On Thursday on InSession-
The Defendant: Mark Schack
Place: Lee County Florida
The Victim: Amy Boscarino (32)
May 17, 2008, police responded to an “accidental shooting” in Fort Meyers Florida. Upon arriving, police found Amy Boscarino on the floor suffering from a gunshot wound to the neck. After an unsuccessful CPR attempt and EMS arrival, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
After further investigation, deputies found that it wasn’t actually an accident. Schack’s claim was that he adjusted the scope on his rifle when the gun went off accidentally as it fell from a dresser. Witnesses and friends state that their relationship had problems and it became clear that this was more than an accident and a resulting warrant was issued for Mark Schack.
He is charged with second-degree murder, which carries a minimum 25 years in prison and a maximum of life.
Verdict:
After deliberating for just an hour, jurors came back with a verdict of guilty of second-degree murder. Sentencing was held Feb 1, 2010 where he was sentenced to life in prison
Chocolate Cake and Sidebars! 
How anyone could do such a thing is just so crazy.God bless Amy & the Boscarino Family.
Such a tragedy…she had her whole life ahead of her, and this monster took it away…..My prayers go out to her family.
It was obvious from day one. Hope he goes to hell. What a beautiful women. What did she ever see in him? Rest in peace Amy. Your in heaven with the angels.
This creep is completely self centered. Watching him listen to the 911 call, he is clearly reviewing his performance, NOT thinking of his dead/killed girlfriend. He needs to be exterminated like other vermin. ASAP.
i was just thinking of something in his favor if that is possible if the gun had slipped foreward off the end of the dresser it would have still been a flat trajectory . but he is still at blame because of the incompetant and stupid way he handled those firearmes. he got what he deserved
HE IS NOT GUILTY NOT GUILTY NOT GUILTY
NOT GUILTY????? Dave, did you hear anything that horrible man said at his trial….every one of his statements contradicted the previous statement….he lied from the minute he got on the stand and only a fool would be blind to that…..not to mention all the evidence was pointed right at him……….God be with the family of Amy and may she finally rest in peace…
Debbie: “Dave” just wants attention. He doesn’t even explain why he thinks this creep is not guilty. Ignore this guy! 🙂
He cries when they play a tape, but no emotion when he is on the stand and talks about her being shot! Hello am i the only one who seen that?
Yes, Nancy, you are 100% correct. He was terrible on the stand; his lawyers shouldn’t have let him testify. What a creepo!
I know you are right. What a creep. I think Amy was getting ready to leave this loser, and he said “I can’t have her, no one can. Glad your in PRISON, SCHACK.
And he wasn’t crying. He was squeezing his eyes together to try to force tears out. I have seen that before. My ex-boyfriend used to do that whenever he was trying to pretend to have emotions. Then he was wiping his dry eyes, as if there were real tears coming out. Watch it again and you will see. At that split second, I knew he was lying; I knew he was guilty. It was just part of his ridiculous “innocent” act. He totally looks like a serial killer! Poor Amy… If he couldn’t have her, noone could…
SO SAD! BUT- I would have found him not guilty for my own conscious sake there was to much doubt and accidents are usually really unexplainable.
even if the evidence warranted a guilty verdict? You still would have acquitted him for your own conscience?
Glad you weren’t on the jury! 😦
Schack was guilty beyond any doubt whatsoever. He really should have received the death penalty. This was just a horrible, heinous and brutal crime. Kudos to the authorities who saw through his lies and usefully prosecuted him. I do sympathize with Schack’s family, however, who by all accounts are decent people. When Shack committed his crime he betrayed not only his victim and her family but his own as well.
To Mike K…..If you watched the trial, he was trying to convince the prosecutor that the leg of the bipod slipped off the side as he was trying to catch it. That contradicted previous explinations and lies. Also his demeanor completely took a 180 from his defense testimony to the prosecution. GUILTY, JUSTICE WAS SERVED. The jury did a great job.
I am so glad he got life in prison. If anyone else watched him testify, he was so cocky and arrogant. He made the ugliest faces when the prosecution was catching him in his lies. He kept turning his lip up and it was so unattractive. I cannot see how such a beautiful and young woman, Amy Boscarino, could possibly be with this guy to begin with, let alone for ten years or whatever it was. She could have done so much better. Also, during the interrogation in the police station, he said he was on various meds including Adderal, which is simply a ‘speed’ drug and he just couldn’t shut his mouth .. talk, talk, talk. Now that he doesn’t have his drugs, let’s see how he does in prison. I hope he gets a little bit of ‘inmate justice’ – just enough to finally humble him a bit, because he thinks he is so smart and full of all the answers. I am looking for a videos son the verdict and his sentencing — I would love to see his face! Does anyone know where I can watch such videos? Thanks ….
I’m working on finding a video for you. I haven’t been successful yet, but when i do, I will be sure to let you know 🙂
I concur that this man was guilty without a doubt…but did he receive a fair defense? I think not. His defense Lawyer ( and I use the word very loosely) should not ever be able to defend anyone again. The worse defense I have heard….ever.
i bet she(Amy) was getting ready to leave this loser, and he didn’t like that. So he made sure no one else could have her.
I would like to make a few comments about this case. Fist HECK yeah Mark was guilty. I usually don’t judge people, but just looking at his picture you can see that he has a mysterious look in his eyes. What Amy saw in him is beyond me. Anyways, even during his time on the stand, he looked, talked, and acted cocky as sin. He tried to get the jury, defense attorney and the prosecutor wrapped around his little finger, he even tried to get everyone to believe that Amy’s sister was always invited to go with them (Amy and Mark) where ever they went. Not hardly. I think the defense attorney did a poor job defending him. Which is good, you get what you pay for cheapo. Maybe instead of selling the ring, maybe you should have sold your weapons and got a better lawyer.
Lloyd: I’m pretty sure Mark had a public defender. I read somewhere about that in the beginning. Maybe that was just after his arrest, but whatever that lawyer was, he was terrible. And, I agree 100% with what you said. I said the exact same thing in one of my posts before I read yours … 🙂
It”s amazing that someone can shoot from behind a wall and get a head shot, he must have x ray vision.
if he really killed amy, i dont understand the motive behind it. i believe he did not have the best defense. and if this were an accident, what are the odds. after hearing all the testimony and i were a juror, i would be that one on the fence
Watching his facial expressions in the very opening of the trial convinced me he was guilty. He appears to be a master manipulater, but got in over his head with this prosecuter, judge, and jury. I don’t believe he killed her for the money, but because she finally rejected him. Justice was served in this case.
This guy is Guilty. I do think he is a Looney…..I think another jealous Nut.I also think he thought about it for a while.He might not have planned it that nite, but he weighed his options long before he pulled the trigger. Then he rolled the Dice….Believe it or not, being Broke,Balding,&losing a Beautiful woman could drive someone to KILL & block out the consenquences…………til trial!
The jury’s verdict can be seen on Insession on TV on Thursday March 4, 2010
It is not possible for the bullet to be on a level or flat trajectory unless he was holding the rifle. Base on how the scope was sighted in, if he held the crosshairs on her head, it would have hit her in the neck, just like it did. This guy is so guilty, its a shame they wasted money on a trial. God will deal with him.
He better be glad he wasn’t tried in Texas because we would have given him the death penalty. You know how us Texans love to put a guilty man to death.
I think they screwed this man on this trial, innocent man in prison for life. accidental shooting id say yes, intentional murder no way. this guy was messing around with his gun, got careless and it went off. my guess he was playing with the rifle and thought the mag was empty and he put it in then he jacked back the bolt then removed the mag and continued goofing around with it, boom it goes off when he starts playing with the trigger. i honestly think he did this accidentally but i will agree i think some of his story was fabbed up- he should have told the truth being what i think, he was playing with the gun, scoped her and pulled the trigger not knowing that he had accidentally left a round in the mag and accidentally had chanbered the round. terrible accident for everyone involved i agree but intentional murder, NO WAY!
I have followed this case on in session for days. i knew he was lying and acting the first time i laid eyes on him. the way he made the “sad face” and over exadurated what he thought the jury would perceive as “poor poor mark schack- look how sad he looks, he must be innocent, he looks so so sad…. ahhh, poor poor mark schack….”
well, thank heavens they were intelligent, decent people. they saw through his very pathetic manipulations just like we all did. kudos to the prosecution, and shame on the defense atty calvo. she was so disrespectful, flippant, antagonistic and down right insensitive toward the family of the victim. she came across as a very nasty person in the way she spoke down to them.
i hope this verdict brings at least a bit of comfort to the family which was so deveatated by this murderer and his narciccism.
**** can anyone help me~~ i recorded the last few hours on thursday, the day of the verdict broadcast and my cable box was interrupted and i lost the verdict~~~~
I am SOOO upset that i missed the part of the trial i was most looking forward to seeing…
I have been searching the net, but can’t find video of the verdict anywhere….
Does anyone have a suggestion where i can find it??
Seeing Mark Schack’s face the moment he finds out the jury saw through every ounce of his BS would be priceless to me!!!!
Thank you,
Wendy
I think he shot her, but it was by accident. I think he pointed the weapon at her and did not realize there was a bullet in the chamber. Concluding that an argument accured, schack pointed the weapon a fired at her like to scare her, not knowing bullet was loaded. Involuntary manslaughter should i think was the crime…………
mike you need to go to a gun safety class. i hope you do not own any firearms.
I just started watching this trial on CTV. I wish I had seen the beginning and knew a little more about this case. From what I understand he had a condition which caused numbness in his fingers which sounds like some type of neuropathy to me. If that is true he shouldn’t have had a gun. I will say however, from what I’ve seen, this guy had the worst lawyer I have ever seen. The Prosecution tore him apart and his lawyer just sat there and watched them do it. No objections at all. I also cannot understand what this beautiful woman was doing with him. The only thing that bothers me is that too many people are trying to determine his guilt by looking at his body language and facial expressions. Court TV even had a ‘Body Language Expert’ on yesterday telling how his body language showed he was guilty. Everyone reacts differently to situations and I’m not a big believer in reading body language. The facts alone should speak for themselves not how he holds his mouth or squints his eyes. It seems to me that he lied a lot and was very inconsistent in his story. I believe he is guilty but don’t base your assumptions on how he looks. Base it on the facts.
He is soooooooo guilty and a creep.
Any one of the alibis could work for Schack. You know, even whether he was fiddling with a scope or a mag or cleaning. . . . I have firearms and really, many of these things blend in. The cleaning and the changing of loads and adjusting of scopes all blend into one thing. I will pull ammo in order to safely clean the weapons and often change ammo. I’ll also make scope adjustments as part of the cleaning. It all kind of becomes one thing.
Whether he was cleaning or changing scopes or ammo is not a key issue because that stuff goes hand in hand. But the fact that he was cleaning weapons in the master bedroom, on a dresser? That is stupid stuff because of the powders and the parts and the grease and the solvents don’t really mix with a bedroom. Weapons have small pieces that drop and you really want to break-down and clean on a clear flat surface, like a card table, in a shop or a garage. The fact that he normally cleaned his weapons in the garage is another problem for Schack.
The flat trajectory of the bullet, if the weapon indeed did fall from the dresser and Schack grabbed at it and fired the weapon, is highly unlikely. The dresser is about 36 inches high. The bullet hit her neck. Standing or sitting, it seems highly unlikely that a flat trajectory could be accidentally achieved.
And then there is the weapons expertise of Schack. I’ve had one accidental misfire in my life and it was with a new shotgun that was pointed safely in the air. I had not safed the weapon, a round was chambered, and the trigger was sensitive. I was 23 and, thankfully, did not harm anything but my porch roof (that I had installed earlier that day; the lesson was doubly learned when I had to replace my new porch roof because of my stupidity). I have not made the same mistake since. I imagine Schack has many many years of firearms experience, and at his age, is more cautious than a 23 year old. It is so unlikely a man of his age and experience would leave an unsafe rifle, precariously perched on a bedroom dresser, loaded, unsafed, and then grab at it ANYWHERE NEAR the trigger is a set of unfortunate events that seem nearly impossible for almost anyone, particularly a man of Schack’s age and experience.
And then there is the 911 call where Schack seemed to have a prepared statement. How long into the call did he say there was a shot woman in his house? How many details did he give that went directly to an excuse as to why the rifle discharged?
In total, there seemed to be too many little coincidences. In the end, it was a good verdict and a good sentence. Schack gets to spend the rest of his worldly days contemplating his actions with the rest of the animals society has removed from the streets.
One question: Schack was free for a period after the shooting. Why did he not leave the country?
With all the tears and and emotion that Mark Schack showed at the trial and as a witness, when the guilty verdict was read he showed absolutely NO emotion. He was sooo guilty!
Is it just me, or did anyone else wonder why he never needed any kleenex for all of the crying he did. I wear glasses myself, and I guarantee I’d need a kleenex or 2, or would have to wipe the tears off of my lenses. Unless I missed it, I never saw him ask for anything but a cigarette during the police interrogation, and I saw he had a drink at one time. Did he ever use a tissue then or during trial???
I’m sick to see what a beautiful girl lost at the hands of this sociopathic, odious person. He should have been charged with first degree murder but the out come would be the same. Hope he meets bubba where hes going. My heart goes out to Amy Boscarino family.
guilty as hell, a couple things really sealed it for me. first his 911 call were he mentions everything he did that day b4 he gets around to what he should be calling for, HELP!!! then he has time to put the magazine back in the safe. also the target that they showed in court when he aims at the head and hits the neck, erie, this guy was a bad shot.
My verdict in the Flordia v. Mark Schack trial would be guilty of second-degree murder with life in prison. My decision is based solely on the evidence (facts) presented by the experts, i.e. gun expert, medical examiner, detectives, etc. My decision was in no way based on the testimony of the Boscarino family.
I found the members of the Boscarino family to be arrogant and not very likeable people. I know they lost their loved one in a senseless act and I feel deeply for them, but they came across as arrogant people with a better-than-thou attitude. To me, their whole demeanor was offensive and standoffish.
I have never seen so many witnesses with bad attitudes. The neighbor with the felony record was so snippy with his responses to both the prosecution and the defense I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know whether his felony record put him on the defensive, but his bad attitude and demeanor was blatant from the onset of his testimony. However, his felony record wasn’t made known until his cross examination by the defense.
In my own mind I wondered — why would Amy Boscarino live with this man for ten years, accept a diamond engagement ring with no intention of marrying him, incur thousands and thousands of dollars of debt with him and, finally, take a trip with him to Las Vegas five months prior to her death (surely she knew he was hoping to marry her on this trip). Why would Amy stay with a man that she knew her family loathed? It was obvious from their testimony that they found Mark Schack disgusting, replusive and wanted nothing to do with him even though their daughter, sister and cousin lived with him as a “couple” for ten years.
In the trial it was brought out, repeatedly, that they “lived as a couple,” and, apparently, they shared the same bedroom up to the time of her death. Amy’s sister’s rationale was that Amy was loyal. I think this goes far beyond a sense of loyalty. In my opinion, Amy saw something in this man, God only knows what, that no one else saw. I believe she liked what this older man gave her — his love and attention, expensive gifts, nice house and cars, trips and a life style that she enjoyed and wanted. Things changed — financially and, apparently, her feelings for Mark Schack. I believe Mark Schack could no longer “afford” to keep Amy content and happy in their relationship, financially and otherwise. So, I think he decided to get rid of her. In my opinion, the thought of $185,000 in insurance money was an extra plus once he decided to show Amy.
Of course, there is no excuse for what Mark Schack did. Amy Bascarino certainly did not deserve to die. I think he killed her because he was so angry with her. I think the Las Vegas trip and her refusal to marry him there was the last straw, in addition to the substantial debt ($80,000) that he had incurred trying to keep her in the relationship with im.
It was an unthinkable act. Mark Schack deserves the maximum sentence for taking the life of another human being. It is a sad world in which we live when a human life can be taken so easily.
mike i do not like how you say he pointed a gun at her to scare her, and that he did not think there was a bullet in the gun. it does not matter if you just checked the gun and there was no bullet in it, you DO NOT aim a firearm at anyone or anything you do not intend on shooting its common sense. Hes guilty, accidents do happen with firearms people make mistakes but in this case in my mind an accident is out of the question. Mark will get whats coming to him for doing this to a women who had her whole life ahead of her, and her family who has to live with the pain mark caused.
A few people didn’t know much about this whole case and only caught the end of this trial. To learn more about the case, there is plenty online if you simply search his name or her name. BTW: The trial actually took place 2-3 months ago, (I forgot exactly) and on February 1 the verdict came back. (or maybe that was the sentencing — I forgot). But, yeah, when the trial was on TV, it was already old news, especially in Florida where it occurred. Very often they show us old trials – not sure why.
Also, body language does matter!!! I mean, I hated him because of his upper lip and looks or arrogance – thought he was smarter than everyone else. He was fine with his attorney but when the prosecutor was questioning him, he was so on the defensive and if he were innocent, he wouldn’t have made those faces (upper lip and a look of complete arrogance.) and it was even talked about on Court TV after he testified. The jury saw his expressions and body language (arrogance) and did not like it any more than most of us did! It does matter! It makes him ‘unlikeable’ – to not just most of us, but to the jury too. He really goofed there, along with all his lies and different versions of events.
He got exactly what he deserves!
This creep was after the insurance money.
Although he as $85,000.00 in debt he was
up to date with his life insurance payments.
He had to shoot her before she broke away from
this relationship.
His time in prison will not be a picnic.
The guards and inmates will give him everything
he deserves.
A life of misery is the best he can hope for.
Thank God his attorney chose to put this arrogant
creep on the stand so that everyone could see what
a jerk he really is.
They should have gone for the death penalty.
This was no an accident.
Any’s death was premeditated and his cover story
was pure nonsense.
He killed her because she was going to leave him. “If I can’t have her then noone can have her”. I’ve heard that story.
I agree he’s guilty, I was wondering why the fact of the weight of the bulet magazine wasn’t brought up and why he put a loaded magazine in the gun while servicing it. He had to know it was a loaded magazine because the weight of a empty magazine compared to a full one is so different and this I thought was a big fact to look over. I also would like to see the video of he verdict. Mabe a real emotion came from him, when his head was on the chopping block.
I feel like Schack killed his girlfriend because she was getting ready to leave him. He said I can’t have you, no one can. He got what he deserved….Life in prison. Let’s see him bully the other inmates.
I used to live in the same apartment complex with these two individuals back in 99/00 – even had dinner with them a few times. I always thought there was something not right about him and didn’t really like him – Amy was too kind for even staying with him. I guess this proves my vibe/theory about him all along. Very sad to hear about. Amy was a really really nice person. She is in a better place – unfortunately she had to get there this way.