By Maddie Hanna
Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — Two state prison inmates accused of severely beating a fellow prisoner may now face murder charges after the man, who had been on life support for more than a year, died this past weekend.
William Edic and Thomas Milton, both 29, were indicted earlier this year on charges they tried to kill 44-year-old Anthony Renzzulla by repeatedly kicking him in the head while he was unconscious in July 2010.
But Renzzulla, who was receiving around-the-clock care at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, died Saturday, according to family members. County prosecutors say they are referring the cases to the state attorney general’s office to prosecute Milton and Edic on murder charges.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said yesterday that he had spoken to Assistant County Attorney Wayne Coull about the cases but declined to elaborate on their conversations.
“No decisions have been made in this case,” Hinckley said.
According to court filings, prosecutors had been anticipating Renzzulla’s death. Given the massive head injuries he sustained in the beating, Renzzulla wasn’t expected to survive, and after a year on life support, his family was preparing to move him to a hospice, Coull said in a July 2011 filing.
But the family never disconnected Renzzulla, who “went on his own,” his mother, Theresa Gilman, said yesterday. “He had just about had enough of it.”
Gilman, who visited her son regularly at Crotched Mountain, said he had MRSA and several times became sick with pneumonia during the period following the beating. She said prosecutors haven’t told her whether they now plan to charge Milton and Edic with murder.
But “if they do, what’s going to happen?” Gilman said. “They’re in prison as it is. Is it going to bring Tony back? Is it going to make Tony happy?
“That’s the thing right there,” she said. “They took Tony’s life the day they beat him up. They knew this. They made sure he would never, never come back.”
Prosecutors have not commented on what motive Edic and Milton would have had to attack Renzzulla, who prison officials said had been serving three to six years for forgery and drug possession and a 3[1/2]- to seven-year sentence for identity fraud at the time of the July 2010 beating.
Edic was serving one to three years for interference with a fire alarm, an offense he committed while paroled from a 1[1/2]- to eight- year sentence for criminal mischief.
In that case, county prosecutors used a hate crimes provision in the sentencing statute to seek an enhanced penalty against Edic, who damaged a car in Hopkinton with two women inside it by kicking and striking it in June 2006. Edic, who pleaded guilty to the offense, was motivated by his hostility toward the women’s sexual orientation, according to the indictment brought by prosecutors.
Milton was serving a 2[1/2]- to five-year sentence for arson at the time of Renzzulla’s beating. He finished that sentence in May 2011, just as he and Edic were indicted on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault, assault by a prisoner, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and conspiracy to commit assault by a prisoner.
A third inmate was also indicted that month on charges related to Renzzulla’s beating. Randall Chapman, who had been serving 2[1/2] to seven years for robbery at the time of the incident, was charged with falsifying physical evidence and hindering prosecution for allegedly cleaning blood from the prison floor after the beating, according to one of the indictments.
Coull said yesterday he has not decided whether he will send the case against Chapman to the attorney general’s office.
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