Oddone trial pits two veteran litigators against each other

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Serita Kedia

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The two women who will direct the two sides in the murder trial of Anthony Oddone are veteran litigants with tough reputations in the courtroom. Each has a long history of high-profile cases and is well respected for her work on opposite sides in court.

Mr. Oddone’s defense attorney, Sarita Kedia, is no stranger to high-stakes trials—she has defended alleged mobsters, embezzlers, murderers and sexual abusers.

In 1999, she was part of the high-profile legal team that defended, albeit unsuccessfully, John A. Gotti, son of the notorious mob boss John Gotti, on extortion charges. She also defended reputed mobster Alfonso “Allie Boy” Persico, who was convicted, along with a co-defendant, of murdering another mobster in 2007.

Ms. Kedia was born in Bombay, India, and raised in Louisiana. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned her law degree in 1994 from Tulane University Law School.

Her former boss, Gerald L. Shargel, who twice defended John Gotti, recalled Ms. Kedia as a tough as nails defender with whom judges like to work.

“She’s struck a fine balance between being aggressive and being reasonable,” said Mr. Shargel, with whom Ms. Kedia worked for six years. “She’s not a bomb thrower. She can be an aggressive cross examiner, she’s tough and she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but by the same token, before judges and lawyers, she’s very fair.”

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Denise Merrifield started with the Suffolk County district attorney’s office in 1988 and has specialized as a homicide prosecutor since 1999. She earned her law degree from the State University of Albany Law School.

She has guided the prosecution of dozens of homicide trials. Among the most well known of her successful prosecutions were: three men who murdered a disabled Radio Shack clerk, Christopher Gilardi; a 67-year-old Huntington man, Robert Anderson, who shot his much younger ex-wife; a Babylon woman, Lee Ann Riedel, who hired a hit man who mistakenly shot Alex Algeri, a business partner of her husband, the intended target; and Thomas Sirico, who shot another man through the heart with an arrow in front of his Mastic home after the man made a snide comment.

michael wright