45-Year Sentence for Murderer From Bradley Gardens

For the children of Carolyn Stone, the 45-year sentence given to the man who murdered their mother may never be enough.

”Our mother’s body was in such terrible shape that we could not even have an open casket and say our goodbyes face to face,” they said in a written statement read by their uncle to Superior Court Judge John Pursel on Tuesday morning. “We had to say goodbye by touching a closed wooden box.”

Gary Wilson, 30, of Leghorn Avenue, must spend the next 38 years and three months in state prison for the murder of the 45-year-old woman over the 2009 Memorial Day weekend at a Bradley Gardens home under the terms of the sentence handed down by Pursel on Tuesday.

The children told Pursel that “it has been difficult to sit through these proceedings and listen to lawyers argue the needs of a defendant and that he should be shown mercy, when he showed absolutely none.

”When our mother was assaulted and murdered, it was a coward’s attack, it was in the middle of the night, she was alone, among people who claimed to be her friends, and no one came to her aid or did anything to stop the brutality of it.”

The two other defendants in the case, David Granskie Jr., 26, of Oak Street, and Rocky DiTaranto, 27, of Maple Street, have yet to go to trial and no trial date has been set. Their next court date is Oct. 15.

Wilson, as part of a plea agreement with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, has agreed to testify against the duo, though Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Rocchietti  said the prosecution is not convinced that Wilson’s testimony will be essential to the case. Rocchietti said there is a “scintilla of hope” that Wilson’s testimony might be valuable.

”There is nothing the state can do to this defendant to give solace to this family,” Rocchietti said.

In addressing the judge before the sentence, Wilson said he had been thinking about the incident for a long time, but “there is not much to say.”

”I am extremely sorry for what happened,” he said. “There is nothing I could say to change what happened.”

Wilson pleaded guilty to the murder in July 2011 as part of a plea agreement with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

Chris Kazlau, Wilson’s attorney from the Public Defender’s Office, asked the judge to reduce Wilson’s sentence because of his client’s psychiatric history and cooperation with authorities.

Kazlau reminded the judge that Wilson voluntarily turned himself into police and gave detailed statements about the murder. Kazlau also noted that when Wilson returned home after the incident, he told his father what had happened and the father called police. That action, the lawyer said, initiated the police investigation.

In asking the judge to reduce the sentence, Kazlau cited Wilson’s “genuine and sincere remorse,” and his extensive history of psychiatric treatment and substance abuse. But Kazlau said those factors do not “rise to the level of a defense or an excuse” but were the basis of all confluence of factors that resulted in tragedy.”

In refusing to reduce the sentence from the terms of the plea agreement, he called the murder “intensely brutal” and said the “coup de grace” in his sentencing was the children’s admission they could not properly say goodbye to their mother.

In their statement, the children said the murder was a “senseless and brutal crime.”

”Our mother is deeply missed on a daily basis,” they said.

”We know that no matter what the court does, it cannot bring our mother back. Nor is there any punishment that the court could impose that would be equal to the horrific things this defendant did to our mother.
 
”There is and will continue to be a sad emptiness in our family because she is no longer here,” they said.

In 2005, Wilson pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and resisted arrest. He was sentenced to probation, but was later sent to jail for a violation of probation.

In pleading guilty to the murder, Wilson told the judge that he and friends were attending a Memorial Day weekend barbecue at an Oak Street home, where Stone lived with Granskie's father, and became intoxicated after drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and snorting cocaine.

In the middle of the night, Wilson said, DiTaranto led Stone, who was also intoxicated, into the backyard of the home. 

Wilson said he went with them. From there, Wilson said, DiTaranto had sex with Stone on the ground, keeping his hands on her neck to keep her down. After DiTaranto had sex with her, Wilson said, he was supposed to have sex with her too, but didn't.

Wilson said he then dropped a cinder block three times on her head to keep her quiet.

Wilson's plea came after a hearing earlier in 2011 to determine if his right against self-incrimination had been violated. During interrogation by police in 2009, Wilson allegedly said, "I just murdered someone."