Hearing set to determine if verdict should be vacated because co-conspirators lied

Tristan Wolusky

DOVER, N.H. - Convicted Rochester murderer Tristan Wolusky will get his first chance at freedom next month when a hearing is scheduled for Strafford County Superior Court to determine whether his co-conspirators in a grisly murder nearly two years ago lied on the stand when they said he helped them stab to death a Madbury teen.

The hearing was prompted amid claims and a motion by Wolusky defense lawyer Mark Sisti that Michael Tatum of Barrington and Zachary Pinette of Springvale, Maine, perjured themselves on the stand when they said they saw Wolusky stab Aaron Wilkinson, 18, in the driveway of his Madbury home around 1:30 a.m. on June 21, 2014.

Pinette and Tatum have both recanted their trial testimony in statements to the court, now saying they never saw Wolusky deliver any stab wounds to the victim.

All three have been found guilty in the death of Wilkinson, but Wolusky is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, while the other two face 25-year to life with the potential for parole on second-degree murder charges.

Both Pinette and Tatum agreed during trial it was Wolusky who hatched the plan to steal drugs from Wilkinson and held him down while he was fatally stabbed with knives and a machete.

After killing Wilkinson the three dumped his body along Long Swamp Lane in Lebanon.

Pinette and Tatum were granted the lesser sentences for their testimony against Wolusky portraying him as the ringleader, but Sisti has argued their statements were contradictory regarding the night of the slaying.

He also argued their testimony was tainted as they had failed polygraph tests and that the prosecution had not allowed defense attorney proper access to them prior to trial.