In January 2015, a man named Thomas Gilbert Jr.
in the U.S. killed his dad because he incrementally reduced his allowance from $1,000 (£813) a week to $300 (£244) a week, prosecutors said.
The defense claimed that Gilbert Jr. was not guilty by way of insanity, but jurors disregarded this defense in June and he was convicted of second-degree murder.
Assistant District Attorney, Craig Ortner, said: “The free ride was going to an end. It wasn’t a symptom of psychosis, it was a symptom of entitlement.”
Shelley Gilbert who is the mother of Thomas Jr. and wife of Thomas Sr. said the family hoped her son would be ‘given as light a sentence as possible.’
According to CNN, she said: “As I’ve said many times in court, we’ve been trying to get Tommy into a hospital for 15 years.”
“He’s too sick to be able to judge. He needs to be in a hospital, had he been so my husband would still be alive.”
Arnold Levine, Gilbert Jr.’s lawyer defense attorney told Buzzfeed: “We are definitely going to appeal. We are disappointed in the sentence but not necessarily surprised.
“The testimony from the people who actually knew him show that he met the definition of insanity at the time – the history of psychosis, delusions, paranoid ideation, specifically toward his father.”
“The reduction in allowance has nothing to do with it. The father’s cash flow itself was bad, he was having financial problems at the time. That was his motivation for cutting the allowance. There was evidence [Gilbert Sr.] asked [Gilbert Jr.’s} permission.”
“Tommy stopped calling his mother and asking for money.”
After Gilbert Jr.’s sentencing, district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said: “Thomas Gilbert, Sr. was a beloved member of his family and business community when his own son murdered him in a cold-blooded killing.”
“But now, thanks to my office’s prosecutors, the defendant has finally been held accountable and he will serve a life sentence for this unconscionable crime.”
“While nothing can undo the tragedy of Mr. Gilbert’s death, I hope that the resolution of this case helps his loved ones as they continue to heal from this devastating loss.”
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