A 56-year-old Ector County man is facing a murder charge one month after his wife arrived at Medical Center Hospital with severe head trauma and died.
According to an Ector County Sheriff’s Office report, Vitale Anthony Justice arrived at MCH in an ambulance along with his wife, Pamela Brown Justice, 55, around 2:40 a.m. May 17. Justice told medical personnel his wife had fallen at their home on West Kassanar and suspected she’d had a stroke.
Medical staff called ECSO because doctors did not believe the bruising all over her body was consistent with a fall and suspected it had been caused by physical abuse, the report stated. Although Pamela Justice could squeeze hands, she was unable to speak or write.
The nursing staff told deputies Justice was “acting strange and was showing photographs he had taken with his cell phone of Pam on the floor in areas of the residence where she is suspected to have incurred injury,” the report stated. When the staff told Justice his wife was being admitted to the hospital, he said he had other things to do and left.
When contacted by investigators, the report said, Justice told them he was his wife’s only caretaker. He also said he wasn’t willing to speak with them at the sheriff’s office because he’d spoken to two attorneys.
After speaking with Justice, investigators learned Pamela Justice had died.
The forensic pathologist who conducted Pamela Justice’s autopsy said she died due to complications caused by her injuries and ruled her death a homicide, according to the report.
When interviewed later at his home, Justice denied hurting his wife. He also reiterated that he was her only caregiver, although he said he’d asked several people for help and had family living on the same property, the report stated.
Justice was booked into the Ector County jail on Tuesday and is being held on a $100,000 surety bond.
