Pool Man Testifies That Handyman Schemed To Set Up Tiffany Stevens

HARTFORD A defense witness testified Friday that the charges against Tiffany Stevens were the result of a scheme cooked up by her ex-husband and the handyman she is accused of hiring to kill him.

Larry Chace, who maintained the pool at a Simsbury estate where John McDaid worked as a handyman, told the Superior Court jury that Eric Stevens was going to pay McDaid for helping set up Tiffany Stevens.

Tiffany Stevens, 39, is on trial for attempted murder, accused of paying McDaid $5,000 to kill Eric Stevens, 49, in Simsbury in the spring of 2012. Tiffany and Eric Stevens are involved in a prolonged dispute for custody of their now 9-year-old daughter, and control of a large sum of money that goes to the parent who has custody.

Instead of killing Eric Stevens, McDaid told Stevens of the alleged plot and also cooperated with him and Simsbury police in making two recordings with Tiffany Stevens. The state contends that Tiffany Stevens discusses the plot on those recordings, which have been played in court.

Chace's testimony on Friday supported a central theme of defense attorney Hubert Santos' argument that McDaid, who has a long criminal record, assisted Eric Stevens in "setting up" Tiffany Stevens and will be paid for his efforts if Eric gets custody of the couple's daughter.

The conversation between Chace and McDaid occurred in mid-July 2012. Chace testified that he and McDaid talked frequently and would eat lunch together when Chace took care of the pool at the Simsbury estate.

Once he was finished working at the Simsbury property on that day, Chase testified, he told McDaid that he planned to go for a ride on his motorcycle. McDaid replied that he was going to go for a ride, too, prompting Chace to say he didn't know that McDaid had a motorcycle.

"He said, 'I don't have one but I'm going to get one,'" Chace testified. "He said he was going to set up Mrs. Stevens for Mr. Stevens. He was going to be rewarded with a motorcycle and job."

Chace, who is on parole for a 1979 murder in Berlin, told the jury that McDaid said he was going to get a "big Harley."

"He told me Mr. Stevens was going to buy him the Harley," Chace continued. "I didn't really fully understand what he was doing."

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Pool Man Testifies That Handyman Schemed To Set Up Tiffany Stevens