By Tom Momberg
A Bayside man charged with killing his parents in separate attacks over a year apart was convicted Friday after a nearly three-week-long trial.
Gregory Cucchiara, 39, represented himself in the trial without his court-appointed attorney. He contended his mother’s death was accidental and that his father was killed by someone else, according to police, and presented in his trial defense that there was a conspiracy to frame him.
But DNA evidence led the jury to hold Cucchiara responsible. He is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, Feb. 23, according to court records.
Cucchiara faces 50 years to life in prison, the Queens district attorney said.
Cucchiara has been convicted of killing his mother, Giusepina Cucchiara, 66, who was found dead by his father on May 24, 2011.
Giusepina Cucchiara had been hit on her head with a perfume bottle and choked with a pearl necklace she wore around her neck before having her head forced into a bathtub full of water by her son in their Bayside home, 215-46 28th Ave., according to the Queens DA.
“Not yet done, he then uses those same hands the following year to murder his father by taking a pillow and suffocating him to death,” Queens DA Richard Brown said in a statement. “Such senseless acts of violence demonstrate that the defendant is a threat to society and deserving to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
The convicted murderer’s father, Carmelo Cucchiara, 75, moved out shortly after his wife’s death to stay with his daughter in her Astoria basement apartment, according to court records.
Then, on Aug. 21, 2012, Carmelo Cucchiara was found by his daughter dead in bed with a pillow over his face with bruising on his forehead and body, according to the Queens DA.
The medical examiner determined Carmelo Cucchiara had been suffocated.
Gregory Cucchiara had visited his father the evening before and was the last one to see him alive, according to the DA.
DNA evidence under the fingernails of both of Gregory Cucchiara’s parents only matched their son, according to the indictment that led to the killer’s arrest on Aug. 21, 2012.
Cucchiara still faces two separate assault charges. When he was originally questioned by police about the apparent murder of his father, Gregory Cucchiara attacked two officers, according to a complaint filed with the Queens DA.
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
