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Connecticut to pay $50,000 reward to man who testified in murder case

By Richard Weizel

MILFORD, Conn. (Reuters) - Connecticut has agreed to pay a rare $50,000 reward to a man whose testimony led to his cousin's conviction for the brutal murder of an actress who had appeared on the TV drama "Law & Order," state officials said Wednesday.

Matthew Pugh was sentenced in May to 60 years in prison for the 2006 murder of a former girlfriend, actress Alexandra Ducsay, after his cousin, Anthony Pugh, testified against him during his trial.

Anthony Pugh, who first gave critical information to investigators in 2008, was not at the time aware that a reward had been offered, said State's Attorney Kevin Lawlor, who on Tuesday had asked state Superior Court Judge Denise Markle to authorize payment.

Lawlor said it was the first time in his two decades as a prosecutor that he had seen a judge authorize a reward payment.

"It is extremely rare, but Anthony Pugh reluctantly came in and provided information that led to the arrest, trial and conviction of his own cousin in a brutal murder," Lawlor said. "The new details were a significant factor in the (arrest) warrant being signed."

Matthew Pugh was arrested in 2012 after a long investigation uncovered letters he sent to Ducsay from jail in 2004, threatening to make her life "a living hell" after they had broken up.

Anthony Pugh testified during the trial that Matthew Pugh had discussed killing Ducsay and covering up the murder, carried out in her home in Milford, where her mother found her badly beaten and stabbed body.

An autopsy determined the cause of Ducsay's death was blunt force trauma.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Mohammad Zargham)