A Fort Lauderdale man on Thursday was acquitted of murdering his father, but he was found guilty of abusing a body — his father’s dismembered remains found in Boca Raton.
James Scandirito II’s dad was 74-year-old James “Skip” Scandirito Sr., a former Michigan judge.
The younger Scandirito, 50, testified his father died of natural causes but he panicked because he’d been drinking and using drugs. As a result, he said he used a saw to carve up his father’s body in a garage before burying the remains at an abandoned golf course in Boca Raton.
Police found the remains last April.
Boca Raton Police detectives found that the younger Scandirito was recorded on Publix store video buying duct tape, garbage bags and cleaning supplies with his father’s debit card, police said.
Police followed the son to the former Ocean Breeze Golf Club. About 3:30 a.m. April 4, police watched Scandirito, a licensed real estate broker from Fort Lauderdale, enter the property with a bag and then leave with a larger suitcase that was tossed into a dumpster.
Police said they later collected the suitcase, opened it, and found bloody clothing and the odor of decomposing remains, according to an arrest report.
Skip Scandirito’s torso and both upper legs were found in a 4-foot-deep hole at the golf course property, prosecutors have said.
The jury began deliberating the case Wednesday.
Scandirito’s first trial ended in a mistrial last October.
A sentencing date has been set for June 21. Scandirito faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
WPEC-CBS12 is the news partner of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.