Inset: Ellen Wink (Norwalk Police Department). Background: The house where Wink shot and killed her tenant (Google Maps).
A Connecticut landlord and former GOP elected official will spend several decades behind bars for admittedly killing her tenant.
In late June, Ellen Wink, 64, was convicted on one count each of murder and criminal lockout by a Stamford County jury.
On Tuesday, prosecutors announced the defendant was sentenced to 50 years in state prison by Superior Court Judge John F. Blawie.
Wink faced a maximum sentence of 60 years behind bars. She previously turned down a plea deal that would have foregone a trial in exchange for a 40-year sentence over the death of Kurt Lametta, 54.
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On Jan. 20, 2022, Wink killed Lametta by repeatedly shooting the man inside the property he rented from her on Nelson Avenue in Norwalk, a medium-sized city considered part of the New York City metropolitan area.
The woman”s factual culpability was never in doubt. In her initial 911 call, Wink told the dispatcher the victim had lunged at her. In the police interview at the scene of the crime, Wink admitted to being the one with the gun. During trial, Wink continued to claim self-defense – and argued she was suffering from an “extreme emotional disturbance” when she repeatedly squeezed the trigger that day.
In the end, though, jurors rejected the killer’s claims and sided with the state.
The defendant had long been on pretrial release after a seesawing dispute over bond. She was taken into custody after the guilty verdict.
Wink’s bond was originally set at $1 million, an amount then raised to $2.5 million after a different judge watched a cellphone video of the shooting the court described as “quite graphic.” The state had originally asked for $5 million bond – framing the video as proof positive evidence Wink committed murder and was never in danger.
That video would later prove instrumental during her trial, according to a courtroom report by regional cable channel News12 Connecticut.
The footage was taken by Lametta himself; he secretly filmed his own demise as Wink entered the residence to remove items from the refrigerator because she wanted to clean up and sell the property. Lametta complained about the intrusion.
Ellen Wink appears in a Connecticut courtroom in the Stamford-Norwalk judicial district on Feb. 16, 2021 (Law&Crime).
“That’s ridiculous,” he said on the video played for jurors. “Every day you’re going to come and throw people’s stuff away?”
The man’s cellphone was in his hand at his side at this time. Quickly, two shots are heard ringing out.
“You bastard,” Wink says after firing her weapon. Then she fires again – three more times. Then she shouts at her victim.
“Get out!” the woman raged as the man’s slack body dropped to the floor – along with the cellphone camera recording the kill. “Get out! Get out! Get out of my house! Get out of here!”
Wink then continued to berate the dying man: “You think I’m [expletive] with you?! Do you?! Do you think I’m [expletive] with you?! Knock it off, you [expletive]! I’ll give you nice! [Expletive] off!”
The landlord-tenant dispute between Wink and Lametta had been simmering for months, News12 previously reported. In August 2021, Wink wanted Lametta out due to an incident involving a dispute with a third tenant. Then, in September 2021, Wink was arrested for allegedly locking Lametta out of the house and throwing away his belongings. Next, in November 2021, Wink turned off Lametta’s heat and electricity, one police officer testified during the trial.
After that, in January 2022, Wink performed several internet searches regarding guns and hollow point ammunition, jurors heard another investigator explained. Ten days before Lametta was killed, Wink accessed an article titled: “Bang: 5 Most Deadly Bullets on the Planet.”
Wink, who was the Republican deputy registrar for Norwalk when she was arrested, lost her job immediately after being charged.
