BURLINGTON – A Shrewsbury man accused of fatally shooting his longtime girlfriend more than two years ago has reached a plea deal in a separate case involving federal firearms charges.
Frank Weir, 57, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Burlington to a two-count indictment charging him with possessing a machine gun without a permit in February 2016.
According to court records, the firearm in question was a Thompson U.S. Navy 1928 submachine gun, also known as a “Tommy Gun.” The second charge stated that this same firearm had an obliterated serial number.
The machine gun at issue in the federal case, according to prosecutors, is not alleged to be related to the murder case against Weir in state court. However, the firearm was found hanging on a wall at his residence as police investigated his girlfriend’s slaying.
Federal Judge Christina Reiss told Weir during the hearing Friday that she still must decide whether she is going to accept the proposed plea deal on the firearms charges, which calls for him to serve 65 months in prison.
A formal sentencing hearing on the federal offenses is expected to take place in late March. At that point, the judge said, she will decide whether to accept or reject the proposed plea deal.
The plea deal on the federal charges is expected to clear the way for Weir to enter into a separate agreement with state prosecutors on the murder charge against him for the February 2016 shooting death of his girlfriend, 57-year–old Donna Marzilli.
Marzilli was well-known in town and worked for several years prior to her death at Shrewsbury Co-op at Pierce’s Store.
In a move aimed to allow Weir to serve most, if not all of his sentence on both the firearms and murder convictions in the federal prison system, his attorney, Peter Langrock, said he wanted to resolve the federal charge against his client before the state charge.
Langrock said his ailing client suffers from a medical condition that he believes will receive better treatment in the federal prison system than in the state prison system.
That’s particularly the case because of a recent contract the state inked to send its out-of-state-prisoners to a privately run facility, operated by CoreCivic, in Mississippi, the defense attorney said.
State inmates serving long prison sentences are among the most likely to be shipped out-of-state due lack of prison bed capacity within Vermont.
Langrock has expressed concern with the medical care provided at for-profit prisons, and has argued that his client, who suffers from a breathing disorder that requires frequent treatments with a nebulizer, will be better off in the federal system.
By resolving the federal case first, Weir will be in federal custody as the state case moves to an expected plea deal. That will allow Weir to remain in federal custody as he serves his anticipated state sentence at the same time, Langrock said.
The proposed deal in state court would have Weir plead guilty to second-degree murder in Marzilli’s death. He would be sentenced to 20 years to life, with all but all eight years of that sentence suspended on probation, according to court filings.
That means Weir would have to serve at least eight years behind bars before he is eligible for release. He would be given credit for time he has served in jail since his arrest in 2016.
If it all works out, Langrock said, it is expected that Weir will complete serving his federal 65- month sentence at about the same time he completes the eight-year state prison term.
Rutland County prosecutors are expected to refile a murder charge as soon as the federal firearms offenses against Weir are formally resolved.
Police say it was Weir who called police to his home on Cold River Road in Shrewsbury on Feb. 15, 2016, reporting that he had been “in a dispute” with Marzilli, and she had been shot, court records stated.
When law enforcement arrived at the home, according to court records, they found Marzilli dead from a gunshot wound to her chest.
According to court records, Weir told the police dispatcher, “You need to come up here right now, my girlfriend pulled a gun on me, and I grabbed it out of her hand and I shot her.”
Later, Weir told the dispatcher that “she got it out of my hand and I grabbed it and the trigger went off and I shot her.” A Glock Model 27 handgun was later found at the scene and determined to be the firearm that killed Marzilli.
According to court records, police also found several firearms on the property of “every type and caliber,” including the machine gun leading to the federal indictment against him.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Suspect in Shrewsbury murder pleads to illegally possessing ‘Tommy Gun’.