Terminally ill man’s relatives ‘railroaded’ by woman’s sentence

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

The relatives of a terminally ill man who was killed by his girlfriend of 19 years in April 2004 said they felt "railroaded" by the system after the woman was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison Tuesday.

Tanja Markese, also known as Tanja Francica, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon for the April 2004 shooting death of 64-year-old Robert Markese at their home in the b1800 lock of Avocado Court.

She originally faced a charge of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon for the killing, which she told police she committed in self-defense as a result of a domestic dispute.

She told District Judge Donald Mosley when she came home the day of the killing Markese was in a "dark mood" and pulled her hair before complaining about their dog and his family.

Tanja Markese said her boyfriend, who suffered from major heart problems, diabetes, asthma and a spinal disease, then picked up a gun.

"He had a gun in his hand, waving it and pointing it at me and pointing it at his face," she said. "I was able to get the gun from him and there was a struggle on the couch."

She said when she took that gun away from Robert Markese, he reached for another gun he kept under the coffee table. She said he told her he was going "blow my (expletive) head off and in that moment I shot him."

Her lawyer, John Momot, urged Mosley to consider probation for her. "She's a 46-year-old woman who has never been in any courtroom inthis state or any other state in the United States of America," Momot said.

Momot said fingerprint analysis on the gun was consistent with his client's story that she wrestled the gun away from Markese. Momot said she was less worried about her life when she saw Markese with the gun and was instead "trying to stop him (Markese) from committing suicide."

The defense attorney said medical records indicated Robert Markese had talked of suicide as far back as 1993 and at the point of the killing "the situation had exacerbated."

Momot said his client was not a killer and the incident was instead an "isolated incident, horrific in nature."

Robert Markese's family members, however, characterized his killer as a "liar, thief and murderer" who had planned and carried out the killing in a "calculated and cold-blooded manner."

One by one family members took their turns on the witness stand as the pleaded with Mosley to impose the maximum sentence allowed, eight to 20 years.

Michelle Markese said her father was killed just two days after heart surgery and "he did not want to die. That's a lie."

She said her father's killer also was a "public nuisance" who had a pending federal case of identity theft, fraud on insurance and for writing bad checks.

She alleged that the defendant had her name legally changed to Markese in 1995 so she could steal the identity of Robert Markese's ex-wife, Michelle Markese's mother. Michelle Markese said Fracica took out credit in her mother's name and when gambling would use her mother's Social Security number to report some $1 million in gambling winnings to avoid paying taxes on them. But for losses, Tanja Markese used her own Social Security number, Michelle Markese said. Michelle's brother, Robert Markese, said he will miss their father's "laugh, his smile. He had one of the most positive attitudes of any human being you've ever scene."

He accused Tanja Markese of going to a bar on the night of the shooting, getting drunk "and shooting my father three times as he laid on the couch."

The younger Robert Markese said not only did she ruin his mother's credit to the point she "wouldn't be able to buy a 1972 Volkswagen," but said Tanja Markese also stole $120,000 his father kept in the wall of his garage.

After the sentencing, Robert Markese said prosecutors' allowing Tanja Markese to plead guilty to a lesser charge and the "smack-on-the-wrist sentence" added up to an example of "justice failing to work for everybody."

He said the sentence was a result of Tanja Markese's "high-powered attorney working the system in her favor."