STAMFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut man has unexpectedly pleaded guilty to strangling his girlfriend just days before his murder trial was scheduled to begin.
The Stamford Advocate reports that 48-year-old Bertony Thompson pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing 62-year-old Jacalyn Silverman four years ago in the Norwalk apartment they shared. The plea came on the fourth day of jury selection.
Thompson faces 25 years in prison at sentencing in July.
He entered an Alford plea, meaning while he doesn’t agree with the state’s case he acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction.
His lawyer said the plea “outweighed the risk the jury might not accept that Bertony Thompson was so intoxicated that his intoxication caused a substantial disturbance of his mental capacities.”
Silverman’s daughter says the plea means her family can finally move on.