Father convicted in Montreal girl’s murder wanted to testify away from jury

Before he was found guilty of the murder of his nine-year-old daughter , Luciano Frattolin did not testify in his defence. But with the jury out of the room, he said he wanted to.

On Aug. 10, Frattolin was found guilty of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the death of Melina Frattolin.

A New York jury convicted Frattolin of having killed his daughter on July 19, 2025, the last day of a weeklong trip to the United States. The girl’s body was found the next day near Ticonderoga, N.Y., about 400 kilometres north of New York City. The autopsy found she died from asphyxia due to drowning.

The question of whether Frattolin would testify remained up in the air until the last morning of the trial. A few days earlier, Judge Tatiana Coffinger spoke directly to Frattolin about the possibility.

The prosecution had just rested their case and the jury had left the room. Coffinger explained to Frattolin that, because he had the right to be presumed innocent in this case, he had no obligation to testify during the trial.

As she outlined the ramifications of this decision, he interrupted her.

The judge reminded him of his right to silence and asked him if he had been given enough time to decide.

She gave him the weekend, later telling his lawyers that his possible testimony would be a “game-day decision.”

The morning of the verdict, Coffinger checked in with Frattolin and asked him if he was planning on taking the stand.

With Frattolin’s testimony ruled out, the defence rested their case after calling a single witness. It took a jury only about an hour to return with a guilty verdict.

While Frattolin did not take the stand, the jury heard his account through police recordings. In these conversations, Frattolin claimed his daughter was kidnapped by two men who drove off in a white van.

He also alluded to the idea that the girl’s mother, who lives in Montreal, could have orchestrated a kidnapping. Officers quickly dismissed the theory, calling it “far-fetched.”

In the recordings, Frattolin contradicted himself and changed his story, when informed of new evidence casting doubt on his previous claims.

As the jury confirmed the verdict on Monday, Frattolin stood silently between his two lawyers, shaking his head slightly.