HARTFORD--The defense team for Tiffany Stevens, a Bloomfield mother accused of trying to hire a handyman to kill her ex-husband, rested Monday.
Last on the stand was Tiffany Stevens’ father, Edward Khalily. Defense attorney Hubert Santos repeatedly asked Khalily about his daughter’s relationship with her former husband, Eric Stevens, the alleged target of the murder for hire scheme.
"He would be breaking all chinaware, glasses, and everything and my daughter and grandchild would run into bedroom and they would hide,” Khalily said, citing alleged incidents when Stevens was angry about gambling debts.
At one point, he described an experience when he claimed Eric’s “rage” flared up during a family trip to Disney.
"Because the attendant didn't call one minute sooner, he ripped the phone, threw it out of the closed window, broke the window,” Khalily said.
Khalily also denied the existence of a $50 million trust fund which, according to Tiffany’s warrant, Eric told police was connected to the custody of their daughter.
"Has there ever been a $50 million trust fund?” Santos asked Khalily.
“No sir. Never,” Khalily said.
Prior to Khalily, the defense called Monique Ferraro, a technology expert, to testify on the authenticity of a recording in which, police say, Tiffany Stevens is heard asking handyman, John McDaid, to kill Eric Stevens.
"They certainly did not follow the protocol for determining whether a file has been tampered with,” Ferraro said, describing how investigators handled the file.
According to Ferraro, investigators made a direct copy of the file, rather than making a forensic duplicate from the hard drive. That action, she said, could have made it very difficult to determine if the recording was edited before it was handed over to police.
"The last access dates could have been changed on the hard drive,” Ferraro said.
On cross examination, prosecutor Anthony Bochicchio pressed Ferraro to admit that she had no evidence to suggest the file was ever tampered with or edited.
The defense may call one more witness Wednesday. Closing arguments are expected to take place after that.
