After a day and a half of testimony, jurors convict Michael A. Saraceno in the slaying of his estranged wife. No parole is possible.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published October 31, 2003
CLEARWATER - A jury took about three hours Thursday to convict an Oldsmar man of murdering his estranged wife outside her family's Clearwater restaurant.
Jurors convicted Michael A. Saraceno, 41, of first-degree murder after a day and a half of testimony. Saraceno shot his wife, Pamela Trizis Saraceno, 35, on July 20, 2002, outside the Country Harvest restaurant on Missouri Avenue in Clearwater.
Judge Tim Peters sentenced Saraceno to life in prison with no chance of parole, the only punishment the judge was allowed to hand down.
"What you did was a cold-blooded, premeditated murder," Peters told Saraceno. "It was an execution."
Pamela Saraceno's family runs three local restaurants in Pinellas County, including the Country Harvest, where she worked as a server. The restaurants were started by her father, Gus Trizis, but now are run by three of his sons.
Pamela was just putting on her uniform that summer afternoon when her husband showed up.
She had left him about six weeks earlier and Saraceno was jealous that she had been seeing other men.
Unbeknown to his wife, he had sneaked into his brother's New Port Richey home and stolen a .357-caliber revolver. He had it in his van when he came to the restaurant. He told his wife he had a box of stuff for her, then led her outside.
As she popped her trunk, Saraceno grabbed the gun and shot his wife in the back of the head. She fell in a pool of blood. He slid her body out of the way before taking off in his van. Pamela Saraceno later died at the hospital.
Police later arrested Michael Saraceno at a gas station after he called 911. He admitted to the dispatcher that he shot his wife. He admitted it several more times to police. Officers also found the revolver in his front seat. Bullet fragments found in his wife's head matched the gun.
The only thing prosecutors had to prove was premeditation to make it a first-degree case. Prosecutors told jurors that Saraceno hunted down his wife that day and set a well-planned trap to kill her.
Saraceno's attorneys suggested Saraceno's plans were to shoot himself, not his wife, but that he snapped. They tried to persuade jurors to convict him of second-degree murder, which could have spared him a life sentence.
"When he went up to Pam, there was a question as to if he was the one who was going to get shot," Dudley Clapp, Saraceno's public defender, said in closing arguments. "This was not some master plan."
Jurors didn't buy it. Peters said during sentencing that with such a conclusive case against him, Saraceno's attorneys' only choice was to seek a second-degree murder conviction.
Pamela Saraceno's family sat behind Saraceno as he was sentenced. Some of them cried quietly. Across the aisle sat Saraceno's father. The fathers of both victim and assailant have known each other for 25 years. They embraced when the trial began.
Pamela Saraceno's family members said they feel bad for her killer's family.
"His father lost a son today," said George Trizis, Pamela's brother.
They also feel sorry for Saraceno's 8-year-old daughter, who now must grow up without her natural father. Peters called the little girl Michael Saraceno's second victim.
"As she grows up, she will come to realize her father is a cold-blooded murderer who murdered a woman for no good reason at all," the judge told him.
But the Trizis family didn't forget that they are suffering, too. Pamela leaves behind three children of her own, seven siblings and more than 30 nieces and nephews.
To make things even harder, Pamela's 68-year-old mother, Angeline, died in her sleep the day after she buried her daughter.
During a victim statement before sentencing, George Trizis said he hoped Saraceno would find God while in prison. He was pleased prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty.
"I lost a sister and I lost a mother," he said. "I'm glad this is all over and done with. Maybe Mike can do something good while he's in there and find forgiveness and find God. I think he has remorse. I hope he finds forgiveness because I don't think he deserves to go to hell."
Saraceno was silent through the sentencing. Afterward, Gus Trizis said he had hoped he would turn around and apologize to his family, but he never did.
"We know Mike," the 71-year-old restaurateur said. "He was part of our family."
