Recalling Killer Tom Capano

Notorious murderer Thomas Capano was found dead in his Delaware prison cell. Aged 61, Capano apparently died of natural causes. Twelve years ago, after a trial that captured national attention, the prominent Delaware lawyer was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Well, that life turned out to be rather short.

Capano was accused of killing Anne Marie Fahey, the 30-year-old scheduling secretary of then-Governor Tom Carper. He was the last one to see Fahey, formerly his mistress, alive. It took the cops a year to get the goods on Capano, whose brother Gerard was finally flipped. The Bro told the police he'd helped Capano dump Fahey's body from their boat somewhere off the Jersey Shore.

Among the evidence presented by the prosecution were emails in which Capano, mimicking a manic-depressive, alternated between pleading with and threatening Fahey, after she broke off the relationship. Some of those emails came from Capano's email account at the lawfirm where he was a partner.

That firm was Saul Ewing, where I worked, off and on, from 1983 through 1993. I only met Capano twice,briefly, during my time at Saul. The first time was at the firm's Holiday party, shortly after he signed onto the Wilmington office. As I was being introduced to him, he was looking over my shoulder, surveying the room, obviously to see who --- more important that lil' ol' me --- was there.

I had a bit better experience with him a year or so later, when I was using the Wilmington office to take some depositions in case I was litigating. I got there early to set up. Capano apparently was an early bird, too. We had a brief conversation. With no one more significant to demand his attention, he was friendly and unhurried. I liked him a little better than after our first quick encounter.

In its brief item about Capano's demise, CBS calls him a "Blueblood Killer." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2780842/posts I guess he was: family money, big-firm partnership, political clout. But, like John Edwards, and Anthony Weiner,and Eliot Spitzer, and Bill Clinton, and of course AAArnold, Capano let the little head do his thinking. Arrogance, recklessness, and free reign to ego and emotion... the perfect storm that has blown many a career onto the rocks. For Capano the shipwreck has now reached its fatal finale.