Defendant accused in Pastore murder risks more jail time to clear her name

NORWICH – Tammi Van Deusen had served nearly six and half years of her eight-year sentence when she won an appeal. She will return to court this spring, risking 15 to life if convicted despite a plea bargain offered last Friday.

“We will not take a felony for something she didn’t do,” said Robert Van Deusen, Tammi’s father.

“People keep calling it a retrial. There never was a trial. A trial is what we wanted six years ago,” he said.

Tammi Van Deusen, 31, was arrested on Aug. 4, 2000 following a police investigation into a drug-related murder. She was one of five defendants convicted in connection to the July 17, 2000 murder of Edward Pastore Jr. Pastore was targeted because he was a believed to be a successful drug dealer in the area. Van Deusen pleaded guilty to 1st degree robbery at the time. “She pleaded guilty at her first court arraignment twenty one minutes after meeting her lawyer for the first time. It is highly unusual for a murder plea at an arraignment. It’s almost unheard of,” said her current attorney Randel Scharf.

Van Deusen was tape recorded by police after her arrest. She claimed she was never told she was being taped, despite officers saying she was made aware. She asked for a lawyer, but the request was denied, she claims. Van Deusen says she did not understand the law and as a result signed forms waiving her Miranda rights.

The prosecution contends Van Deusen has given contradicting information, giving them grounds to charge her with perjury.

Last Friday following her Huntley Hearing, a plea bargain was brokered behind closed doors that would have allowed Van Deusen to go free almost immediately with time already served. The deal was refused by the defense. Scharf said Van Deusen would have to plead guilty to 1st degree robbery and couldn’t legally because she never committed one. With only a year and a half left in her current sentence, her attorney and father say Tammi, who is the mother of a seven year old boy, is willing to risk life in prison in order to clear her name of the felony charges.