Joseph Grippo was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 years in prison plus five years of supervised release, the outcome of the legal proceedings stemming from his deadly attack on Robert Casado on a Kirk Park trail in Montauk in June 2019.
Mr. Grippo, 50, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter on July 18. He admitted to Justice Stephen L. Braslow that he ambushed and bludgeoned Mr. Casado to death with a pickax handle on the morning of June 6, 2019, while Mr. Casado was headed to his landscaping job.
Mr. Casado, who was 38, was found lying on the ground and bleeding profusely by passers-by in Kirk Park, and he died after being rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital. His death was attributed to blunt-force trauma and stab wounds to his face and neck.
Mr. Grippo and Mr. Casado had had romantic ties to the same woman, which prosecutors identified as a motive as the case proceeded.
Having received multiple tips, police arrested Mr. Grippo two weeks after the attack. He had been in county jail in Yaphank ever since. In April, Mr. Grippo — whose original charge was second-degree murder — lashed out in the courtroom at Justice Braslow, who had just conveyed the offer of a plea deal involving what would have been a shorter sentence, 18 years.
Following his outburst, which he blamed on being "just a little bit frustrated" over Covid-related disruptions and delays in the criminal courts, he insisted on going to trial. A murder conviction after a trial on the original charge might have meant 25 years to life. Mr. Grippo eventually asked the prosecution to consider another plea deal.
Upon accepting the manslaughter plea in July, Dan Russo, one of Mr. Grippo's attorneys, said it was "the right charge for this case. It's fair, considering the circumstances."
Mr. Grippo had previously served 15 years in state prison following a 1998 armed robbery conviction.
While the pickax handle was never found, Mr. Grippo admitted that he bought it at Riverhead Building Supply a couple of weeks before he killed Mr. Casado, "with the purpose of using it on Casado," said the Suffolk County District Attorney's office in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Grippo also told prosecutors that he disposed of the murder weapon at the town recycling center in Montauk.
Mr. Grippo had been dropped off near the site of the murder by a person who said he had no idea what Mr. Grippo's plans were that morning. "When Grippo called the witness to pick him up," Thursday's press release notes, "the witness observed Grippo had blood on his hands and a 'wooden object' also stained in blood in his possession."
After Mr. Grippo's sentencing in in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverside, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said justice had been served. "This defendant will no longer be able to harm others."
