murder trial of Peter Wlasiuk, Mark Loughran, called his first witnesses to the stand Tuesday as the proceeding entered its 11th day.

Testimony was briefly delayed prior to yesterday’s morning session due to the absence of one juror, who was reportedly ill and admitted to a local emergency room. The trial resumed at approximately 11 a.m.

Wlasiuk is charged with second degree murder – a class A-1 felony – accused of killing his wife, Patricia, on April 3 of 2002 at their Oxford home. The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office alleges that Wlasiuk later engineered a staged accident at Guilford Lake. According to Wlasiuk, he and Patricia were travelling east on County Road 35 in the Town of Guilford when she lost control of his 1998 GMC pick-up truck, veering into Guilford Lake after she swerved to miss a deer. Wlasiuk later changed his story, stating Patricia had purposely driven the truck into the lake as the couple argued.

He has twice been convicted, in 2003 and 2008, both times sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. Both convictions have since been appealed, in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

First on the stand for the defense, Cornell University Professor of Plant Biology Dr. William Crepet, who testified it was possible burdocks found in Peter’s vehicle, his clothing and tangled in Patricia’s hair could be found in the area around Guilford Lake, despite the prosecution’s allegation that none were discovered thereabouts in 2002. Burdocks were found, however, at the Wlasiuks’ New Virginia Road home, including one stalk that appeared to have strands of Patricia’s hair tangled in it. Examining a number of photos focusing on the area along the shoreline where the vehicle entered the lake, Crepet could not definitively identify any burdocks, although he testified several specimens of flora pictured bore “similarities” with burdocks, while others were “consistent” with burdock growth.

During Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride’s cross-examination, Crepet stated that the burdocks found in Patricia’s hair was consistent with the type of plant found outside of Wlasiuk’s home. When shown a photo of the scene where Wlasiuk’s truck supposedly veered off the road and into the plants in that vicinity, Crepet admitted that no burdocks can be identified in the picture with complete certainty, but noted that there is an “ambiguous plant” present that is “not definitely burdock” but “not definitely not burdock.”