ROCCO CARSILLO PLEADS GUILTY TO AGGRAVATED MANSLAUGHTER IN WEST DEPTFORD
Saturday, October 31, 2015
PRESS RELEASE October 29, 2015
WOODBURY NJ--Rocco Carsillo (DOB 7/2/58) pleaded guilty today (10/29) to aggravated manslaughter in the March 2014 stabbing death of 50-year-ol Margaret Ann DePietro, accepting responsibility for the death that he acknowledged occurred after the two ingested drugs and “partied heavily” in her West Deptford apartment.
Margaret DiPietro’s body was found in her apartment on 3/5/14. Her death was attributed to multiple stab wounds. Carsillo, who had a relationship with the victim dating back to 2003, which included a history of domestic violence, was arrested in Winslow Township two days later. Carsillo lived briefly with DiPietro but had no permanent address.
In a negotiated plea, Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Margaret Cipparrone will recommend that Carsillo be sentenced to 24 years in New Jersey state prison,. Under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, he must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. A five-year period of parole supervision is also part of the plea agreement.
Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for 12/18.
Questioned by his lawyer about the facts of the case, Carsillo agreed that related weapons charges might have been contested in a trial, but he also concurred that his “blurt” to an investigator of the slaying that “things got out of hand that night” (3/2/14) would have been admissible in his prosecution.
Carsillo acknowledged he and DePietro lived together for 10 days prior to her death and that both were “very heavy” drug users, as established by toxicology tests on both. He agreed that intoxication could have been a trial defense but also accepted his lawyer’s view that it is “not one jurors usually embrace.”
Other than mutual drug use, Carsillo said he did not recall specific details of what led up to the stabbing, ,but agreed he wanted to take responsibility for the death and had no reason to doubt he was responsible. He also agreed he took steps afterward to clean up the area where the stabbing took place.
Questioned further by Judge Becker and Assistant Prosecutor Cipparrone, Carsillo acknowledged that discovering DePietro’s blood was on his clothing led him to believe he committed the stabbing, and recovery of a knife with his DNA and her blood on it was further proof of his culpability.
Carsillo has been held in default of $500,000 bail since his arrest.