Not-guilty plea in killing and dismemberment

TRENTON - A man accused of killing his mistress and dumping her dismembered body in a Staten Island, N.Y., pond has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and evidence-tampering charges.

Prosecutors say Rosario DiGirolamo, 34, killed Amy Giordano, 27, of Hightstown, Monmouth County, in June 2007, then drove the couple's 11-month-old son to a Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., and abandoned the infant in the parking lot. The former Millstone, N.J., resident was arrested in March 2008 after a friend led investigators to Giordano's body.

At yesterday's three-minute arraignment in New Jersey Superior Court in Trenton, DiGirolamo did not speak as attorney Jerome Ballarotto entered the plea.

DiGirolamo, who is now divorced, is confined to his parents' home in Brooklyn after posting a $1 million bond in November. He faces life in prison if convicted. - AP