WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Fort Lauderdale man accused of killing his father, dismembering the body and dumping the remains at an old golf course in Boca Raton is back in court.
The second trial for James Scandirito II began Monday. The first one ended in a mistrial when an undisclosed medical condition prevented assistant public defender Elizabeth Ramsey from continuing with the trial.
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Scandirito II, 49, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his father, a retired judge from Michigan. He is also charged with abuse of a dead human body.
Court documents revealed that the elder Scandirito was dismembered, his torso and upper legs buried in two pieces at the old Ocean Breeze Golf Club.
Prosecutors are arguing that the defendant killed Scandirito Sr. in March 2018 because he stood to inherit his father's money.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the state's evidence will show you that the defendant in this case, James Scandirito II, is responsible for the murder and abuse of the human body of his own father," assistant state attorney Emily Walters said during her opening statements.
But Ramsey told the jury during her opening remarks that her client's father had a heart attack after a long day of drinking alcohol and consuming drugs with his son.
Ramsey said Scandirito II went outside to smoke a cigarette, and when he returned found his father lying on the floor as if he had fallen out of his chair.
"They had been partying all day, and there was a slew of legal and illegal drugs on a coffee table that was spilled over in the living room," she said.
Ramsey said Scandirito II wasn't able to resuscitate his father and panicked, dismembering the body and hiding the remains.
"He made some terrible decisions -- some criminal decisions -- in this case, but murder is not one of them," Ramsey said.
Dr. Reinhard Motte, an associate medical examiner in Palm Beach County, concluded that the retired 74-year-old's manner of death was a "homicide by unspecified means." That's because the former judge's head has not been found.
Scandirito II was arrested April 9 in Alachua County after he stole a license plate and fled north in an attempt to avoid being caught, Boca Raton police said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Scandirito's Ford Escape was discovered by police on Easter Sunday at Knowles Park in Delray Beach, but his cellphone, wallet and keys were nowhere to be found.
Instead, police found a three-day-old receipt from Home Depot on the passenger floorboard. It showed a cash transaction, dated March 29 at 6:06 a.m., in which a hand truck and gas can had been purchased.
When asked by police why his father was at Home Depot so early in the morning, Scandirito II said he bought the items to use with a pressure washer that he was taking back to his apartment in Fort Lauderdale.
During the search for Scandirito, his son told police that he didn't see any recent credit card or bank activity on his father's accounts. However, financial records showed that there were several purchases made on Scandirito's debit card between March 28 and March 30.
"Several items were purchased at Publix, including duct tape, garbage bags and cleaning supplies," Detective Robert Volguardson wrote in the probable cause affidavit.
It was Scandirito II seen on surveillance video making the purchases, Volguardson wrote.
A review of the surveillance video from Knowles Park also showed Scandirito's SUV entering the park about 8:30 a.m. March 31. A review of Scandirito's cellphone records showed it was last used 13 minutes later.
Financial records showed Scandirito II making several attempts to withdraw $9,500 from a beneficiary account in his father's name, and he also withdrew $1,400 in cash -- almost the entire amount -- from his personal checking account.
On the morning of March 31, Scandirito II and his father's friend, Gary Goodin, were supposed to watch a basketball game with Scandirito at his Boca Raton home, but he never arrived. Scandirito II told police he sent a text message and tried to call his father's phone, but he got no reply or answer.
Goodin also called Scandirito's phone, which went straight to voicemail. The next morning, Goodin called nearby hospitals looking for his friend and eventually contacted police.
During an April 3 interview with detectives, Scandirito II said he played golf with father on the morning of March 28, ran some errands and returned to his father's home to drink tequila and celebrate what would have been his late mother's birthday. Scandirito II said he and his father drank throughout the night, so he decided to sleep over.
The next morning, Scandirito II said, his father told him that he was going to Miami with a friend to watch a tennis match, so he decided to go back to Fort Lauderdale. Scandirito II told police that his father asked him to clean out the garage, so they decided to swap vehicles. When Scandirito II got to the home, his father wasn't there.
Scandirito II told police that he spent another night there, and when his father returned mid-morning, Scandirito II didn't ask where he had been. They exchanged vehicles and he went back to Fort Lauderdale.
It wasn't until about midnight March 31 that Scandirito II said he received a call from his father's cellphone, but he didn't answer.
During an April 3 search of the home, detectives found the presence of blood drops in the garage, including on the hand truck that had been purchased from Home Depot, the affidavit said.
Meanwhile, police were conducting surveillance on Scandirito II, who made several trips back and forth between Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Among the places Scandirito II went was to the old Ocean Breeze Golf Course, the affidavit said. He arrived carrying a small bag and left with a suitcase and wearing a different set of clothes.
Scandirito II was then seen carrying the suitcase and disposing of it in a dumpster, the affidavit said.
The suitcase, along with a smaller suitcase inside of it, was recovered by police and contained "bloody clothing, maggots and the smell of decomposing remains."
Within a few hours, human remains were found on the golf course, buried about 4 feet deep.
A police dive team searched a pond near where the remains were discovered and found a shovel in the water about 20 yards from shore, the affidavit said.
Scandirito's cellphone records showed that between March 28 and March 31, his phone was near the golf course, his son's Fort Lauderdale apartment and his Boca Raton home. Scandirito II's cellphone records showed that it was at Knowles Park one day before Delray Beach police found his father's SUV there, the affidavit said.
Ramsey said the prosecution's argument centers around things that happened after Scandirito Sr.'s death.
"They have no scientific evidence, no physical evidence, no direct evidence, no testimony from anyone that suggests that there was a bad relationship" between Scandirito II and his father or that he killed his father, Ramsey said.
Walters said the evidence shows that Scandirito II logged into his Bank of America account six times on the day he killed his father. She said he had a total of $3.40 in his account when he logged in that evening.
Ramsey admitted that Scandirito II was the only person who stood to inherit his father's money, but she said the financial motive is "not enough" because he already had access to the money.
In the time between the trials, the judge who presided over the mistrial was replaced by Judge John Kastrenakes. Ramsey filed a March 6 motion to disqualify Kastrenakes, arguing that her client wouldn't receive a fair trial because of his personal relationship with assistant state attorney John Parnofiello.
Kastrenakes, who presided over Parnofiello's wedding, denied the motion.