Ex-Norwalk official Ellen Wink opts for murder trial

Wink rejected an offer from prosecutors during a disposition hearing at the state Superior Court in Stamford on Tuesday. Under the offer, Wink would have pleaded guilty to murder in return for 40 years in prison.

Seeger called the offer “not wholly unreasonable,” but said he and Wink feel that the matter “has always been a self-defense case.”

“We intend to go to trial at this point,” Seeger added.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, Seeger reiterated a claim that video obtained by Norwalk police of the fatal shooting of Kurt Lametta “doesn’t tell the whole story.”

“Although the state has video of the shooting, the context of the shooting is a little bit different than the video depicts,” Seeger said. “I can tell you in no uncertain terms that this is not the case that it has been painted out to be by the state. It is not an open-and-shut case.”

Wink, who has been free after posting 10 percent of her $2.5 million bond in August 2022, is accused of killing Lametta after the two argued about his tenancy in the apartment.

In a prior hearing, Seeger claimed he obtained audio evidence that proves Wink acted in self-defense. The clip, which came from Lametta’s fellow tenant at the Nelson Avenue property, “reveals the victim’s temper and propensity for violence, anti-semitic comments and threats that are plainly directed” at Wink, Seeger claimed.

Wink, who has since been fired as Norwalk’s Republican deputy registrar of voters, was arrested Jan. 20, 2022.

Wink had a contentious relationship with Lametta dating to September 2020, when he allegedly stopped paying rent, police reports said.

According to an arrest warrant written by Norwalk Police Detective Lindsey Taylor, on Jan. 20 Wink let herself in to Lametta’s home on Nelson Avenue allegedly to clean out his refrigerator ahead of placing the property on the market for sale.

The ensuing confrontation, which Lametta captured on video with his phone held at his side, shows Wink standing opposite her tenant in the home’s kitchen, Norwalk Police Lt. Art Weisgerber wrote in his warrant.

“Just as Wink turns around and appears to walk away from Lametta, two gunshots are heard and Wink is heard saying, ‘You b—–d,’ as she proceeds to walk toward Lametta through the kitchen while firing a handgun. …. Lametta eventually runs into the living room and collapses,” Weisgerber wrote in a separate warrant.

The video shows Wink pick up Lametta’s cellphone, walk outside and throw it into the bushes, the warrant stated.

A police officer later recovered the phone when it was heard ringing in the bushes, Taylor wrote.

In a call to a 911 dispatcher following the fatal shooting, Wink said she went to Lametta’s apartment to do some cleaning when he came at her, according to the police report. The report stated Wink can be heard yelling “he was after me” in the 911 call.

“She said ‘I am so tired of this guy, he is on the floor,’” Detective John Sura wrote in his report regarding Wink’s conversation with the 911 dispatcher. “She said that she had kept telling him to get out and had enough. Wink continued rambling about issues Kurt Lametta caused.”

According to the police report, Wink also told a first responding officer that she had fired a revolver registered to her five times at Lametta, adding he was “(expletive) driving me nuts.”