A Princeton-educated son of a New York hedge fund manager was found guilty on Friday of murdering his father after his allowance was cut.
Thomas Gilbert Jr., 34, was convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon by a Manhattan Supreme Court jury that had been deliberating since Wednesday afternoon. He was acquitted on a forgery-related count.
Gilbert faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in August for the Jan. 4, 2015, slaying at his parents' luxury apartment.
Defense lawyers hadn't disputed that Thomas Gilbert Sr., 70, was killed by his son. The defense had hoped their client would be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The son, a 2009 Princeton University graduate, told police at the time of his arrest that he was making $3,000 a month working in finance, court records showed.
But police said Thomas Gilbert Jr. was in debt and had no recent work history at the time.
The parents were paying their son's $2,400 monthly rent, police said. He had been receiving a $600 weekly allowance — an amount that Thomas Gilbert Sr. was lowering to $400 a week just before his slaying, police said.
During the trial, prosecutors played the 911 phone call made by the mother, Shelley Gilbert, at the time of the slaying.
"My husband is, I think, dead. Please rush," Shelley Gilbert told the dispatcher. "He's dead, I think."
The dispatcher passed the call to a paramedic who instructed Shelley Gilbert on how to do chest compressions. While she attempted a lifesaving maneuver, she told 911 that it would be fruitless.
"I think he's been dead. He's been shot," she said.
She was later asked who pulled the trigger and she responded, "My son, who is nuts, but I didn’t know he was this nuts."
