Five jurors were back in the jury box for the sentencing, and producers for 48 Hours and Dateline were in the public gallery.
A week earlier Harold Tanner had appealed to Judge Karas to send his fifty-six-year-old client to prison for just twenty-seven years, instead of the life sentence the government was demanding. In his sentencing recommendation Tanner wrote that this would still be a “virtual death sentence” and sufficient punishment.
But federal prosecutors disagreed, saying the siblings should never be freed.
“They are evil; they are dangerous; they are remorseless; and they are relentless,” read the government’s recommendation. “They bear responsibility for the untold suffering and horrific deaths of two innocent human beings, one of them an eighty-six-year-old woman.”
Tanner began by telling Judge Karas that Narcy Novack did not wish to attend her sentencing. After questioning Novack to ascertain that she was doing so voluntarily, Judge Karas dismissed her from the courtroom and she was led out to a holding area where she could hear the proceedings.
Her attorney then asked the judge not to sentence Narcy to life, saying there was only circumstantial evidence against her in Bernice Novack’s killing. However, Judge Karas disagreed, saying there had been “plenty of evidence” against her.
Veliz’s new attorney, Keesee, was also pleading for leniency on his client’s behalf, claiming he was less culpable than his sister for the murders.
“Cristobal Veliz is not the evil monster the government claims,” read his sentencing recommendation. “He did not deliver the blows that caused Mr. Novack’s death.”
Lead prosecutor Elliott Jacobson then addressed the court, branding the siblings “pathological liars” and “extraordinarily dangerous psychopaths,” going on to add: “The only sentence that would ensure the safety of the law-abiding community is a sentence that assures these defendants will spend the rest of their lives in jail,” he declared.
Before being sentenced, Cristobal Veliz exercised his right to address the court, still protesting his innocence.
“I was tricked,” he told Judge Karas through a Spanish interpreter. “I was deceived. The real criminal, the one who arranged this whole thing, was May Abad. They have no evidence against me.”
Karas then turned his attention to the siblings’ sentencing. He began by saying he could find no mitigating factors for Narcy Novack’s crimes.
“There’s really nothing to explain what she did,” he said. “She lived a life of privilege. If she had a marriage she wasn’t happy with … she could have gotten a divorce.”
He then sentenced Narcy Novack and Cristobal Veliz to spend the rest of their natural lives in prison for orchestrating the “vile” killings of Ben Jr. and Bernice Novack. He described the two murders as “gruesome,” saying they sent “a shiver” down his spine.
“At the end of the day it was because of Ms. Novack’s greed and her selfishness,” said the judge, “and what she thought was her ability to manipulate people, there are two innocent people—her husband and her mother-in-law—who are dead.”
Judge Karas said Narcy’s refusal to remain in court for her sentencing only proved she was a coward.
“Her final act of cowardice was walking out of this courtroom today,” he said.
Judge Karas said Narcy had believed she could “outsmart” everybody, and her motive for killing her husband and mother-in-law was “old-fashioned greed.”
“She even tried to manipulate this whole trial through the press,” he said. “At the end of the day she’s a coward.”
The judge also fined her $250,000 as well as ordering both defendants to pay $105,515 to Novack Enterprises, the amount stolen at the Amway convention after Ben Novack’s murder.
Judge Karas then addressed Cristobal Veliz, saying he had never witnessed a worse case of perjury in his entire career, describing it as “an affront to the criminal justice system.
“It’s shameful,” he told Veliz. “I’ve never seen anything like it. After he said his name, I’m not sure he said a truthful thing.”
Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore later applauded the life sentences.
“Today Narcy Novack and Cristobal Veliz are finally being held accountable for their gruesome and brutal conduct,” she stated. “It was pure greed that drove their evil scheme to steal millions of dollars from the Novack family by murdering Ben Novack Jr. [and] his elderly mother. This dangerous brother-sister team will now be where they belong—behind bars for the rest of their natural lives.”
* * *
After the sentencing Harold Tanner said Narcy Novack would be appealing the verdict on several unspecified grounds.
ALSO BY JOHN GLATT
Love Her to Death
Lost and Found
Secrets in the Cellar
To Have and to Kill
Forgive Me, Father
The Doctor’s Wife
One Deadly Night
Depraved
Cries in the Desert
For I Have Sinned
Evil Twins
Cradle of Death
Blind Passion
Deadly American Beauty
Never Leave Me
Twisted
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
English-born JOHN GLATT is the author of twenty books and has more than thirty years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. He has appeared on television and radio programs all over the world, including Dateline NBC, Fox News, A Current Affair, BBC World News, and A&E Biography.
THE PRINCE OF PARADISE. Copyright © 2013 by John Glatt. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Rob Grom
Cover photograph © AP Photo/Alan Diaz
ISBN 978-1-250-03572-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781250035738 (e-book)
First Edition: April 2013
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