UW Student Chase Boruch Arrested In Connection With Mother's Death

[Whisper]

UW Student Arrested In Connection With Mother's Death
Former Iraqi War Veteran From Lincoln County

MADISON, Wis. -- A University of Wisconsin-Madison student has been arrested in connection with the death of his mother in Lincoln County in June.

Chase Boruch, 24, was taken into custody Monday evening at his apartment in the 300 block of West Washington Avenue in Madison. Madison police executed the arrest warrant for Lincoln County on a first-degree intentional homicide charge.
[...]
"What I heard, the guy was pretty nice and quiet, but I never saw the guy. It was just weird because it's a very quiet place, and I didn't expect to have so much action in one night," said neighbor Jess Adelio.

On June 6, Boruch called 911 after the car he and his 63-year-old mother were in became submerged in Moraine Lake in the central part of the state. He told dispatchers he was able to free himself from the car, but that his mother, Sally Pergolski, of Wausau, was still inside the vehicle. He told authorities that he was able to escape the vehicle, but his mother wasn't.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/25958776/detail.html

[Jerri Blank]

Son found guilty in mother's murder

MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) – A Lincoln County jury found a Wausau man guilty Wednesday of strangling his mother to death then staging it to look like an accident at a lake near Harrison in June 2010.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for nearly three hours before finding Chase Boruch guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in Sally Pergolsk's death.

Boruch faces an automatic life prison sentence. Judge Glenn Hartley must decide whether he will ever be eligible for release on extended supervision. Boruch hung his head as Hartley read the verdict.

Defense attorney John Voorhees declined to comment after court.

The case could end up being challenged on appeal. Hartley denied a request for a mistrial Wednesday after he refused to honor Voorhees’ request and send back a defense pathologist’s report when jurors asked to see the autopsy report during deliberations.

“I'm very pleased with the jury's verdict,” Lincoln County district attorney Don Dunphy said.

Dunphy said he and assistant attorney general Don Latorraca carefully built the evidence for jurors in what he described as a circumstantial case. Dunphy pointed to testimony from pathologists for the state and defense that a fatal brain injury Pergoslki suffered could have been caused by strangulation as a significant piece of evidence for jurors.

“It showed a likely method and...may have been a turning point,” he said.

Boruch testified in his own defense Tuesday that he found his mother lying unresponsive on her living room floor the morning of her death. He said she had choked on a piece of meat. He pulled the meat out but could not revive her.

"Choking is not consistent with trauma to the back of Sally's neck,” Latorraca said in his closing argument Wednesday morning.

Voorhees disputed the state's findings about exactly how Pergolski died.

"There's no certainty about the cause of death - about how, when, where, why or if there was a traumatic event. There isn't enough evidence to say strangulation was cause of death,” he said in his closing argument.

Boruch admitted staging his mother's drowning to collect on her life insurance, saying he saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain financially from her death.

But Latorraca said Boruch took his motive a step further and used it to plan and carry out Pergolski's murder.

"How much is a human life worth? He made the decision that his mother was worth more to him in death than in life,” Latorraca said.

http://wsau.com/news/articles/2011/n...lly-pergolski/

[Dakota Valkyrie]

An Iraq War veteran who will spend the rest of his life in prison blamed his military experience and the country for ignoring the needs of returning war veterans for the death of his mother.
[...]

During Monday's hearing, Boruch told Lincoln County Circuit Judge Glenn Hartley a story about when his Army base camp in Iraq was attacked by rocket fire. Boruch said he witnessed the deaths of Iraqi civilians and soldiers. And he complained that the government fails to protect and take care of war veterans when they return home.

"I've done some horrible things, some reprehensible things, and experienced some horrible things that put me out of touch with society," Boruch said.

Hartley was not impressed by Boruch's arguments and said Boruch will never be eligible to petition the court for an early release from prison.

"To hint that your government caused you to do this is an absolute disservice and a slap in the face to every veteran who has served in this country," Hartley said.

Lincoln County District Attorney Don Dunphy, who served two years in the U.S. Marines and spent nine months in a noncombat role in Vietnam, said he didn't think Boruch's post-traumatic stress disorder led Boruch to kill Pergolski. People with PTSD typically commit spontaneous crimes, not planned, calculated crimes such as the one Boruch committed, Dunphy said after the hearing.

"Even if you are a vet and you've done great things for this country, it doesn't mean you can come back and hurt people," Dunphy said.
[...]

Boruch's sister, Jamie Pergolski of Las Vegas, supported her brother. She told Hartley in a telephone call during Monday's hearing that their mother was a drunk, addicted to drugs and schemed of ways to make money. Jamie Pergolski, who was estranged from Sally Pergolski, said Boruch followed his mother's conniving ways.

"Chase did not murder our mother. He used our mother's death or her suicide to his own greedy end," Jamie Pergolski said.

Boruch's attorney, John Voorhees, said the case likely will be appealed. Voorhees was not sure on what grounds the appeal will be based, but the appeal could focus on Boruch's allegations that at least one juror was sleeping during the trial. Hartley denied Boruch's request Monday to delay the sentencing hearing or to declare a mistrial.

"It's a waste to see what has happened here and see how (Boruch) compromised his life," Voorhees said.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/art...ed-life-prison