KINGSTON, N.Y. -- Nicholas Pascarella Jr. and his sister got into a heated exchange Friday morning during his sentencing that required Judge Donald Williams to intervene.
Following the outbursts inside the Ulster County courtroom, Williams sentenced Pascarella to 25 years to life behind bars.
“During the crime and thereafter and until this day, you have demonstrated absolutely no remorse,” Williams said. "None."
Pascarella was found guilty of second degree murder in October. Prosecutors say he killed his father, Nicholas Pascarella Sr., by hitting him in the head with a bat several times back in Dec. 2014.
“I think it validates what we’ve been saying all along and that is Nick Pascarella Sr. was not the person that the defendant tried to portray him as,” said Michael Kavanagh, the Ulster County Chief Assistant District Attorney.
It took the jury only two hours to reach a guilty verdict.
This was the second time the case went to trial. Williams declared a mistrial earlier this year when a jury could not reach a verdict.
“It’s a terrible tragedy," said Mariann Connolly, Pascarella's defense attorney. "I don’t think that the extraordinary length of time was going to do anything to smooth people who’ve lost so much throughout this case.”
Following the sentencing, Pascarella was escorted out of the courtroom, showing no emotion. Meanwhile, family members hugged and cried, saying it's time for them to move on.
“I just want to go forward with my life, not backwards,” said Judith Pascarella, the victim's wife and Nicholas Pascarella Jr.'s mother.
“What this family has been through, the resiliency has been absolutely incredible" Kavanagh said.