Judge declines to take 2 years off sentence of Laconiaman who murdered his wife

LACONIA — A Belknap County Superior Court judge has denied a former Laconia man's request to suspend two years of his 35-to-life sentence for gunning down his wife on Court Street in September of 1984.

In his ruling Judge James O'Neill said Richard Pliskaner Jr. has not shown remorse and has not acknowledged the substantial impact his actions had on his late wife's Debra's family.

O'Neill also determined that Pliskaner is not sufficiently rehabilitated to the degree he would no longer be a threat to Debra's family.

Pliskaner represented himself in court Tuesday afternoon. Tall, wearing thick glasses, and a green prison suit, his hands shook as he tried to convince the judge that he was remorseful for his actions and that he was no longer a threat to his wife's family or society in general.

"I can't make this wrong into a right," he said, saying he wished he could bring back Debra and "remove the pain he has caused."

He referred to Debra as a very special loving person. "Please forgive me. I am a changed person," he said.

While Pliskaner spoke, Debra's daughter and sister sat in the courtroom but refused to look at him. They were assisted by victim's advocated from the N.H. Attorney General's Office.

Senior Asst. Attorney Jeff Strelzin said Pliskaner committed the worst kind of domestic violence there was. He detailed how Pliskaner stalked his wife in the days after she left him and how police removed guns from him once only to have him buy another one with a false name and address.

Indicted for one count of first degree homicide, Pliskaner pleaded guilty to second degree homicide and was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison. He is eligible for parole in five more years.

Strelzin emphasized that almost one half of the homicides committed in New Hampshire are the direct result of domestic violence. He asked Judge O'Neill to send the message that in New Hampshire "We won't tolerate domestic violence in this state."

Statements against Pliskaner's early release from Debra's daughter and her sister were read into the record by one of the victim's advocates.

"He killed my mother and I became an orphan," said Debra's only child who was 10-years-old when her mother was murdered.

She said she needed her mother to be with her during all of her life experiences and Pliskaner took her life with a mother away in "one cowardly act." She said that he killed her mother with conviction and purpose and she and her family continue to live in fear of him.

The statement from Debra's sister Donna noted that before Debra's murder, Pliskaner had threatened to kill all of them.

Her statement recalled a day when she and her sister were eating at the Soda Shoppe when they looked out a window and saw Pliskaner "whistling, smiling and laughing" while patting his waist band where they knew he kept a gun.

She said her and Debra hid in a stall in the ladies room and they could hear Pliskaner walking down the hall whistling and looking for them. She said they stayed hidden until another woman came in and verified that he was gone.

She noted that they called the police that day for what she said was about the fifth time.

At the time, said one local attorney who remembered the case, police didn't have the ability to place a 72-hour domestic violence holds on someone who has threatened harm to another in a domestic violence case.

He noted that there were about three or four domestic violence related homicides in the state during that same time period that provided the Legislature, the courts and the police with the impetus they needed to rewrite and enforce some of the laws regarding domestic violence.