JOSEPH CIAMBRONE SAYS WIFE KILLED SON; HEATHER CIAMBRONE DISPUTES HER HUSBAND'S CLAIMS.(A SECTION)

Byline: John DeSantis STAFF WRITER

Court papers made public Friday contain allegations by a witness that Joseph Ciambrone blamed his wife, Heather, for their adopted child's death.

Just weeks away from their scheduled trial date, the couple's attorneys asked a judge to order two separate trials for the Rubonia couple, in part, because of those allegations.

The Ciambrones are accused of starving, beating and murdering their 7-year-old son, Lucas, in 1995. Both face life in prison if convicted of charges of first-degree murder. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Dec. 3.

Heather Ciambrone's lawyer, Chief Assistant Public Defender James Slater, says he has witnesses who will say Joe Ciambrone - not Heather Ciambrone - was the one violent to the child.

"Those witnesses will be called on to testify that Joseph Ciambrone admitted to striking Lucas Ciambrone in the area of the head where trauma was subsequently found by the medical examiner," Slater says in a written request seeking two separate …