Citing DNA evidence, judge denies twice-convicted killer John Bittrolff new trial

A Suffolk County judge has denied a twice-convicted killer’s motion for a new trial, ruling that John Bittrolff failed to demonstrate that an allegedly withheld Internal Affairs Bureau file contributed to the guilty verdict at his 2017 trial.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro noted in last week’s decision that the case against the Manorville carpenter, convicted of strangling and bludgeoning two women to death more than three decades ago, was established through DNA implicating him as the killer.

“Though circumstantial, this [DNA] evidence created a compelling argument that defendant was culpable,” Ambro wrote in his April 3 decision.

Legal Aid Society attorneys for Bittrolff, 57, had said the IAB file would have revealed that the now ex-wife of Suffolk Police Officer Teddy Hart told investigators she believed her husband was responsible for one of the killings, according to court papers.

Bittrolff’s attorneys said they learned of the allegation made by Denise Hart while preparing an appeal of their client’s 2017 conviction for second-degree murder in the killings of Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee. Prosecutors insisted, however, the defense has had the document since the beginning of the case.

Ambro agreed with the position of the district attorney’s office, determining that Bittrolff’s trial attorneys “alluded to and used the Hart IAB material during the trial.” The judge also found that Bittrolff’s claim does not implicate Hart as Tangredi’s killer but merely “presents as opinion.” He called it “entirely speculative.”

Hart could not be reached for comment for this story.

The murder of Tangredi, 31, of East Patchogue, remained unsolved for two decades until Suffolk homicide detectives obtained a Bittrolff DNA sample that matched semen recovered from both Tangredi and McNamee, 20, a fellow sex worker from Holbrook who was killed in a similar manner three months after Tangredi.

Ambro previously denied an application to vacate Bittrolff’s conviction over different evidence concerns raised by his attorneys. Bittrolff is serving a 50-year-to-life sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora.

Suffolk County Legal Aid Society attorneys are appealing the judge’s decisions.

Lisa Marcoccia, deputy appeals bureau chief for the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, alleged in court papers that a previously sealed ruling showed Ambro had ordered the IAB file be turned over to Bittrolff’s defense before the start of trial.

While the defense was aware of Hart's role as a prior suspect and mentioned him at trial, they could have approached their cross-examination of witnesses differently had they been aware of the allegation, the appeals team had argued.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Guy Arcidiacono said prosecutors did turn over the Hart IAB file almost immediately, referencing a letter from trial prosecutor Robert Biancavilla indicating 171 pages were hand-delivered to defense attorney William Keahon three months before the start of trial. Keahon later acknowledged receiving the file in a memo shortly before jury selection began, according to the filing by Arcidiacono, which urged the judge to deny Bittrolff's motion.

Arcidiacono said the file also contained a reference to a DNA analysis in June 2002 of items belonging to Hart that were compared with the DNA of Tangredi, a sex worker who was killed Nov. 2, 1993. A DNA expert testified at Bittrolff’s trial that Hart’s DNA was not found at the Tangredi or McNamee crime scenes.

Bittrolff was arrested in 2014 and charged with the murder of Tangredi and McNamee, whose bodies were posed similarly, with their clothes nearby, except for one shoe each and their underwear. 

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.