Relatives wept yesterday in a Staten Island courtroom as they heard a voice from the grave — that of Fire Marshal Doug Mercereau, spoken days before he was shot to death.
Prosecutors replayed a voicemail to day laborer Sergio Mendoza Gutierrez, the first person to see Mercereau’s accused widow after his death.
“Hey, Sergio, it’s Doug,” Mercereau was heard saying. “I just want to know if you can come by tomorrow. Give me a call.”
Gutierrez was waiting outside the home on Dec. 2, 2007, when Janet Mercereau came out after calling 911. He testified that he told her, “Sergio, my husband’s dead. Accident.”
Doug brother, Tom, denied a defense claim that a stranger could have found guns lying around their house.
“[Doug] kept his guns in his safe at all times,” he testified.