The murder case of Robert Wooten in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend in New Rochelle marks the return to trial work of a longtime Dutchess County prosecutor and judge.
Edward McLoughlin joined the Westchester District Attorney’s Office earlier this year after losing his bid for a second 10-year term as judge in 2015.
Instead of retiring or joining a law firm as most ex-judges do, he resumed his prosecutorial career as an assistant district attorney.
In a statement, Westchester District Attorney Susan Cacace said her office was “incredibly fortunate” to add McLoughlin’s “invaluable experience and knowledge” to its team.
“As a member of our Homicide Bureau, I have seen firsthand the meaningful impact ADA McLoughlin has already had on our staff
and on our work serving and supporting the people of Westchester County,” she said. “I look forward to seeing all that he will accomplish in this role.”
McLoughlin, known as Ned, joined the Dutchess District Attorney’s Office in 1992 after receiving his law degree from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains. He stayed for 23 years, the last eight as a bureau chief, handling some of the county’s biggest cases during that span.
In 2001, McLoughlin won a murder conviction against a former town of Poughkeepsie water superintendent, Fred Andros, who masterminded the fatal shooting of his former lover Susan Fassett two years earlier outside a church in Pleasant Valley.
He successfully prosecuted Charles Gilleo and Mark Serrano in the fatal shootings of Manuel "Tony" Morey and his wife Tina, and the fatal stabbings of their three sons in 2007 in the family's home in Fishkill.
And McLoughlin secured a guilty plea by Stephen Shand in the 2011 rape and murder of 18-year-old Kathryn Filiberti near her Hyde Park home.
He ran successfully for a Dutchess County judgeship in 2015.
The biggest trial he presided over was that of Nikki Addimando in the 2017 shooting death of her abusive partner Christopher Grover in the Poughkeepsie home they shared with their two young children. After the jury rejected her claim of self-defense and convicted her of murder, Addimando sought relief at her 2020 sentencing under the year-old state Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act.
The law allows for a reduced sentence if the defendant can prove they were the victim of substantial abuse, that the abuse was a significant contributor to their criminal activity and that a regular sentence would be unduly harsh. McLoughlin rejected that bid and sentenced Addimando to 19 years to life in state prison. An appellate court reduced that to 7 1/2 years, finding that the judge had not properly assessed the three factors. Addimando was released in 2024.
McLaughlin, a Republican, lost last year's election to public defender Kara Gerry. Democrats' registration advantage in the county had increased over the 10 years and he was also opposed by many supporters of Addimando.
His first court case in Westchester could also feature the Survivors Justice Act. Wooten is claiming self defense in the shooting of Meisha Williams but if convicted could seek relief under the legislation, as theirs was a turbulent relationship and she had stabbed him at a Virginia gas station months before she was killed.
That McLoughlin spent his entire career two counties north of Westchester was briefly clear during his opening statement Monday at Wooten's trial.
As he formally read the indictment, he inadvertently said ‘grand jury of the county of Dutchess’ for one of the five charges against Wooten.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Dutchess prosecutor and judge now a homicide prosecutor in Westchester
