May 4, 2021 By Mark Lungariello
New York prosecutors have agreed to DNA testing of evidence that led to the 1992 conviction of so-called “Fatal Attraction” killer Carolyn Warmus.
Warmus was paroled in 2019 after serving 27 years in prison for murdering her lover’s wife, Betty Jeanne Solomon, who was shot nine times in her Greenburgh home in 1989.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah consented to the testing Monday, focusing on three pieces of evidence Warmus claims will exonerate her and point to another killer — some semen, blood and a glove from the crime scene.
The victim’s husband, Paul Solomon, and Warmus began an affair while teaching at an Greenville Elementary School in ritzy Scarsdale. Warmus, the daughter of a millionaire insurance executive, was 23 at the time while her lover was 40.
On the night of the killing, the two met at a Yonkers restaurant and had sex in the parking lot before Paul Solomon returned home and found his wife’s body. The murder weapon was never recovered.
The key piece of evidence to be tested is a glove prosecutors had said Warmus left at the Solomons’ house at the time of the killing.
Semen recovered from the victim and blood found in a tote bag belonging to Paul Solomon will also be tested.
A prior district attorney had agreed to test the evidence in 2017, but changed course. A Westchester judge denied Warmus’ request to test the evidence last year, but she appealed that decision.
AP Photo/Andrew Savulich, File
The Queens DA’s Office did not provide a response to questions for this story, but in May 2019, Katz issued a position paper outlining her proposed “Conviction Integrity Unit.” She said the unit would be headed by an attorney with “extensive prosecutorial and defense experience” who reports directly to the DA and is separate from the Appeal Bureau.
She told the Eagle in February 2019 that she “pledged to create a Conviction Integrity Unit to work with family members, community leaders and defense attorneys to ensure that no one remains jailed for a crime they didn’t commit.”
“An additional level of review, by an independent state panel, to further this fight for justice would be an important step forward, building on the state’s recent actions on criminal justice reforms,” she said. “As DA, I will make Queens a leader in addressing wrongful convictions and establishing much-needed bail and discovery reform.”
