Woman Sentenced for Killing Boyfriend with Antifreeze

By Mike Hedeen - Rochester.ynn.com

November 10, 2010

Cynthia Galens, the Farmington, Ontario County woman convicted of manslaughter after spiking her boyfriend’s margarita mix with antifreeze was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Galens showed no emotion when Ontario County Court Judge William Kocher handed down the sentence.

Galens was convicted in September of first degree manslaughter for the death of Thomas Stack, better known as Kevin. Stack died in October, 2009 after consuming margarita's that were made with the spiked mix.

Galens admitted in court that she put antifreeze in the margarita mix knowing Stack would drink it. She said her intent was not to kill Stack but to make him sick because he was physically and verbally abusing her.

"There were a couple of things that were really important here,” said Ontario County District Attorney Mike Tantillo. “The fact that this was not a spur of the moment act but was premeditated, the fact that she had multiple opportunities to change course and do something to change his life and the fact that she lied to the doctors which ensured his death, I think all of those things militated toward a sentence approaching the maximum."

Before sentencing Galens, Judge Kocher said the defendant was offered a plea deal that would have resulted in an 18 year prison sentence. However Galens and her attorney, Matthew Mix, insisted on taking the case to trial.

Tantillo says the evidence against Galens was so strong that she should have pleaded guilty.

"You can't ignore the fact that this caused a great deal of pain to the victim's family members to have to listen to this excruciating testimony,” he said. “I also think it's outrageous that a case that had as strong as evidence as did this case that the defendant required her own daughter to be compelled to testify against her. That's not going to serve her well down the road."

Emily Galens testified that her mother asked for assistance in disposing of Stack's body.
She declined comment following her mother's sentencing.

Stack's mother said she is satisfied with the 23 year sentence adding that Kevin finally has justice.

"You don't know the tension we've gone through for the past year and so many months,” Sandra Stack said. “It's been a horrific experience never will we ever have to go through or most people will have to endure."

Mrs. Stack spoke at sentencing telling the court her son was an intelligent person, a veteran of the United States Air Force and a radiation expert. But she said alcohol consumed his life. Sandra Stack said she can't imagine what Kevin's last few months were like living with someone she says didn't even like him.

Woman Found Guilty of Margarita Manslaughter

By Casey J. Bortnick - Fingerlakes.ynn.com

September 23, 2010

Guilty of first-degree manslaughter: It took a jury only 90 minutes to reach that verdict in the trial of an Ontario County woman accused of spiking her boyfriend's margarita mix with antifreeze.

Cynthia Galens testified that she poisoned Thomas "Kevin" Stack's drink last October to make him sick, however he later died.

Galens said that she had left Stack in his chair to go get her daughter in Rushville on October 3, 2009. Upon returning home, she found him in the same chair, unresponsive and drooling.

Galens said she then called her friend and asked him to come over. When he arrived, she told him what she had done and that Stack was inside and unresponsive. Her friend told her to call 911. She testified that she did not call 911, but instead called her ex-husband David Galens, who also showed up and told her to call police.

Around 4:30 p.m. that day, Galens finally called 911. She said she does not know why she didn't place the call sooner. She claims that she had no intent for Stack to die and said that she "wanted a life with him."

Under cross-examination by Ontario County District Attorney Mike Tantillo, Galens said she waited so long to call 911 and did not tell the operator what she had done as a means to protect herself.

Galens also told Tantillo that she asked her daughter to help dispose of Stack's body, even though he was still breathing at the time.

Galens now faces up to 25 years in prison, but her family said there was a reason she did what she did and it is something it hopes the judge will keep in mind.

"I know she is and well her whole family knows that she really and truly is a good person," said Cynthia Galens' father, Brad Stanton.

Stanton said his daughter is not a cold-blooded killer – just a mother trying to protect her daughter.

"I know that Emily was horribly abused," Stanton said. "Cindy lost her only son Matthew at age 19. This man threatened to kill Emily."

Galens' daughter Emily left the courthouse in tears after her mother was found guilty of spiking Stack's margarita mix with antifreeze. During the trial, Emily testified against her mother.

"From her standpoint of being the defendant's child, however, she probably had some additional credibility because there would be no reason for her to make up any incriminating testimony," said Tantillo.

Tantillo said the evidence was so overwhelming that the verdict wasn't a surprise.

"It was a premeditated taking of another human life and I believe that it deserves the maximum sentence," Tantillo added.

Galens is now in police custody. As bad as that is, Galens' father said he believes things could be much worse.

"I'd say the one thing we are thankful for is that Cindy is still above-ground. We could talk to her. And we think she would have been dead if Kevin had had his way," Stanton explained.

Stack's family left the courthouse after the verdict without making a comment to the media.

Galens will be back in court for sentencing on November 10.

Galens' father said he hopes that because of the circumstances surrounding this case, his daughter will be sentenced to the minimum of five years in prison.

The judge revoked bail for Galens after the district attorney's request.

Cynthia Galens, accused margarita killer, takes the stand

By Mike Maslanik - Mpnnow.com

September 23, 2010

CANANDAIGUA — The Farmington woman accused of causing the death of her boyfriend by spiking his margarita mix with antifreeze got to tell her side of the story this morning.

Defense attorney Matthew Mix began the day in Ontario County Court by calling to the stand Cynthia Galens — the 52-year-old woman charged with first-degree manslaughter. She is accused of causing the death of Thomas K. Stack, 48, last year.

The prosecution, led by Ontario County District Attorney R. Michael Tantillo, rested yesterday after calling 11 witnesses to the stand. Prosecutors called 12 witnesses on Tuesday.

One witness, Jeanne Beno, of the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office, testified that she estimated that Mr. Stack consumed between 6 to 12 ounces of ethelyn glycol, the toxic substance in antifreeze, before he died.

Beno’s testimony is at odds with Galens’ claim to police that she only poured a shot glass full of antifreeze in the mix.

Prosecutors also called Darcy Hunt, a police officer from Clearwater, Fla., who notified her superiors after Galens allegedly told her she intentionally poisoned Mr. Stack. Hunt spoke with Galens after a mutual friend heard Galens’ story and called Hunt for help. Hunt’s superiors then notified authorities in New York.

The jury is expected to begin deliberating by Friday.

If convicted, Galens faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison.

Friend Testifies Galens Confessed to Margarita Killing

By Mike Hedeen - Rochester.ynn.com

September 22, 2010

There was some damaging testimony in day two of the manslaughter trial of Cynthia Galens. She is the 51-year-old Farmington, Ontario County woman accused in the death of her live in boyfriend Thomas “Kevin” Stack by putting antifreeze in his margaritas.

Galens’ high school friend Nancy Cothern testified that when Galens visited her in Florida this past January, Galens confessed that she caused Stack’s death by spiking his drinks with antifreeze in October of last year.

Cothern said that Galens told her that Stack was coming between Galens and her daughter Emily.

Cothern said when Galens showed no sign of remorse.

"The next day there was not any remorse what so ever, I think there was anger,” Cothern said outside the courtroom. “I think she was angry at me, I think she was angry that now she knew that I was repeating it and that she wanted to leave with her daughter."

Cothern said she called her friend Darcy Hunt, a police officer in Clearwater, Florida and told Hunt what Galens had said.

Hunt testified that she went to Cothern's home and questioned Galens in an unofficial capacity. Hunt said even though Galens knew Hunt was a police officer, Galens told her that she put shots of antifreeze in Stack's drinks and served them to him.

Hunt said Galens told her that Stack was emotionally abusive and she wanted him dead.

"I was there as a friend. Nancy called me, I arrived. I tell Cynthia she doesn't have to tell me anything,” Hunt said following her testimony. “I was kind of aware of the situation before I got there. I basically explained to her that she's free to go at any time; she could fly to Jamaica if she wanted to. She basically confessed to what she had done and at that point, hours later when I leave, now I take the role of a police officer because now I have substantial evidence that she committed a murder."

If convicted, Galens faces between five and 25 years in prison.

Farmington woman faces murder charge in antifreeze poisoning of boyfriend from Syracuse

Syracuse.com

January 23, 2010

Farmington, N.Y. — They met in a Veterans Affairs hospital -- a former airman from Syracuse with bipolar disorder who drank too much and a clerical assistant struggling to cope with her teenage son’s drug-overdose death.

Cynthia Galens and Thomas Stack soon moved in together, and their two-year relationship seemed to mirror his roller coaster battle with alcoholism. Galens says Stack was emotionally and physically abusive, and she decided one night to exact revenge by lacing a jug of margarita cocktails with antifreeze.

“If I didn’t want him around, I would’ve put a lot more in. I just wanted to get him sick,” state police said Galens told them in early January, three months after Stack’s death from complications of ethylene glycol poisoning.

“It’s a horrible thing I did,” she added. “I miss him so much I can’t stand it. I’m the reason he’s not here. He’s not a good person sometimes, but nobody deserves that.”

Galens, 51, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge. Her defense lawyer, Matthew Mix, did not return calls.

Galens lived in Farmington, a rural bedroom community 25 miles southeast of Rochester, and worked for 30 years in a variety of roles — housekeeper, mural artist, clerical aide — at the VA Medical Center in nearby Canandaigua. She had two children from two dissolved marriages.

Her 19-year-old son, Matthew Barber, a restaurant cook poised to enter college, died in his sleep at his father’s home in October 2005 after taking a combination of marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs during a night out with his buddies, said former husband David Barber.

Relatives say the tragedy sent Galens into a severe emotional tailspin.

The turmoil accelerated after she met Stack in 2007. Barber said the friendship cost Galens her job last year when the hospital discovered she was dating a patient.

After a spell in the Marine Corps, the Syracuse-born Stack became a senior airman while stationed at California’s Travis Air Force Base from 1982 to 1986. He lived on and off in a town house Galens shared with her daughter, Emily, and was admitted to hospitals several times for alcohol abuse.

In January 2008, Galens said Stack threatened to kill her second ex-husband, David Galens, and their 16-year-old daughter, then grabbed the phone when she tried to call 911. She was granted a stay-away order that he violated by calling her repeatedly. They got back together after he served three months in jail.

A year ago, Stack was arrested again on harassment charges for allegedly shoving Galens against a microwave. She bailed him out once more, and he ended up spending just six days in jail.

On Oct. 3, an ambulance crew removed an unconscious Stack from the house. He died four days later at age 48.

Ethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient in antifreeze, is sometimes ingested in suicide attempts or as a cheap substitute for alcohol.

Based on Stack’s history of alcoholism and depression, her “very credible” story about finding him and the fact that she called for help, the death was deemed an accident, possibly a suicide or “just ingestion of antifreeze for its alcoholic content,” said state police Capt. Scott Crosier.

Three months later, during a trip to Clearwater, Fla., authorities say Galens told a friend what she had done. Her friend notified police. When Galens got home, she agreed to come in for questioning.

According to state police Investigator Mark Eifert, Galens said she poured a shot glass of the sweet-smelling, syrupy automotive chemical into a store-bought container of margarita mix, placed the cocktail in the refrigerator and went to bed early on Oct. 2, predicting he would drink it.

She said Stark was “feeling poorly” the next morning. At noon, she left to pay a visit to her son’s grave, a weekly ritual.

When she returned at 4 p.m., she found him unresponsive. He was foaming from the mouth and breathing loudly. She said she first called David Galens, her ex-husband, and when he showed up some 20 minutes later, they agreed to call an ambulance.

Galens didn’t tell paramedics about the antifreeze. She told investigators she was afraid for herself and “terrified for him” but opted to do nothing because “I just thought he was sick.”

If convicted, Galens could get a maximum sentence of life in prison. At a recent preliminary hearing, she sobbed continuously and rocked gently in her seat.