{"id":7070,"date":"2017-04-28T07:12:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T11:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=7070"},"modified":"2017-04-28T07:12:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T11:12:49","slug":"sarra-gilbert-convicted-murder-aware-juror-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2017\/04\/28\/sarra-gilbert-convicted-murder-aware-juror-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarra Gilbert convicted of murder; \u2018she was … aware of what she was doing,\u2019 juror says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patricia R. Doxsey<\/a>, Daily Freeman<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Sarra Gilbert was convicted of second-degree murder Thursday in the brutal stabbing death of her mother \u2014 a repudiation of the defense claim that she was driven by mental illness, and a verdict, her lawyer said, that almost assures she will kill again.\u00a0 The eight-woman, four-man jury returned its verdict shortly after 3 p.m. during its first full day of deliberations in Ulster County Court. Gilbert, 28, made no outward show of emotion when its was read.<\/p>\n

Gilbert stabbed her mother, Mari, 52, more than 200 times on July 23, 2016, in the younger woman\u2019s Ellenville apartment. The prosecution contended Gilbert plotted the killing and carried it out because the older woman had Gilbert arrested months earlier for killing a puppy and had temporary custody of Gilbert\u2019s young son. The defense portrayed Gilbert as acting out of delusions brought on by a lifetime of abuse and mental illness and a state mental health system that repeatedly let her down.<\/p>\n

The jury rejected the option it was given of finding Gilbert \u201cnot responsible due to mental disease or defect,\u201d meaning she was so mentally ill that she either didn\u2019t know or understand what she was doing or what the consequences were.\u00a0 Several jurors said they had no doubt Gilbert was mentally ill but that they didn\u2019t believe it was severe enough to keep her from knowing what she was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that she has mental illness but she was also aware of what she was doing,\u201d said one juror, who declined to give her name. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt everyone agreed there was definite mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she does have a mental illness,\u201d said another juror, Sara Mazzella of Highland. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t faking that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazzella and others, however, said they thought Gilbert\u2019s drug abuse exacerbated her psychiatric issues.<\/p>\n

The jury got the case late Wednesday morning and deliberated for only about 20 minutes before Judge Donald Williams had to adjourn for the day because of a personal matter. Deliberations resumed at 9 a.m. Thursday and included the readback of some testimony requested by the jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning, when we convened, eight out of 12 of us said she was guilty,\u201d said juror Katie Collins of Highland.<\/p>\n

Collins said jurors sifted through reams of evidence, including Gilbert\u2019s records from her various commitments to psychiatric facilities, crime scene photos, recordings from the body cams of police who arrested Gilbert, and telephone conversations between Gilbert and her sister while Gilbert was in the Ulster County Jail.\u00a0 It was one of those telephone conversations, in which Gilbert told her sister that her attorney wanted her to plead insanity, that sealed Gilbert\u2019s fate, Collins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we heard that phone conversation, that was it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gilbert is to be sentenced Aug. 4. She faces a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney John Ray said after Thursday\u2019s court session that Gilbert is extremely mentally ill and a violent psychotic who needs to be institutionalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Sarra will kill someone in prison. It is almost certain,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

Gilbert stabbed her mother with a 15-inch kitchen knife 227 times, beat her with a fire extinguisher, sprayed her with the foam from the extinguisher, stripped her and removed her jewelry.<\/p>\n

To police and on the witness stand, Gilbert said her mother, who practiced witchcraft for most of Gilbert\u2019s life, was a demon and an evil god. Gilbert told authorities her mother was causing her to hear voices and hallucinate, and she said she stripped her mother because the older woman was drawing power from her own blood and wouldn\u2019t die.\u00a0 In the video recording of Gilbert\u2019s interrogation by police, she repeatedly admitted killing her mother but also talked about being possessed and controlled by others.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji said he, too, had no doubt that, if she gets the chance, Gilbert will kill again \u2014 not because she is mentally ill, but rather because she is a sociopath and a \u201cselfish individual\u201d who, he said, \u201chas to have her way at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the evidence we have in this case and everything she did leading up to killing her mom, she is a sociopath,\u201d Nneji said Thursday afternoon. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if she kills again \u2014 not because of her mental illness, but because she is a sociopath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mari Gilbert\u2019s death was the second tragedy to befall the family in a span of about six years.\u00a0 Shannan Gilbert \u2014 Mari\u2019s daughter and Sarra\u2019s older sister \u2014 vanished in May 2010 after fleeing the home of a sex client in Oak Beach on Long Island. The search for her led to the discovery of 11 sets of human remains over the span of a year: Gilbert\u2019s and those of eight women, one man and a toddler. At least four of the women worked as prostitutes.\u00a0 No suspects have been identified in any of the Long Island killings, although investigators believe a serial killer, and perhaps more than one, was responsible for most of the deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cFate of murder suspect Sarra Gilbert rests with jury,\u201d April 26, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDefense attorney portrays murder suspect Sarra Gilbert as \u2018broken, poor, psychotic little girl,\u2019\u201d April 25, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018She got what she deserves\u2019: Sarra Gilbert defends stabbing her mother to death,\u201d April 24, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMurder suspect Gilbert testifies about demons, drugs, celebrities, sister\u2019s disappearance,\u201d April 21, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGilbert driven by jealousy to kill mother, sister testifies at murder trial, April 20, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPolice body cams take jurors in Sarra Gilbert murder trial to death scene,\u201d April 19, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGruesome details, mental illness defense open trial of Ellenville woman who killed her mother,\u201d April 18, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cJury selection underway for trial of Ellenville woman accused of killing her mother,\u201d April 17, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEllenville woman indicted in fatal stabbing of mother,\u201d Aug. 9, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEllenville murder suspect to undergo psychiatric exam; grand jury action could come first,\u201d July 26, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cStabbing was cause of Ellenville woman\u2019s death; suspect daughter had blood on clothes, police say,\u201d July 25, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source\u00a0 dailyfreeman.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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