Plea deal offered in 2020 stabbing in Westport
STAMFORD — A Superior Court judge has offered a Guilford man accused of stabbing a Greenwich woman outside a Westport salon in 2020 a plea deal that could result in him serving as little as five years in prison.
Judge Gary White extended Ellis Tibere, 22, the offer during a supervised pretrial hearing Wednesday, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Moran.
Under the offer, Tibere would plead guilty to attempt to commit murder, first-degree assault, carrying a dangerous weapon, first-degree criminal mischief and violation of conditions of release in return for a prison sentence between five and 10 years, followed by five years of probation.
If Tibere were to violate the terms of his probation, he would face up to another 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the terms of the agreement.
During the hearing held at the state Superior Court in Stamford, Moran stated on the record that she and attorney Marisa Infante, who represents the victim in the case, were “not in agreement” with White’s offer.
Moran argued Tibere should face a minimum of 10 years, citing the “egregious nature” of the allegations in the case.
“I may ask Judge White to reconsider his offer,” Moran said during Wednesday’s proceedings, before pointing out that she expected the disposition offer to be “more commensurate” with those made in similar cases in the recent past.
In March, White extended an offer of between 10 and 20 years in prison to Shamar Grant, a Stamford man accused in a similar stabbing where a victim was reportedly chosen and assaulted at random. Both Grant and Tibere are alleged to have been struggling with mental disorders at the time of the attacks as well.
Attorney John Gulash, who represents Tibere, said he will discuss the offer with his client and his family over the next month. They have until Tibere’s next court date May 24 to make a decision.
The court’s offer in the Tibere case comes after he rejected another offer made by state prosecutors in May 2023. Under that offer, Tibere would have pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, carrying a dangerous weapon and violating conditions of release in return for a 13-year prison sentence and seven years of special parole.
Tibere faces attempted murder, first-degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon charges stemming from an attack on a woman sitting in her car on Jan. 6, 2020, in the parking lot of a Post Road East plaza.
His arrest affidavit stated the then-18-year-old waited in the parking lot for hours and then attacked a random woman. Wearing a black mask, Tibere allegedly walked up to the Greenwich woman’s vehicle, opened the car door and stabbed her, according to the affidavit.
Tibere was again arrested in December 2020 when he removed his GPS monitor and left his family’s Guilford property where he had been on house arrest after posting $1 million bond in May 2020.
According to that arrest affidavit, Tibere was found on a nearby trail in possession of a knife with a 4inch blade.
For two years following that second arrest, Tibere’s case stalled after he was repeatedly found not competent to stand trial. However, in February 2022, a judge found Tibere competent to stand trial, despite objections from Gulash.