A Duluth police investigator testified in St. Louis County District Court that Ian Guzzo was sobbing and his tears were falling on a desk top as he provided a handwriting example to authorities after being accused of being involved in the planning of a Congdon Park home invasion.
Under questioning by St. Louis County prosecutor Mark Rubin, Investigator Mike Peterson, a member of the Violent Crimes Unit at the time of the incident but now in the officer training and development unit, told jurors that he saw tears fall from Guzzo's eyes as he provided a handwriting sample to be submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for analysis.
Guzzo, 20, of Two Harbors is accused of aiding and abetting first-degree burglary in the Aug. 30, 2007, crime in which a mother and her 9-year-old son were tied and threatened at gunpoint during an attempted theft of money from their family home.
The two men who entered the home, David Schiller and Jonathon Phipps, both of Two Harbors, pleaded guilty to their roles in the crime and are serving 9½- and 8¾-year prison sentences, respectively.
Guzzo was ordered by the court to submit to a handwriting test to help determine whether he drew the detailed map of the home that Schiller and Phipps broke into. An expert with the BCA concluded that the sketches and drawings on the map are consistent with being drawn by Guzzo.
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Defense attorney William Paul suggested to jurors through his questioning of police that his client's tears were a result of feeling close to and feeling sorry for what happened to the family he is accused of betraying.
Paul also suggested that Guzzo was crestfallen because the crime's ringleader, Schiller, was a former friend whom he grew up with and that his sadness had nothing to do with anything he did to the family that befriended him.
Testimony continues this afternoon before 6th Judicial District Judge Shaun Floerke.
