NORWICH – Peter Wlasiuk was sentenced in county court today, receiving the maximum penalty in the murder of his wife, Patricia – 25 years to life; his third conviction in ten years for the crime.

Wlasiuk spoke at length on his own behalf, nearly an hour, often breaking into tears as he continued to proclaim his innocence.

“There is no way I can receive a fair trial,” said Wlasiuk, who was first accused of his wife’s murder in April of 2002. Patricia Wlasiuk’s body was recovered by emergency personnel from the bottom of Guilford Lake following what Wlasiuk claimed was a car accident as his wife swerved to miss a deer and drove into the lake. The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office, however, maintains that Wlasiuk killed his wife at the couple’s New Virginia Road home in Oxford, loaded her body into the bed of his 1998 GMC pick-up truck, and then purposefully sent the vehicle into the lake’s icy waters.

District Attorney Joseph McBride said Wlasiuk had “received his day in court” and a fair trial, and asked the court to “put all sympathy aside” before requesting the maximum sentence.

Wlasiuk’s attorney, Mark Loughran, had no comment, although he did state Wlasiuk would once again appeal the conviction. He has now been convicted of his wife’s murder three times – the previous convictions coming in 2003 and 2008. Both convictions were overturned on appeal, in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Wlasiuk will receive credit for the approximately ten years he has already served and will be eligible for parole at that time.

A full story will appear in Monday’s edition of The Evening Sun.