Putnam DA’s Office Helps Lock Up Convicted Murderer
A Poughkeepsie woman who was convicted of murder last year may spend her life in prison, after the Putnam County District Attorney’s Office helped prosecute the case.
Nicole Addimando was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of Christopher Grover, with a concurrent sentence of 15 years and five years post-release supervision.
Addimando was convicted by a jury April 12, 2019 of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to Putnam County D.A. Robert Tendy, Addimando claimed that she had been abused for years by Grover and that she shot him in self-defense during an altercation. However, photos of Grover after the shooting showed him lying on a couch in a sleeping position with his hands folded.
“The defendant’s allegations of abuse and self-defense were exhaustively investigated for two years by many detectives and law enforcement agencies,” said Tendy. “We took the defendant’s claims of abuse very seriously. In the end, everything pointed to the fact that Christopher Grover was asleep when the defendant executed him, and there was no evidence that he had ever abused her.”
In fact, Tendy said there was evidence that she was “extremely verbally abusive to him and planned the murder in advance.”
“Fortunately, she didn’t get away with it,” he said. “The jury reviewed the extensive forensic evidence and trial testimony and unanimously rejected the defendant’s claims.”
The Putnam County D.A.’s office was named special prosecutor on the case due to a conflict with the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office.
Tendy thanked the “incredible teamwork” of Poughkeepsie detectives Richard Sisilli, Darrell Honkala and Jason Guy; the New York State Police Crime Lab; and Putnam County sheriff’s investigator Matthew Tunney, crime analyst Jessica Cundari, and investigator Michael Benvie.
The trial team was Chief Assistant Chana Krauss and First Assistant Larry Glasser.
“I want to thank the Grover family and friends for their incredible support and trust that justice system would work,” said Krauss. “Their strength is a testament to who they are as a family and who Chris was as a son, father, friend and coach.”
