NORWICH – Seven witnesses took the stand in Chenango County Court Tuesday, each recalling circumstances surrounding the death of Patricia Wlasiuk and the events which preceded it six years ago.

Peter M. Wlasiuk, 39, is currently in the midst of his second murder trial in Chenango County Court. Convicted of second degree murder of his wife Patricia in 2002, Wlasiuk fought a successful appeal and saw the verdict overturned due to procedural errors in the first trial.

In a 30-minute opening statement yesterday, District Attorney Joseph A. McBride told jurors that Wlasiuk had begun planning his wife’s death nearly a year before it took place in 2002. McBride claimed that Patricia was strangled at the couple’s Oxford home and then dumped in Guilford Lake in April of that year.

Defense Attorney Randel Scharf said in his opening remarks that Mrs. Wlasiuk had been suicidal and that much of the evidence in the case had been mishandled by investigators.

The first of seven witnesses called during yesterday’s testimony was Patricia’s mother, Joyce Cardozo of Bainbridge. She testified she did not have a good relationship with her son-in-law and that he controlled her daughter to the point that they saw very little of each other outside of work. Back in 2002, the mother and daughter worked together as nurses at The Hospital in Sidney.

“She pretty much did what Pete wanted her to do,” Cardozo said on the stand.