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 was facing a potential 60-year prison sentence. She had previously rejected a plea bargain that would have allowed her to avoid trial in exchange for a 40-year sentence for the death of Kurt Lametta, age 54.
On January 20, 2022, Wink fatally shot Lametta multiple times inside the property he rented from her on Nelson Avenue in Norwalk, a city within the New York City metropolitan area.
There was never any real question about Wink’s factual guilt. In her initial 911 call, Wink claimed the victim had lunged at her. She admitted to possessing the firearm during a police interview conducted at the crime scene. Throughout the trial, Wink maintained her stance of self-defense, arguing that she was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance” when she fired the gun multiple times.
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.
Initially, Wink’s bail was set at $1 million but was later increased to $2.5 million after a different judge reviewed a graphic cellphone video of the shooting. Originally, the state had requested a $5 million bond, using the video as clear evidence of murder, asserting Wink was never in any real danger.
That video would later prove instrumental during her trial, according to a courtroom report by regional cable channel News12 Connecticut.
The video, recorded by Lametta himself, captured his own final moments. Wink had entered the home to remove items from the refrigerator, intending to clean and sell the property, which led Lametta to voice his objections.
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!” Wink shouted as Lametta’s lifeless body fell to the floor, with the cellphone capturing the fatal event. “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.
