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| Paul Maida is sentenced Monday, Nov. 20, 2017 to 12 years in prison for three charges, including leaving the scene of a crash involving death, in the 2014 traffic death of bicyclist George Morreale in Boca Raton. (Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post) |
WEST PALM BEACH
In an odd coincidence, a 33-year-old suburban Boca Raton man who on Monday was sentenced to 12 years in prison shares a heritage of sorts with the 65-year-old bicyclist he was convicted of fatally injuring during a 2014 crash on Yamato Road.
Both Paul Maida and the late George Morreale were twins — and
both were the good sons, often either overshadowed by or forced to clean
up the messes of their troubled twin brothers, family members
testified.
Maida’s twin, Nicholas, was constantly in trouble when the two
brothers were growing up and is in federal prison on firearms charges,
said their father, Paul Thomas Maida. Morreale, his family members said,
spent much of his life trying to help his twin, who was unable to
overcome the violence of the home they shared as boys.
The coincidence of being twins is just one of the twists of the
case that confounded prosecutors for years, delaying justice for
Morreale’s grieving family.
For more than 1½ years, Maida’s girlfriend was on house arrest,
awaiting trial on a charge of DUI manslaughter in Morreale’s death,
after telling Boca Raton police she was the one driving her Ford F-150
truck when it hit Morreale as he was out on his regular Sunday morning
bike ride. But Bianca Fichtel eventually recanted and provided
prosecutors with emails from Maida that they used in making the case
that Fichtel and Maida had switched seats after the collision because
Maida’s driver license had been suspended as a result of a 2012
drunk-driving conviction.
A jury in July convicted of Maida of leaving the scene of an
accident involving a death, driving on a suspended license and making a
false report to police, but he continues to claim Fichtel was driving
and is appealing his conviction. He was acquitted of a charge of DUI
manslaughter. His blood-alcohol level wasn’t tested on the day of the
crash because Fichtel had told police she was at the wheel.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles Burton struggled with
Fichtel’s duplicity in determining the proper sentence for Maida, who
tearfully apologized to Morreale’s family. “She could have corrected
this thing the next day or the day after,” Burton said. “She’s no
angel.”
Assistant State Attorney Laura Laurie acknowledged the
Fitchel’s behavior was inexplicable. But, she said, Maida’s decision to
perpetuate the lie was worse.
“Someone who robs a family of justice and let’s someone else take the fall has zero moral character,” she said.
The sentence Burton was imposed was less than the 20 years
Laurie sought and more than the 9½ years recommended by defense attorney
Robert Resnick.
Morreale’s wife, daughter and son offered no opinion on how
long they wanted Maida to remain behind bars. Instead, they spoke of the
gaping hole that was left in their lives by Morreale’s death. A master
carpenter who loved origami, God and his family, he was contemplating
retirement when his life was cut short, they said.
“I still cry often. There’s a deep void in my life,” widow Lois
Morreale said of her husband of 44 years. “I miss his smile. I miss his
laugh. I miss his presence. I miss him more than words can describe.”
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors 250 pages of emails
Maida and Fichtel exchanged while Fichtel was on house arrest. In many,
Maida pledged to take responsibility for Morreale’s death.
During
closing arguments, Laurie described Fichtel as a mentally unstable,
lovesick young woman whom Maida manipulated with empty promises.
On Monday, Laurie acknowledged that the case was perplexing. “You can’t rationalize irrational behavior,” she said.
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Crime