Defendant is expected to be sentenced to time served and released from jail by the beginning of the year.
BRIDGEWATER -- David Granskie Jr., acquitted of the 2009 murder of his father's girlfriend, Carolyn Stone, but awaiting retrial on several lesser charges pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault on Monday in Somerset County Superior Court, the prosecutor's office confirmed.
Granskie Jr., who was represented by Katharine Errickson when he was found not guilty of murder and aggravated manslaughter in October after a seven-week trial, was tentatively scheduled to be retried on Jan. 5, 2016. His new attorney is public defender Kevin Walker.
Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Van Hise, who prosecuted the case, wasn't available for comment.
Granskie Jr. is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18. In exchanged for his guilty plea, the prosecution has recommended Granskie Jr. be sentenced to time served.
Granskie Jr. has served more than six years in jail awaiting his trial.
The remaining charges against Granskie Jr., which include reckless manslaughter, aggravated sexual assault and felony murder, are expected to be dropped. A third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance from an unrelated case is also expected to be dropped.
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Judge Robert B. Reed, who made the rare decision to accept a partial verdict, was scheduled to preside over the retrial. Granskie Jr., who had been released from Somerset County Jail on a $250,000 bail in January, had a warrant for his arrest issued in July for failing to meet the conditions of his bail. He's currently back in Somerset County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bail, which was revoked by Reed on Monday after the plea deal.
Granskie Jr. hadn't reported to his case management supervisor since the end of June and had been terminated from a drug treatment program in May because he couldn't afford it, the prosecutor's office said at the time. Both were conditions of his bail.
Granskie Jr. is one of three men originally accused of raping and murdering Stone. Gary Wilson has pleaded guilty to killing Stone with a cinder block on Memorial Day weekend of 2009, and claims he alone was responsible for her death -- but Wilson also denies any sexual assault took place. Rocky DiTaranto pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sexual assault and has been released on time served.
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Granskie Jr. had confessed to the murder, but Errickson argued that confession was false, the product of heroin withdrawal and pressure from skilled police interrogators.
During his plea allocution, Granskie Jr. acknowledged that Wilson, DiTaranto, and he spoke of a planned sexual encounter to be perpetrated upon Stone. He further acknowledged that the victim was intoxicated to the extent that she could not provide consent to a sexual encounter.
Granskie Jr. further stated that the sexual encounter was to occur whether Stone consented or not. Granskie Jr. also acknowledged that he assisted in transporting Stone out of the house and into a secluded portion of the rear yard area of the subject property with Wilson and DiTaranto.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.