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Ernest Zalaffi Jr. pleads no contest in dad’s death; charged with involuntary manslaughter.
WILKES-BARRE – A Plains Township man charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of his 64-year-old father pleaded no contest to the charges Thursday and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years of probation.
Ernest Zalaffi Jr., 37, entered the no-contest plea after his lawyer, Nanda Palissery, and prosecutors Jarrett Ferentino and Jill Matthews said it would be the best thing for the whole family to not have the case go to trial.
“(Zalaffi) is broken up about (the case),” Palissery said. “That’s why he pleaded no contest … and the (district attorney’s) office was generous in trying to resolve this.”
Palissery and Ferentino said the plea was the right way to begin the healing process in the case, and that if it had gone to trial, family members would have been called as witnesses.
“The no-contest plea was more palatable,” Palissery said, “… than calling the family as witnesses.”
According to police, emergency medical personnel were called to the home of Zalaffi’s parents on Feb. 17 because Ernest Zalaffi Sr. was having a heart attack. Police said Zalaffi Jr. told them he and his father were fighting before the elder Zalaffi collapsed. Zalaffi Jr. told police the fight got physical and that his father punched him in the face.
Ernest Zalaffi Sr. was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where he later died, and the younger Zalaffi was sent to the county jail for violating probation in a protection from abuse case. Police said Zalaffi Jr. told them he had had several alcoholic beverages that day.
Zalaffi was originally supposed to plead guilty in June but withdrew the plea after his attorney said he wasn’t sure of his guilt in the case.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Conahan said the involuntary manslaughter charge, a misdemeanor of the first degree, could have come with a three-to-12-month minimum to a five-year maximum prison sentence.
Instead, because Zalaffi has already served more than 160 days in prison, and time on house arrest, Conahan sentenced Zalaffi to immediate parole, followed by 2 1/2 years probation. Charges of simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person were dropped.
Conahan ordered Zalaffi to have no contact with immediate family members, including his mother and sister, and to submit to random drug testing and to maintain full-time employment.
Zalaffi also was instructed to attend anger-management classes and undergo a mental-health evaluation.
“This was a difficult thing for everyone to go through,” Ferentino said. “(Zalaffi) has answered for what happened. It’s not your typical homicide, but it’s still a homicide.”