Grazioli, who went 'off the rails' at trial, fails to reverse conviction in wife's murder

John P. Grazioli has complained about his trial lawyer since the former financial adviser was convicted of murdering his newlywed wife at their home in an upscale Millcreek Township neighborhood in 2018.

But Grazioli's decision to testify at trial, a choice he made despite his trial lawyer's indication that he advised otherwise, continues to doom his efforts to overturn his conviction for first-degree murder.

An Erie County judge has rejected another of Grazioli's appeals. Grazioli unsuccessfully argued this time that his lawyer was ineffective at his trial, in February 2019 .

"Under the circumstances of this case, there is no basis for ... 'hindsight quarter-backing,'" Judge Daniel Brabender said in a 25-page opinion filed Friday. He said Grazioli's latest appeal "must be dismissed" and that the evidence against him was "overwhelming."

Brabender said the trial lawyer, Brian Arrowsmith, who was privately retained, made sound decisions, especially given Grazioli's testimony — which Arrowsmith said "went off the rails" during cross-examination.

Intoxication, an accidental shooting or both?

Arrowsmith at trial presented evidence suggesting that Grazioli was intoxicated when he killed his wife, Amanda Grazioli, 31 . He was found guilty of shooting her in the back of the head at point-blank range as she lay on their bed in their house in the Whispering Woods subdivision on March 8, 2018.

Arrowsmith tried to show that Grazioli's use of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol caused him to suffer "diminished capacity." The theory, if proven, could have led to a verdict of third-degree murder, an unpremeditated killing with malice, rather than first-degree murder, a premeditated killing.

A conviction for third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in state prison. Grazioli, 50, is serving a mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole for his conviction for first-degree murder.

Toxicology evidence showed that Amanda Grazioli had cocaine, marijuana and alcohol in her system when she died. Arrowsmith relied on that evidence and other information to tell the jury that John Grazioli used the same substances and was intoxicated. Grazioli did not need to testify for Arrowsmith to make that argument.

Grazioli still took the stand.

He testified that he did not mean to shoot his wife. He said the handgun, a Glock 43 9 mm, went off when he mistakenly squeezed the trigger as he was trying to unload it. Grazioli said he and his wife of five months were looking at the gun because he had bought it as a present for her birthday more than a month later, on April 20.

Grazioli loses first appeal, then files another

The state Superior Court in March 2020 upheld Grazioli's conviction for first-degree murder . Grazioli then claimed ineffective counsel in appeals he filed under the state's Post-Conviction Relief Act . He is on his third court-appointed lawyer in the PRCA appeals after he had the first two lawyers removed from representing him.

Grazioli's current PCRA lawyer, Jessica Fiscus, an assistant public defender, claimed Arrowsmith was ineffective partly because he presented what Fiscus said could be considered contradictory defenses — that Grazioli accidentally killed his wife or that he killed her because he was so intoxicated that he had no idea what he was doing.

Brabender found that Arrowsmith acted appropriately. He cited Arrowsmith's testimony at a PCRA hearing on the ineffectiveness claim in March.

"Arrowsmith credibly testified it was his strategic decision in the fluid, dynamic environment of the trial" to argue that Grazioli's intoxication created a situation in which the shooting could have been an accident, Brabender said in the decision.

Brabender also said Arrowsmith did the best he could once Grazioli decided to testify.

Under cross-examination, the District Attorney's Office was able to question Grazioli about his troubled marital relationship, including evidence that he solicited an extramarital affair on a phone messaging app weeks before he killed his wife. The prosecution highlighted that evidence in seeking a conviction for first-degree murder.

Brabender agreed with Arrowsmith's PCRA hearing testimony that he had to "pivot" during the trial. Brabender highlighted Arrowsmith's statement that Grazioli's testimony "went off the rails" during cross-examination." That testimony "changed the trajectory of he trial," Brabender said.

Brabender praised Arrowsmith, a former assistant district attorney who has practiced law for about 15 years. He called him "a lawyer of significant skill and experience."

A case that featured a 'headstrong client'

Arrowsmith never testified at the PCRA hearing as to whether he advised Grazioli not to testify. But the implication at the hearing was that Grazioli decided to take the stand despite Arrowsmith's counsel.

Brabender supported that implication.

"The sum and substance of Arrowsmith's testimony," Brabender said in his decision, "was Mr. Grazioli was a headstrong client."

He said Arrowsmith "tactfully stated" points about Grazioli at the PCRA hearing.

According to Brabender's decision, Arrowsmith testified: "Getting to know him the way I did, Mr. Grazioli, ultimately, is going to make a decision, and whatever he decides, he probably thinks is the correct way to go.

"That could be a bonus in some areas of life, maybe not in others."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Grazioli, who went 'off the rails' at trial, fails to reverse conviction in wife's murder