Trust fund kid Thomas Gilbert Jr., 34, is sentenced to 30 years in prison – ‘five years for every bullet’ the Princeton graduate shot, killing his wealthy father after his allowance was cut
Thomas Gilbert Jr. shot his father, Thomas Sr. 70, in the head on Jan 4, 2015
The Princeton University graduate faced murder, gun possession among other charges
The 34-year-old had been living off his parents’ money but was being cut off, sent his mother to go out to fetch him a Coke and a sandwich, then shot his father in the head
He claimed he was schizophrenic and committed the killing during a psychotic break
His mother Shelley testified in support of him, saying he was ‘sicker’ than ‘any of us knew’
The court rejected his insanity claims and instead he was convicted of murder
He was sentenced on Friday to five years for every bullet he fired into his father’s body
Prosecutors have rejected his claims of insanity and say it was premeditated
Prior to the murder Gilbert Jr researched murder online , then drove to Ohio to buy a Glock
Misspent youth: Thomas Gilbert Jr., [left, in 2014], now 34, shot his father, Thomas Sr, 70, in 2015 in his parents’ Upper East Side, New York home after being told his allowance was being cut again
Gilbert Jr. had tried to plead not guilty by way of insanity but it was rejected by the court because he had sent his mother, Shelley, out to fetch him a Coca Cola and a sandwich before he opened fire on his father.
The extra effort he went to to get her out of the way proved pre-meditation. On Friday, Shelley addressed the court to pleading with the judge for leniency on behalf of the son who murdered her husband of 33 years in cold blood.
She was ‘weepy’ as she read aloud a statement and called her son a ‘good boy’ who struggled with mental health issues.
Gilbert Jr. also spoke. He asked if the sentencing could be delayed and complained about his legal representation.
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As the judge rejected on the family’s claim that he is mentally ill, Shelley shook her head from side to side.
Gilbert Jr. did not show any emotion when the sentence was handed down. He merely looked back at his mother as he was led away in handcuffs.
‘Entitled’ Ivy Leaguer Thomas Gilbert Jr. was jailed for 30 years to life for murder
The playboy had been living on $1,000-a-week and had his apartment paid for him separately. He was however furious when his father insisted that he get a job and start looking after himself.
The final straw was when his father reduced the allowance from $400-a-week to $300-a-week.
‘The free ride was going to an end. It wasn’t a symptom of psychosis, it was a symptom of entitlement,’ prosecutors said during the trial.
Before ‘executing’ his father, he researched murder online and purchased a gun.
Gilbert Sr. had recently set up a hedge fund but had been turned down for a $1.5million loan to finance it.
Until then, Thomas Jr. had lived off his parents lavishly, traveling the world on their money. They paid for his memberships to exclusive clubs in the city and the Hamptons, paid his rent on his Chelsea apartment, his Jeep and all of the parking tickets he incurred with it. The defense claimed that he was unable to keep a job because he was schizophrenic and that his parents supported him because of it.
Thomas Gilbert Jr [photo], on Friday arriving in the court for sentencing after his conviction in the shooting death of his father nearly four and half years earlier
‘My son is nuts’: Shelly Gilbert’s 911 call; Ivy League Killer Thomas Gilbert Jr. was arrested [photo], just hours after in Jan 2015
The defendant’s mother Shelly Gilbert leaves court after testifying at her son’s trial: Shelley Gilbert asked the judge to show her son leniency and requested his incarceration be somewhere close to where she lives
Shelley Gilbert, a reluctantly participant in the proceedings initially testified for the prosecution in the case, though she has always maintained that her son is mentally ill and should be in a hospital as opposed to prison. Shortly before the Jan. 4, 2015, slaying, the elder Gilbert had slashed his son’s allowance from $400 to $300 a week, which prosecutors say infuriated the younger Gilbert.
Gilbert Jr, 34, had painstakingly planned the crime, driving to Ohio to illegally buy the gun and visiting the websites Hireakiller.com and hitman.com on his iPhone, prosecutors said.
“When he murdered his father, the defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and he certainly knew that it was wrong,” prosecutor Ortner told the jury.
Defense attorney Arnold Levine, countered that the defendant had a decade-long history of mental illness, which included diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
That it wasn’t the reduction in his allowance but his spiraling mental illness that led to the murder of his previously indulgent hedge-fund manager dad.
Speaking outside the court on Friday Shelley Gilbert argued against her son’s sentence. ‘He is mentally ill and should go to hospital not prison’, she said
It was Shelley who called 911.
In her recorded call, she told the operator when asked who had shot her husband: ‘My son.
‘He’s nuts, but I didn’t know he was this nuts.
‘He shot him in the head.’
Gilbert Jr.’s old roommate testified at the trial that he had tried to kill him ‘several times’.
After the sentencing on Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. said in a statement that justice had been served.
‘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 as they continue to heal from this devastating loss.’
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