John Pagli Participates in Wife's Mental Screen in Daughter Slay Case

Attorneys confirmed Wednesday that John Pagli has spoken with psychiatric experts to help them determine the mental state of wife Stacey Pagli on the February day police say she attacked and killed their daughter.

Marissa Pagli, 18, died in the Manhattanville College campus apartment she shared with her parents. Police believe Stacey Pagli strangled Marissa to death during an argument.

Shaking and visibly emotional, John Pagli was in court Wednesday as Judge Albert Lorenzo oversaw a Westchester County Court hearing in White Plains. Stacey quickly looked toward the area where her husband was sitting before the proceeding, but then faced forward and never looked back.

She has been charged with second-degree murder, a felony.

Defense Attorney Allan Focarile informed the court that the defense's evaluation of Stacey Pagli has been completed and experts from the prosecution will now have a chance for an interview.

Focarile has said that he intends to offer psychiatric evidence in the 38-year-old's defense. If a jury is convinced that Stacey was suffering from severe depression when she killed her daughter, the current second-degree murder charges could be reduced to manslaughter. 

Although John Pagli has attended almost all court proceedings in the case, he expressed through attorneys in June that he had no interest in being a part of the evaluation. At a proceeding in Harrison on March 2, he cried out, while his wife left the courtroom, a clear indication that he is far from standing by his wife after the tragic death of their daughter.

But on Wednesday Assistant District Attorney Timothy Ward confirmed that John Pagli has spoken to psychiatric experts.

"He has in fact met with both (parties)," Ward said on Wednesday. "That's actually been accomplished so we are ready to move forward with the people's evaluation."

After the attack, Stacey Pagli attempted suicide in the apartment and then again at least twice in police custody, according to authorities.

Marissa Pagli, a 2009 graduate of Harrison High School, was a college freshman.

The next hearing in the case is set for Sept. 15. John Pagli, sobbing and visibly shaken, quickly left the courtroom after the 10-minute-long hearing.

Stacey Pagli continues to be held without bail.