A Staten Island mom charged with murdering her fire marshal husband in his sleep had the start of her trial delayed yesterday as her lawyers waged a last-minute battle to get the case moved out of her home borough.
Janet Redmond-Mercereau’s attorneys argued that bad press has made it impossible to find fair jurors on Staten Island, where she allegedly shot her husband Douglas Mercereau in his bed on Dec. 2, 2007.
“She has been nicknamed ‘The Merry Widow.’ The press has described her as gleeful about her husband’s death,” defense attorney Joseph Benfante wrote in reference to articles about Mercereau’s behavior at the time of her March 2008 arrest.
At her arraignment she smiled and winked at her family as she was walked out of the courtroom wearing handcuffs. Days before, she strutted around her driveway for news cameras.
“Staten Island is like a small town,” Benfante wrote. “The grossly prejudicial publicity . . . has infiltrated the community.”