Jurors who deliberated on the Thomas Gilbert Jr murder trial have revealed their decision hinged on a single can of Coke.
Gilbert Jr was found guilty on Friday of murdering his hedge fund millionaire father, Thomas Gilbert Sr, in 2015, after a jury rejected his claims of insanity.
And it has now emerged that jurors, divided between a guilty and a not-guilty by reason of mental defect verdict, decided his request for a can of soda as a bid to get his mom out of the house proved the murder could only have been a premeditated and calculated one.
During the trial, his mother Shelley Gilbert, had testified that the Princeton graduate knew very well that they did not keep the beverage in the house, so his request for a soda proved to be the smoking gun, jurors said.
‘The can of coke: it was really our ‘aha’ moment,’ juror no. 11, Steven David Torres told the New York Post.
Princeton graduate Thomas ‘Tommy’ Gilbert Jr. has been found guilty of shooting his father dead in 2015, after the jury rejected his claims of ‘mental insanity’
‘It was a lightbulb moment for me,’ added juror no. 8, Julie Thiry-Couvillion.
‘It was all about money. He just shot him in cold blood,’ said Corcelles-Alvarez, juror no. 10.
Torres did say that the majority of the panel believed he suffered from a severe mental illness but ‘not at that moment he committed the crime.’
Gilbert Jr was enraged that his parents’ had slashed his allowance and the murder and subsequent attempted cover up proved to be his clear-headed reaction.
The 34-year-old now faces 25 years to life in prison on account of his second-degree murder charge.
Gilbert shot his father, Thomas Sr., in the head at his Upper East Side Home in 2015 after telling his mother to go out to fetch him a sandwich and a Coke.
He then staged the scene to make it look as if the 70-year-old hedge fund founder had committed suicide.
The once shaggy-haired socialite later said he pulled the trigger during a lapse of insanity, claiming to be in the midst of a psychotic break. However, prosecutors successfully convinced the jury that it was nothing of the sort.
The verdict was confirmed by a Manhattan jury on Friday , and the 34-year-old now faces 25 years to life in prison with his second-degree murder charge
Emotionless, Gilbert stared straight ahead as his fate was confirmed by the foreman.
During the trial, which lasted five weeks, prosecutors regularly described Gilbert as a troubled young man, who had ‘an easy life handed to him on a silver platter’, but failed to make his own way in life and developed an irrational hatred of his father – despite the $1,000 per-week allowance he supported him on for so many years.
‘The defendant rejected hard work, instead, preferring an easy life handed to him on a silver platter,’ Assistant DA Craig Ortner said on Wednesday.
Thomas Sr. had been gradually reducing his son’s allowance, he said, and on the day he died, he told him the help was over for good.
He had just reduced it from $400 to $300.
‘The free ride was going to an end,’ Ortner said, adding the murder ‘wasn’t a symptom of psychosis, it was a symptom of entitlement.’
Thomas Sr. (right) had been gradually reducing his son’s allowance, he said, and on the day he died, he told him the help was over for good. Gilbert (left)shot his father, Thomas Sr., in the head at his Upper East Side Home in 2015
During the trial, which lasted five weeks, prosecutors regularly described Gilbert as a troubled young man, who had ‘an easy life handed to him on a silver platter’
Prosecutors accused Gilbert of failing to make his own way in life and developing an irrational hatred of his father as a result – despite the $1,000 per-week allowance he supported him on for so many years
‘The timing shows a rationality. It disproves his insanity defense,’ the prosecutor continued in his closing argument.
‘A truly insane person kills for no reason at all. They strike seemingly at random times and places. That’s not the case here.’
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, never having to work and traveling the world on their fortunes.
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.
His mother Shelley testified for the defense and said her son was mentally ill.
‘Tommy was far sicker than we ever really knew,’ she said earlier this year.
Tommy’s mother Shelley (left) testified for the defense and said her son was mentally ill
Thomas Jr. had lived off his parents lavishly, never having to work and traveling the world on their fortunes
His parents 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
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. used a 40-caliber Glock pistol, which he had driven to Ohio to buy to carry out the killing.
Shelley recalled being ‘excited’ by her son’s spontaneous visit to her Upper East Side apartment on the fateful day her husband was murdered.
‘He came in and told me he wanted to talk to dad about business and so I was excited about that,’ she told the court.
She said she hadn’t seen her son in months so decided to fulfill his request of fetching him a sandwich and a Coke from the shop – a drink Gilbert knew his family never stocked in the house.
Just minutes later she returned to the apartment to find her husband’s frame slumped on the floor next to their bed, lifeless.
Before carrying out the cold-blooded execution Gilbert had researched websites such as ‘hireakiller.com’ and ‘hitman.com’.
The defense claimed that he was unable to keep a job because he was schizophrenic and that his parents supported him because of it
Before carrying out the cold-blooded execution Gilbert had researched websites such as ‘hireakiller.com’ and ‘hitman.com’
A former roommate of Gilbert testified earlier in the trial that his murderous capabilities had been evident long before he pulled the trigger on his father, claiming the Ivy League alum attempted to kill and threatened to kill him numerous times.
Peter Smith Jr., 36, who lived with Gilbert for two years, told a Manhattan courtroom last week that the former socialite ‘tried to kill me on several occasions’, as part of a shocking testimony.
Smith – the son of banking executive Peter Smith Sr. – detailed one specific instance dating back to 2014, where he claimed the defendant tried to kill him by burning down his family’s 350-year-old mansion in Southampton, believing Smith to be inside.
Smith and Gilbert first began living together in 2011. They then cohabited on and off for the next two years, between surfing trips abroad together.
But from the very beginning Smith said he grew increasingly concerned by Gilbert’s behavior, after he accused Smith of a number bizarre offenses, including stealing obscure items from his room, hacking his computer and breaking into his bank account.
Peter Smith Jr., 36, who lived with Gilbert for two years, told a Manhattan courtroom last week that the former socialite ‘tried to kill me on several occasions’
Smith and Gilbert first began living together in 2011. They then cohabited on and off for the next two years, between surfing trips abroad together
Smith said he grew increasingly concerned by Gilbert’s behavior, after he accused Smith of a number bizarre offenses, including stealing obscure items from his room, hacking his computer and breaking into his bank account
However the slurry of accusations soon escalated into physical violence, with Smith claiming that Gilbert suddenly became ‘very aggressive’ and ‘attacked me on several occasions’.
One exchange in September 2013 saw purportedly saw Gilbert flip out and brand Smith a ‘scumbag’ after he picked up his dog by the scruff of the neck, prompting Gilbert to call the SPCA.
Despite Smith finally kicking him out of the property shortly afterwards, he claims a month later that Gilbert ambushed him outside the property, mercilessly beating him with closed fists and shattering his nose.
Less than a year later Smith says Gilbert attempted to burn down his family’s mansion because ‘he thought I was in it’.
‘The timing shows a rationality. It disproves his insanity defense,’ Prosecutor Craig Ortner said
‘A truly insane person kills for no reason at all. They strike seemingly at random times and places. That’s not the case here,’ Ortner concluded in his closing argument
Gilbert’s ex-girlfriend Anna Rothschild also voiced that she had serious concerns about the defendant’s mental state during their courtship in 2014.
The 51-year-old said she would religiously Google his bouts of odd behavior hoping to get to the root of what might be ‘wrong with him’.
‘I don’t know the extent of his mental illness but it was significant enough for my friends and I to Google what could be wrong with him,’ Rothschild told DailyMail.com on June 13 after taking the witness stand at Gilbert Jr’s trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Gilbert Jr.’s former therapist, Susan Evans, who saw him for several years before the shooting, testified during the trial that her client suffered from paranoid thoughts that were ‘interfering with his ability to function’.
In the months leading up to his father’s murder, Evans recommended that he be screened for paranoid schizophrenia.
Other doctors of Gilbert’s testified that they prescribed him antipsychotic medication, but Evans said that Tommy failed to take the medications regularly.
Gilbert Jr.’s former therapist, Susan Evans, who saw him for several years before the shooting, testified during the trial that her client suffered from paranoid thoughts that were ‘interfering with his ability to function’
Prosecutors argued that while he may have had issues, none of the doctors who had treated him over the years had ever recommended anything other than therapy and medication.
The jury was ultimately left with the task of deciding whether Gilbert was unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time he shot and killed his father – a fact that was not disputed by the defense.
Gilbert now faces 25 years to life in prison and will be sentenced by Judge Melissa Jackson on August 9.
Gilbert’s lawyer, Arnold Levine said his client plans to appeal the verdict, in an interview with the New York Times.
‘Someone like Tommy doesn’t belong in state prison,’ he said. ‘He needs to be in a psychiatric hospital.’