CLOSE Here's a quick look at the sentences in the Craig Rideout case. Scott Norris

Laura Rideout listens during her sentencing. (Photo11: Pool)

A woman and her two sons were sentenced to maximum terms on Friday for their convictions in the July 2016 murder of their father and husband, Craig Rideout.

Rideout's estranged wife, Laura Rideout and the couple's son Colin Rideout were each sentenced to 25 years to life on second-degree murder charges. Laura Rideout also received 15 years for second-degree burglary. Both, along with the couple's other son Alexander Rideout, received and 1 and 1/3 to 4 years for tampering.

All three received the maximum sentences on every charge they faced, as Judge Thomas Moran rejected their attorney's pleas for leniency.

It brings to a close — pending appeal — what Moran called "one of the ugliest things I've ever seen." Laura and Colin Rideout were convicted of strangling the victim with a homemade garrote, disfiguring his face with acid and dumping the body in a field, with Alexander Rideout participating in the cover-up.

Paul "P.J." Tucci, Laura Rideout, Colin Ridout, Alexander Rideout (Photo11: Staff photographs)

Before the sentence was announced, Craig Rideout's sister, Robbyn Drew, said it had been her brother's greatest wish to repair his relationships with his children, an opportunity that was eliminated with his killing. She asked the three defendants — her nephews and sister-in-law — receive the maximum sentences.

"There’s nothing to be done to bring my brother back," she said. "My hope is that he is be remembered as the kind, loving man he was."

CLOSE Robbyn Drew talks about her brother and the impact his murder has had on her and the family of Craig Rideout. Pool video

The defense attorneys for both Rideout brothers sought before sentencing to portray them as victims of their upbringing — Colin, the eldest, forced into the role of protector and parent, and Alex, eager to please.

"Colin Rideout never got to be a kid; he never had that benefit," Matt Parrinello said about his client. "He was forced to grow up way before any 22-year-old kid should have to grow up."

Laura Rideout's lawyer, Michael DiPrima, listed various extenuating factors from her past: her Roman Catholic faith and anti-abortion belief; her husband's alleged mental illness, and her migraines; an allegation that two of her children were conceived after Craig Rideout raped her.

"I don't believe that ... her inner person, her inner self, was capable of taking a life," he said. "Her ultimate judgment will be decided by God Almighty."

Alex Rideout listens during sentencing. (Photo11: Pool)

He also said Laura Rideout had agreed to a plea deal, ultimately rejected, that would have spared her children of murder charges.

Before the sentences were handed down, each of the defendants presented motions asking that the jury's guilty verdicts be set aside. Judge Moran denied each of those motions.

Each of the defendants was led out of the courtroom and taken to the Monroe County Jail, where they have been held since their conviction. Each will be transferred to the custody of the state prison system sometime later this month.

Craig Rideout's body was found along a rural roadside in Yates County, New York, in the early morning hours of July 20, 2016. His beaten and bloodied body was wrapped in a tarp, and investigators said some type of acid had been used in an attempt to disfigure the victim's face and hands. A shovel was found nearby, amid signs of a failed attempt to dig a hole.

Colin Rideout arrives in court prior to his sentencing. (Photo11: TINA MACINTYRE-YEE staff photogrpaher)

The following day, two of Craig Rideout's sons were arrested near a park. In the trunk of Colin and Alexander Rideout's car was a garbage bag filled with bloody clothes. Forensics experts would later conclude that the blood on those items belonged to Craig Rideout. DNA samples would later tie the items to Colin and Alexander, along with their mother Laura Rideout and her boyfriend, Paul "P.J." Tucci.

All four were eventually charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence for their botched attempt to clean up the crime scene and to hide the body.

Tucci was found not guilty of the murdering and tampering charges.

Prosecutors say that Craig and Laura were embroiled in a bitter divorce and a custody fight over the youngest of the couple's seven children. They theorized that Laura's desire to move to North Carolina with Tucci created a sense of urgency, and that the desire to gain custody of those children was what set the murder plot into motion.

At trial, jurors say surveillance videos of Laura, Colin, and Tucci on shopping trips to WalMart locations in the days and hours before the murder took place. Those videos showed them purchasing a tarp, bungee cords, drain cleaner, a shovel, and work gloves — items which investigators say were later found at one of the three crime scenes.

In his closing argument, Prosecutor Timothy Prosperi said that these videos were evidence of a plan for murder.

"If you are pre-planning the cleanup of a murder, you have the intent for (committing) the murder," Prosperi argued.

Jurors also saw a pair of jeans linked to Colin Rideout that were soaked in blood, which an expert testified put him in close proximity to the murder. The same conclusion was offered about jeans which contained Laura Rideout's DNA.

In all, prosecutors called more than 50 witnesses and introduced nearly 700 pieces of evidence during a trial that lasted four weeks.

The defense lawyers for each of the four defendants rested their cases without calling any witnesses.

The jury of 8 men and 4 women deliberated for five days before returning verdicts on all of the counts.

Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn, whose office led the investigation, called it a horrendous crime. "This was definitely one of the most heinous cases I’ve seen in my more than 30 years in law enforcement," he said moments after the verdicts were delivered.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wT1dyh