The crooked Westchester lawyer whose wife was killed in a roadside shooting was a brilliant defense attorney renowned for his stirring closing arguments until he contracted Lyme disease in upstate New York - causing him and his career to unravel, his former colleagues told the Daily News. The Puerto Rican courtrooms where Carlos Perez-Olivo won case after case in the 1970s were often packed with legal experts and students eager to watch the trailblazing lawyer's masterful performances.
"He was a legend down here," said Boabdil Vazquetelles, a retired court reporter from San Juan. "He was awesome in his closing arguments."
But when Perez-Olivo returned to the Caribbean island after a stint in New York, he was sluggish and forgetful.
He eventually confided in his friends that he was suffering from Lyme disease, a debilitating condition caused by the bite of an infected tick that causes persistent fevers, headaches and fatigue.
"Sometimes in the middle of the day, he didn't even know what he was doing or where he was," Vazquetelles said.
Perez-Olivo's reputation began to decline shortly after he returned to Puerto Rico in the late 1990s. He told colleagues that he was constantly battling flu-like symptoms that often made him lose his train of thought.
"He became lethargic ... and I know his practice suffered," said Herbert Brown, a 60-year-old lawyer in San Juan.
Perez-Olivo's career was severely damaged in 2002 when he was barred from practicing law after he was found to have mishandled a $25,000 payment from a client.
After moving back to New York, he only encountered more problems. He was accused of incompetence in a high-profile murder case last year, and was disbarred in August for stealing from a client.
"He wanted to keep his family living that certain lifestyle," Vazquetelles said. "I guess that's the only way he knew how to do it."
As bad as things were professionally for the former courtroom giant, his private life remained stable. He enjoyed a comfortable life with his wife in Chappaqua, living in a mansion just three doors from Bill and Hillary Clinton's home.
But his personal life crumbled last Saturday night when, he told cops, he and his wife, Peggy Perez-Olivo, 55, were ambushed in a roadside shooting.
Carlos Perez-Olivo, 58, has told investigators that he was driving home from New York City with his wife when their sport-utility vehicle was cut off by a dark car resembling a Toyota Camry on a desolate road just a few miles from their home.
The disgraced lawyer said a Hispanic man jumped into the couple's backseat and shot his wife in the head before putting a bullet in his abdomen.
Bleeding from his stomach, Perez-Olivo called 911 and then drove his mortally wounded wife to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, where she died two days later.
Perez-Olivo has not been charged with a crime or accused of any wrongdoing, though police say his account of his wife's murder is "unusual-sounding."
No arrests have been made.
His friends and colleagues in Puerto Rico were stunned by the news of his wife's mysterious murder - and dismissed the possibility that her husband was behind the shooting.
"Peggy was a wonderful woman," said Robert Odasz, 52, who tried several cases with her husband in Puerto Rico. "It is ludicrous to think he would ever hurt his wife or his family. He's not that type of person."
Originally published on November 26, 2006
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trails
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Posts: 1950 | From New Mexico | Registered: Sep 2001
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Vermont_Lymie
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I Googled this a few different ways and I only got this version (suppled by liz28) when I supplied Lyme Disease with the search criteria.
Hmmmmmmm???
If he had Lyme Disease I do not know. No other story confirms that, but our enemies would like others to think we are dangerous.
The whole story is strange.
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lymie tony z
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liz28
If you consider the potential for mental disease lyme creates...
It is concevable that criminal actions could and I believe have been the result of neuroboreliosis.
Like the Oklahoma bombing...some of the most recent school shootings...
SOMETHING is making us all a little crazier!
zman
-------------------- I am not a doctor...opinions expressed are from personal experiences only and should never be viewed as coming from a healthcare provider. zman Posts: 2527 | From safety harbor florida(origin Cleve., Ohio | Registered: Jan 2004
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I don't blame Lyme for the evil one does, if Lyme caused psychopathic actions then we would have a epidemic crime wave in Fairfield and Westchester counties with all the people who contract lyme here.
This is not the way to get lyme in the news, being used as an excuse for crime. Having a great turnout for the protest is the correct way.
Posts: 40 | From CT | Registered: Oct 2006
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good chance that, IF HE, himself, was behind this, then there is at least one ssri drug(or ssri-type(?)drug)he may have been taking, or withdrawing from, and which, induces(correlates with) the type of elaborate planning that went into bringing this about.
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