State's star witnesses in Wolusky murder trial recant damning testimony

From left, Zach Pinette, Michael Tatum and Tristan Wolusky, (Courtesy photos)

DOVER, N.H. - In a stunning reversal of courtroom testimony, the state's two star witnesses in the Aaron Wolusky first-degree murder trial have recanted their testimony saying they never saw Wolusky stab a Madbury teen in June 2014.

Based on new statements filed on behalf of Wolusky's co-defendants, Michael Tatum of Barrington and Zachary Pinette of Springvale, Maine, defense attorney Mark Sisti filed a motion for a new trial recently in Strafford County Superior court.

In the appeal brief statement, Pinette, 20, said, "I did not see Tristan Wolusky with either a knife or a machete at any point after Michael Tatum, Mr. Wolusky, and I got out of the car in Aaron Wilkinson's driveway" the night of the murder.

Pinette, along with Tatum, 22, both turned state's witnesses against accused murder kingpin Wolusky in exchange for 30-year sentences with the possibility of parole.

Wolusky, of Rochester, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sisti in his appeal presented a statement from Tatum that also contradicted his trial testimony, saying, "Wolusky did not hold (Aaron) Wilkinson down while Mr. Wilkinson was being stabbed with a knife or hit with a machete."

Sisti in his appeal brief noted the state had no physical or forensic evidence tying his client to the murder.

The appeal asks the court to vacate the verdict and set a new trial.

Wilkinson, 18, who was killed June 21, 2014, in a botched robbery by the three aimed at stealing drugs and money, was stabbed and struck with a machete more than 20 times, according to a coroner's report.

His body was later dumped along Long Swamp Road in Lebanon where a woman walking her dog found it later that day.

The monthlong trial of Wolusky stunned the northern Seacoast with its sheer senseless brutality, and pitted accomplices Tatum and Pinette against purported ringleader Wolusky as they turned state's evidence against their former cohort in pursuit of life sentences with the possibility of parole down the road.

Sisti labeled the two nothing more than rats early on, saying they lied on the stand to save their own skin.

Wolusky, meanwhile, at his December sentencing continued to claim he never stabbed Wilkerson, never held him down during the attack and was wrongly convicted.

Wolusky, 19, said in a statement to the court, "I did not murder Aaron Wilkinson, nor did I hold him down when he was being murdered. The system has failed all of us."

The court took the appeal under advisement.