Jury convicts Keizer man accused of murdering wife for third time

For the third time in his life, Peter Zielinski was convicted of murdering his wife.

A jury unanimously found the 52-year-old Keizer man guilty of second-degree murder, rejecting his claim of extreme emotional disturbance as a defense.

The late-evening verdict came Thursday following multiple days of deliberation .

Zielinski was twice convicted of murdering his wife and twice successful in having his conviction overturned.

His seven-day trial concluded with closing arguments on Tuesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 22.

Police arrested Zielinski in 2011 for shooting his wife, Lisa Zielinski, 38, at their Keizer home while their 5-year-old daughter was in the other room.

Prosecutors argued the shooting was an intentional act made after months of marital turmoil and controlling behavior. Lisa Zielinski wanted to leave her husband, Marion County Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver said.

"She had enough of the defendant's drinking, anger and verbal abuse," Suver said. "She was leaving him. He made sure that would never happen."

On multiple occasions, witnesses recounted Zielinski telling his wife, "If you ever try to leave me, I will kill you."

Defense attorney Michael Bertholf said Lisa Zielinski was checked out of her marriage by the summer of 2010, and the couple's finances had been ravaged by the 2008 housing crash.

Toward the end of their marriage, investigators said Lisa began a romantic relationship with another man and Peter was engaged in an emotional affair with a woman online. Both talked of divorce.

Bertholf said Peter Zielinski was doing "anything he could to save the marriage" and Lisa Zielinski was "gaslighting" her husband into thinking everything was OK.

As Bertholf stressed this point, friends and family members of Lisa Zielinski in the courtroom gallery silently shook their heads.

A forensic psychologist testified about the diagnosis of extreme emotional disturbance and said Peter Zielinski's behavior during the shooting was dissociative.

Bertholf said Zielinski snapped when he shot his wife and asked the jury to side with the defense of extreme emotional distress or convict his client of the lesser charge of manslaughter. First-degree manslaughter carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. It is defined in Oregon law as reckless or criminally negligent acts leading to a person's death. Second-degree murder carries a life sentence with a mandatory minimum prison term of 25 years.

An 'unspeakable monster'

Suver said Lisa Zielinski was completely defenseless and brushing her hair when her husband pointed the gun 6 to 12 inches from her head and fired once, watching as her body fell lifeless to the floor.

She contended that any emotional distress Peter Zielinski experienced was of his own making and that Lisa Zielinski was not on trial for her decisions; her husband was.

"This is not reckless conduct," Suver said, pointing to a crime scene photo of Lisa Zielinski's face. "That's intentional conduct."

"Let me be clear: he is guilty of murder, not manslaughter," she said.

Lisa Zielinski worked in sales at the KYKN radio station and sang in the choir at Saint Edward Catholic Church. She was known as a devoted mother and stepmother.

The day of the shooting, her 5-year-old daughter told police she didn't hear or see anything but when "she said goodbye to her mom, her mom didn't answer," Suver said.

Peter Zielinski took his daughter to her kindergarten carpool before calling a friend, admitting to the shooting and turning himself in at the police station.

Now the Chief of Police in Keizer, Andrew Copeland was a patrol sergeant and one of the first law enforcement officers to talk to Zielinski and find Lisa Zielinski dead in the master bathroom of the family's home on Nightingale Court. Copeland said she was in pajamas and slippers. When they found items indicating kids lived in the home, they searched the house and worked to locate the children. Both were safely at school.

Zielinski pleaded guilty to murder in 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The plea was conditional, giving him the right to appeal.

At his sentencing, Lisa Zielinski's mother, Rhonda Tupper, called him an "unspeakable monster."

"You turned the world of a 5-year-old upside down and you took from me my beautiful daughter who was also my best friend," she said. "May you have a long time to reflect on your actions. As her family, we despise you."

Peter Zielinski case goes to trial for second time

In an opinion issued in 2017 , the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled the trial court erred in excluding expert testimony of Zielinski's anxiety disorder diagnosis.

His case returned to Marion County Circuit Court for trial in 2019.

Much of the defense centered around Zielinski's war experiences — he was a Marine in the mid-1990s and served as as a radio operator during the Gulf War — leading to flashbacks, suicidal ideation, alcohol use and nightmares.

Prosecutors argued Zielinski was demeaning and controlling.

The jury unanimously rejected the emotional disturbance defense and convicted Zielinski of murder.

Zielinski's attorneys appealed again, and in 2022, the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned the conviction .

The appeals court found Marion County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tripp improperly allowed the deputy district attorney to examine the past clients of an expert witness during the second trial.

Zielinski has been incarcerated since the shooting and conviction in 2013.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com , call 503-910-6616 or follow on X at @wmwoodworth

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Jury convicts Keizer man accused of murdering wife for third time