Woman grilled in murder-for-hire trial
The DiMartino family (Left-Right): Ava, 4, James DiMartino, Alana, 8, Amanda, 14, James' wife Diane, and Ashley, 12. Credit: Handout / 2008
Facing blistering questions Friday from her ex-boyfriend's defense attorney, a former stripper denied lying about a murder-for-hire plot in which Nesconset attorney James DiMartino was killed.
Testifying for the second day as a prosecution witness at the first-degree murder trial of Donovan Raysor, Monique Randall denied the attorney's suggestions that she had concocted a story about DiMartino's slaying and honed it in previous trials before testifying against Raysor.
She was pessimistic when Raysor's attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, suggested she would get a light sentence for cooperating with prosecutors.
"I don't think I'm going to ever go home, to tell you the truth," said Randall, 31, who before her arrest lived in St. Albans, Queens.
Prosecutors say Raysor, Randall and Darnell Festus were paid a total of $10,000 by DiMartino's business partner, Ronald Thornton, to kill DiMartino on Oct. 20, 2008, in a Commack parking lot.
Raysor, 23, also of St. Albans, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges. He is being held without bail.
Thornton, 39, of Nesconset, and Festus, 25, of Queens, are serving life sentences after first-degree murder convictions at separate trials.
Randall pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified at Thornton's and Festus' trials. She is expected to be sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for her role in the plot.
Randall said she and Raysor exchanged nearly 200 letters while jailed for DiMartino's death. She also wrote to Raysor's mother, with whom the couple had lived.
She admitted telling Raysor's mother that she believed Raysor would be cleared of murder. "I was being nice to her so someone could go to my house and get my stuff," Randall said.
