A former University of Pittsburgh researcher convicted of fatally poisoning his wife wants a judge to unfreeze his assets so he can pay his legal bills and establish a trust fund for their 7-year-old daughter.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that attorneys for 66-year-old Robert Ferrante say a previous court order freezing his assets is violating his rights and merely preserving the money so his wife's family, and its attorney, have money to go after him in a wrongful death suit.
John Gismondi, who represents Autumn Klein's parents in that lawsuit, says he doesn't necessarily oppose a trust fund, since any money won in the suit would be used to compensate Ferrante and Klein's daughter, Cianna.
But he objects to Ferrante's request that the trust be administered by his adult son, Michael, a financial planner.
