Stanistreet takes plea offer in Cueball Beating
By
By MEGAN KOSKOVICH
Story Created:
Mar 7, 2008 at 10:58 AM EST
Story Updated:
Apr 11, 2008 at 10:26 AM EST
UTICA - The trial has ended for one of the men accused of beating another man to death at a party last August.
Bradley Stanistreet took a plea deal this morning, and could be spending up to 10 years in prison for his role in Carl Hill's death. Stanistreet could now face up to 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty this morning to gang assault.
He also faced a charge of manslaughter, which has been dropped. And today he told the judge his version of what happened.
After almost a week of testimony, Brad Stanistreet decided to end his trial by taking a plea deal. Discussions of him pleading guilty have been going on all week something not ordinarily done during a trial.
"Ordinarily if you get to the point where you're drawing a jury and you've drawn the jury and you've started, the trial goes ahead and finishes," said Timothy Fitzgerald, assistant district attorney. "So I would have to say this is unusual. "
Speaking before the judge, Stanistreet gave his account of what happened during that party. He continued to deny using the pool ball during the scuffle.
"The pool ball was in my back pocket and when I pulled it out, the pool ball ripped through the hole ripped a hole in the sock," said Bradley Stanistreet. "I never used the pool ball on Carl Hill."
Stanistreet's lawyer - Les Lewis - says he had long discussions both with his client and his family. He says even if Stanistreet didn't use the pool ball, he still provided it to Cory Adam to use, who already plead guilty to manslaughter in this case.
Stanistreet would then have been considered an accomplice.
"If he was convicted, his exposure would have been in excess of whatever Cory Adam got," Lewis said. "Cory Adam got 15 years. I can not speak for the judge, but I can say his sent would have been in excess of 15 years perhaps 20 years."
At the end of his guilty plea, Stanistreet walked by his co-defendant, Kevin Stolarcyk, and told him to quote "Good luck, kid."
Stolarcyk is still on trial in the beating death of Carl Hill.
