Lawyer Says Florida Man Is Too Fat to Kill in New Jersey Murder Case

Oct. 30, 2009 — -- An attorney for a Florida man accused of killing his former son-in-law is employing an unusual defense: obesity.

Edward Ates, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, drove from his Florida home to New Jersey where he allegedly shot and killed Paul Duncsak, 40, in 2006, prosecutors said. But defense attorney Walter Lesnevich told the court Thursday that Ates is not physically capable of pulling off the crime, citing the long drive and the stairs he would have had to climb and descend during the crime.

"You look at Ed, and you don't need to hear it from a doctor," Lesnevich said of Ates, who at 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 299 pounds at the time of the killing.

Ates' "morbid obesity" caused asthma, sleep apnea and other obesity-related ailments, Lesnevich said, adding that he's also a longtime smoker.

Duncsak was shot once in the leg at an upward angle before the shooter bounded up the four stairs and fired several more, highly accurate and fatal shots, investigators said.

Ates' doctor testified that running up those stairs would have taken a toll on a man the size of Ates, likely causing his hands to shake, making firing a gun accurately difficult.

He also testified there's no way he could have then driven 21 hours straight.

"He could go up four steps, but could he then maintain the pistol straight and not miss? That's a tough shot," Lesnevich told "Good Morning America" today. "It was more than 4 feet away."

Thursday prosecutors painted Ates as an experienced marksman with military experience.

Prosecutors played a wiretapped phone call in which Ates made calls to his sister in Louisiana after Duncsak was killed. In the calls, Ates goes over the timing of events with his sister. Ates' sister later testified that, at Ates' request, she had lied to detectives, telling them he was in Louisiana on the day of the killing.

Prosecutors said Ates planned the killing and researched with books and online.

The charges against Ates include first-degree murder, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.