DA gives details of woman's fatal beating

A Centereach man is accused of beating his fiancee's 90-year-old grandmother so badly that he broke more than a dozen of her bones and tore a hole in her heart, killing her, a Suffolk prosecutor said Wednesday.

Robert Waters, 20, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. He is charged with beating and stomping Florence Troiani so badly that her nose, shoulder blade, jaw and most of her ribs were broken, as was her spine in two places, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Glenn Kurtzrock.

Troiani was beaten last month as she lay in a hospital bed in her home, which she shared with Waters, after returning recently from a nursing home, Kurtzrock said.

Waters, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 240 pounds, likely jumped on the frail woman with his knees and all his weight, Kurtzrock said.

It's not the first time Waters has assaulted an elderly woman, Kurtzrock told State Supreme Court Justice William Condon. "He had shoved his own 79-year-old grandmother," according to a police report, Kurtzrock said.

Condon ordered Waters held without bail.

In a felony complaint, police said Waters told them, "Grandma's gone. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm responsible."

SEE PHOTOSNotable LI crimes

His attorney, Eric Naiburg of Central Islip, acknowledged that Waters caused Troiani's death, but said it is "not what it appears to be."

He said he would pursue the possibility that Waters had a violent seizure, which he said has happened before.

"People don't generally go at 90-year-old women -- or men -- so something brought this on," Naiburg said.

Kurtzrock dismissed the possibility of a seizure defense outside court. "He certainly intended to do what he did," he said.

Waters' fiancee -- Troiani's granddaughter -- attended the arraignment but did not comment.