GILBERT GETS 25 TO LIFE FOR MURDER OF MOTHER
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Sarra Gilbert, convicted of murder for the brutal stabbing death of her mother, will spend at least 25 years in state prison.
And, Ulster County Judge Donald Williams said, if he has anything to say about it, the Ellenville woman will never walk free again.
Williams sentenced Gilbert, 28, to 25 years to life in state prison — the maximum sentence allowed by law — for the July 23, 2016 stabbing death of Gilbert’s mother, Mari, 52, during court proceedings Friday.
Gilbert stabbed her mother with a 15inch kitchen knife 227 times, beat her with a fire extinguisher, sprayed her with the foam from the extinguisher, stripped her and removed her jewelry.
Barbara Hyde, one of the 12 jurors who voted to convict Gilbert, said she agreed with the sentence handed down by Williams.
Hyde, who said she attended the sentencing for closure, said she was glad Williams said he would push to make sure Gilbert gets the mental health treatment she needs, but also that she isn’t released from prison.
For most of the 40-minute proceeding, Gilbert stood, swaying silently, beside her attorney John Ray.
But when asked by Williams if she wanted to address the court, Gilbert sobbed briefly and asked for mercy.
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’s 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.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Emannuel Nneji called for the maximum sentence, saying Gilbert “wove a
tangled web,” when she began using drugs as a young teen and misled everyone into believing drugged behavior was mental illness.
Gilbert’s youngest sister, Stevie Smith, called her sister “wicked” in a letter read by Nneji, and said Gilbert “tormented and belittled their mother for years before she killed her.”
“The way she took my
mom out of this world is beyond human,” Smith wrote. “This was not a result of mental illness. This was the result of long term hate and not a mental breatkdown.”
Ray, though, asked Williams to show Gilbert mercy, saying the “circumstances surrounding the perversion of this girl’s soul, her mind, her heart, should strike a chord of courts heart.”
“We know she was raised in one of the worst families this county has ever had in its bosom,” said Ray, recalling testimony that Gilbert
was sexually abused by one of her mother’s boyfriends, that her older sister was a prostitute with her mother’s blessing, and that her mother practiced “black magic,” which ultimately led Gilbert to believe her mother was a demon.
At one point, Ray called on Williams to show Gilbert the same mercy that Jesus showed to the thief on the cross.
Williams, though, said it was clear that Gilbert’s act was “not only intentional ... but premeditated and
planned.”
“I will never be able to put out of my mind the comments of your sister and your attorney, ‘if you’re afforded the opportunity, you will kill again,’ ” said Williams.
“This court will not permit or contribute to that terrible situation happening again,” he said, calling the sentence not an act of punishment, “but instead an overwhelming desire to protect other people by taking you off the streets for as long as I can.”
Following the sentencing, the District Attorney’s Office
dropped charges pending against Gilbert for cruelty to animals and endangering the welfare of a child for drowning the family puppy in front of her young son.
Ray said he has filed a notice of intent to appeal both the conviction and the sentence.
Mari Gilbert’s death was the second tragedy to befall the family in a span of about six years.
Shannan Gilbert — Mari’s daughter and Sarra’s older sister — 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’s and those of eight women, one man and a toddler. At least four of the women worked as prostitutes.
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.