Final defendant in beating case acquitted of felony charges

Jessica Hernandez couldn't believe what she was hearing when Oneida County Court jurors acquitted Kevin Stolarcyk of first-degree manslaughter Tuesday in the beating death of her boyfriend last summer.

"To walk in today and have this outcome, it's insane," she said after the jury returned their decision and prosecutors accepted a plea deal for misdemeanor third-degree assault.

Because jurors were deadlocked on whether or not Stolarcyk was guilty of either first-degree gang assault or a lesser count of second-degree gang assault, the 22-year-old defendant of Westmoreland pleaded guilty to third-degree assault.

With time already served, Stolarcyk could be out of Oneida County jail by mid-April. He had faced up to 25 years in prison in connection with charges of first-degree manslaughter and first-degree gang assault on which he'd been indicted on last year.

His formal sentencing date is Friday, April 11.

Stolarcyk was one of four men charged in connection with the Aug. 12, 2007, beating death of 20-year-old Carl Hill of Rome at Camelot Village. Hill died amid a confrontation among a group of teens from Rome and another group from Westmoreland at a house party.

Tuesday's plea agreement took place after prosecutors discussed the matter with Hernandez, who has two young children fathered by Hill.

"It's a tough day for her," Assistant District Attorney Tim Fitzgerald said.

Hernandez and Hill have known each other since junior high school and have two children - 1-year-old Melody Hill and infant Carl Hill Jr., who was born in December.

"My children are paying for their punishment," Hernandez said of the defendants in the case.

Utica defense attorney Mark Wolber said his client is relieved at the outcome.

"It was a difficult decision for the jurors to make," Wolber said. "I think their concern was to what extent he was responsible."

In the trial, testimony focused on how Hill had struck Stolarcyk with a wooden spindle and then what Stolarcyk did next. Prosecutors said Stolarcyk intended to kill Hill, but the defense asserted that physical evidence did not demonstrate that Stolarcyk had inflicted serious injury upon Hill.

During deliberations, jurors asked that testimony be repeated.

Juror Sharon Misterka of Whitesboro said the prosecution did not prove that Stolarcyk's actions resulted in Hill's death, and the decision to acquit Stolarcyk of the first-degree manslaughter charge was made fairly quickly.

However, Misterka said some jurors had difficulty with whether or not Stolarcyk acted as an accomplice with other people who beat Hill.

"The issue for them was that there was some discrepancy as to when Kevin became involved," she said.

Hernandez said she is unsure of how she will cope now that the trial is over. She is even more uncertain of how she will someday tell her children about their father.

"There can never be closure," she said.

Observer-Dispatch