A Smoking Whopper Wrapper In "Too Fat To Kill" Case

Ben Yakas

Published Nov 4, 2009

Modified Nov 4, 2009

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Ben Yakas

Published Nov 4, 2009

Modified Nov 4, 2009

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The jury in the "morbidly obese" defense case heard closing arguments today on defendant William Ates, who is accused of murdering his former son-in-law in 2006, including a potential game-changing piece of evidence. Assistant Bergen Country Prosecutor Wayne Mello even poked fun at Ates' weight, saying, “He’s not running a marathon. I’ll agree he probably can’t do that...What he can do is execute his son.”

However, the AP reports, "Prosecutors also said there was evidence that the killer was hungry: A Burger King hamburger wrapper was found near Duncsak’s body, and Duncsak was on his cell phone moments before he was shot asking his girlfriend if she had left the Whopper wrapper there. She said she had not."

Ates' lawyer reminded the jury that Ates was 60 pounds heavier than he is today—"Look at him!"—when the murder occurred, weighing in at 285 pounds, and wouldn't be able to "run up a staircase, accurately shoot Duncsak, leave before police arrived, then make a 21-hour drive to his mother’s home in order to create an alibi as prosecutors claim."

Tagged

jury

morbidly obese defense

the smoking burger king wrapper

trial

william ates