Judge threatens to remove Thomas Gilbert Jr. after outburst in court - as lawyers claim he is 'undermining' and 'sabotaging' their defense and his mother testifies against him in father's murder trial

  • Thomas 'Tommy' Gilbert Jr., 34, is on trial in New York for the January 2015 murder of his father Thomas Gilbert Sr. 
  • During Wednesday's hearing, he made an outburst, mumbling about 'suppression'  which led to the judge threatening removal 
  • His defense attorney told the judge that Gilbert Jr's outbursts were evidence of his incompetency and that he is 'sabotaging' his ability to represent him
  • He first appeared in court Tuesday looking frail and thin - a stark contrast to the strapping and handsome man he was when he was arrested four years ago
  • Prosecutors said Tuesday that Gilbert Jr. used a .05 Glock to kill his father by pressing the muzzle of the gun 'tightly' on his head and pulling the trigger
  • The son planned the crime by driving to Ohio to illegally purchase the gun and visiting websites hireakiller.com and hitman.com, prosecutors said
  • His mother Shelley Gilbert testified against her son Tuesday and Wednesday as the courtroom heard her 911 call implicating her son for the crime
  • The wealthy New York hedge fund boss had cut his son's monthly $600 allowance by $200 and stopped paying his $2,400 a month rent    

Thomas 'Tommy' Gilbert Jr. made another outburst in court this morning, leading the judge to give him a final warning that anymore disruptions would lead to him being removed from his murder trial.

As defense lawyer Arnold Levine introduced a photo of a father-and-son camping trip into evidence, it led to an outburst from the defendant, who mumbled about 'suppression'.

The judge removed the jury and the witness, his mother Shelley Gilbert, before warning Gilbert Jr., who appeared disheveled and mostly kept his gaze on the floor.

'It is extremely disruptive. This is my final warning to you,' Judge Melissa Jackson said. 

At Tuesday's hearing Judge Jackson urged Gilbert Jr. to 'refrain from outburst' after yelling 'objection!' several times in court.  

During Wednesday's hearing, Thomas Gilbert Jr. made an outburst, mumbling about 'suppression' which led to the judge threatening removal

During Wednesday's hearing, Thomas Gilbert Jr. made an outburst, mumbling about 'suppression' which led to the judge threatening removal

His mother Shelley Gilbert (pictured leaving court Tuesday) testified against her son Tuesday and Wednesday as the court heard her 911 call after finding her dead husband and pointed to her son as the murderer

His mother Shelley Gilbert (pictured leaving court Tuesday) testified against her son Tuesday and Wednesday as the court heard her 911 call after finding her dead husband and pointed to her son as the murderer

Gilbert Jr. then made a lengthy, garbled request to the judge, citing the First and Fourth Amendments.

Your honor judge, the first amendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech in the courtroom, fair cross examination. The evidence in this case specifically, all the evidence being sued, is suppression of the fourth amendment.

'The majority of evidence being used in this case is eligible for suppression under the Fourth Amendment,' Gilbert Jr. said, in part.

'All exhibits are eligible for suppression based on a strong legal theory,' he said. 

Gilbert's request was denied by the judge who said the law he cited was not relevant.

Police arrested Thomas Gilbert Sr's son on a murder charge after they say he went to his father's Manhattan apartment, shot him in the head after an argument about money, and tried to make it look like a suicide

Police arrested Thomas Gilbert Sr's son on a murder charge after they say he went to his father's Manhattan apartment, shot him in the head after an argument about money, and tried to make it look like a suicide

His defense attorney, Arnold Levine, told the judge that Gilbert Jr's outbursts were evidence of his incompetency.

Levine said: 'His objection has no basis in law. He has been undermining me. Everything he has been doing so far, even during jury selection, is not competent.

His is not assisting his lawyer, he is working against his lawyer. He refuses to meet with me. He is affirmatively undermining and sabotaging my ability to defend him.

'These things are evidence of his incompetence not his competence. Anyone can go to the law library and copy things out without knowing that they mean.'     

The judge noted Levine's remarks but said that in February, a psychiatrist was unable to determine he was unfit for trial.

Gilbert Jr. then said: 'Given the lines of questioning and controversies, I'd like to request a court-appointed defense.'

Judge Jackson also denied this request as the trial is already under way.

The once strapping and handsome Gilbert Jr. made his first appearance yesterday to face murder charges in the death of his father. 

Prosecutors said Tuesday in court that Gilbert Jr. used a .05 Glock to kill his father Thomas Gilbert Sr.in January 2015 by pressing the muzzle of the gun 'tightly' on the victim's head and pulling the trigger.  

'When he murdered his father, the defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and he certainly knew that it was wrong,' prosecutor Craig Ortner said in his opening statements, adding that the son planned the crime by driving to Ohio to illegally purchase the gun and visiting websites hireakiller.com and hitman.com.

In response, Gilbert Jr's lawyer Arnold Levine said he suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. 

A dated family photo shows Thomas Gilbert Jr. appearing happy with his parents Shelley and Thomas Sr. before allegedly killing him in cold blood

A dated family photo shows Thomas Gilbert Jr. appearing happy with his parents Shelley and Thomas Sr. before allegedly killing him in cold blood

When Gilbert was arrested in 2015 (left) he was a strapping and handsome young man - a stark contrast to the frail and thin man who appeared four years later in court Tuesday (right)
When Gilbert was arrested in 2015 (left) he was a strapping and handsome young man - a stark contrast to the frail and thin man who appeared four years later in court Tuesday (right)
Slide me

When Gilbert was arrested in 2015 (left) he was a strapping and handsome young man - a stark contrast to the frail and thin man who appeared four years later in court Tuesday (right)

Gilbert Jr. first appeared in court Tuesday to stand trial for the murder of his father Thomas Gilbert Sr. after he threatened to cut his $600 allowance by just $200 and stopped paying the rent on his $2,400-a-month Chelsea apartment

Gilbert Jr. first appeared in court Tuesday to stand trial for the murder of his father Thomas Gilbert Sr. after he threatened to cut his $600 allowance by just $200 and stopped paying the rent on his $2,400-a-month Chelsea apartment

Gilbert Jr. is pictured handcuffed in a white button down shirt and black slacks as he entered the courtroom Tuesday

Gilbert Jr. is pictured handcuffed in a white button down shirt and black slacks as he entered the courtroom Tuesday 

His mother was on the stand on Wednesday morning to testify against her son in the murder of his father.

Mrs. Gilbert spoke about how her son's mental health deteriorated when he was in the 11th grade and how one symptom of his OCD was that he became obsessed with 'contamination'. 

His mother explained how he became upset when he brushed up against his family members' clothes because he thought this contaminated him.

She said that he even refused to fly out of JFK because he believed that someone 'contaminated' had flown in or out of the airport.

Mrs. Gilbert testified: 'His junior year roommate became ''contaminated'' and it was difficult for him.'

'[Tommy] couldn't be touched. If our clothing became 'contaminated' and he brushed up against us, it would become very upsetting to him.

'He had no control over what was contaminated.'

Thomas Gilbert Sr. was a wealthy New York hedge fund boss who was shot in the head after an argument with his son

Thomas Gilbert Sr. was a wealthy New York hedge fund boss who was shot in the head after an argument with his son 

However, Gilbert Jr had academic success at Deerfield.

His mother testified: 'He did extremely well. In 11th grade, he did AP Calculus, and in 12th grade Calculus 2. As a boarding school, Deerfield attracted students all over the world. Anything beyond AP calculus is referred to 'God math' and Tommy loved that moniker.

'In senior year, he took AP biology. He studied Chinese for three years. He learned to speak Chinese. He was certainly conversational. He loved it.'

Gilbert Jr. went on to Princeton to study economics.

His mother said that his condition deteriorated at Princeton and he took a semester off, after he believed he saw his Deerfield roommate on the college campus and believed it had been contaminated.

Mrs Gilbert said: 'He wanted to transfer out of Princeton and go to Duke instead. He took a semester off from Princeton after his freshman year. He went to Charleston to go surfing.

'I think he found surfing to be very therapeutic.'

While he was in Charleston from 2004-2005, Mrs Gilbert said that she received a call 'from a doctor and her words were that he was very sick'.

'We tried to get him into a hospital outside of Boston and he did spend one night in hospital in Charleston, the psychiatric division of the hospital.'

Mrs Gilbert said that she went to visit her son once while he was in South Carolina.

'I had to buy new clothes [to visit her son] because my clothes were all contaminated from home,' she said. 'I was contaminated and my husband was as well.'

Mrs Gilbert described other aspects of his condition. 'He washed his hands a lot, longer than usual. He was careful.'

The court room heard the 911 call wife and mother Shelley Gilbert made when she found her husband lying in a pool of blood. When the operator asks who shot her husband, Shelley replies: 'My son who is nuts, but I didn't know he was this nuts.' 

'I had no idea he was this nuts,' she repeated.  

To Shelley Gilbert, 72, 'it was obvious he had done it.' Tasked with telling her daughter Clare, now 29, of 70-year-old Gilbert's death, Shelley said, 'Dad's dead and Tommy shot him.'

This is the upscale Manhattan apartment where the alleged murder took pace

This is the upscale Manhattan apartment where the alleged murder took pace 

Prosecutors said Tuesday that when Gilbert Jr's mother returned to the family's apartment, she found her husband of 33 years 'lying dead on the floor, blood and pieces of brain matter oozing out into a puddle next to his head.' 

It is four years since the day in January 2015 that 34-year-old Gilbert Jr. went to his parents' Manhattan apartment and asked his mother to go and buy him a sandwich while he talked to his father.

She hadn't been gone long when a single gunshot rang out. When Shelley returned it was to find her husband dead. He had been shot in the head and was holding the Glock pistol as it lay on his chest. 

Police believe it was a clumsy attempt on Gilbert Jr's part to stage his father's suicide. It convinced no one.

The 911 call reveals Shelley told the dispatcher it was her son who killed her husband, giving police his address and a detailed description. 

When Gilbert Jr. was arrested in his Chelsea apartment soon after, police found a stash that included hollow point bullets, a laser gun sight, handcuffs, a credit-card skimming device and 21 blank credit cards.

It is hard to imagine a more catastrophic decline from the man Gilbert Jr. once seemed destined to be, to the man he is now suspected of having become.

He is strikingly handsome; tall, with tousled blond hair and the gym-fit body of the keen surfer that he was.

His father was an investment banker, his mother a former debutante. They had apartments on the Upper East Side and summered in their home in the Hamptons.

He was educated at the most exclusive schools in Manhattan and went on to study at Princeton.

But in the time since Gilbert Sr's death another version of his son's life - one less golden than this superficial précis - has emerged.

Manhattan socialite Anna Rothschild, 51, dated the accused killer (pictured together) in 2014 and said he was a loner with few friends

Manhattan socialite Anna Rothschild, 51, dated the accused killer (pictured together) in 2014 and said he was a loner with few friends

Despite his Princeton degree and talk of business ventures, the truth is that Gilbert Jr. had spectacularly failed to launch.  

Speaking to DailyMail.com shortly after Gilbert Jr's arrest, former girlfriend, socialite Anna Rothschild, 51, who dated him in 2014 told of a strained and fractured relationship between Gilbert Jr. and his father.

The man she knew was a loner with few friends who resented his father because he was 'never good enough' for the older man.

Gilbert Jr. told friends that he was starting his own hedge fund but according to Rothschild he was aimless and jobless and showed little real interest in changing.

He was 'preoccupied' with his father, she said, and admitted that a friend once warned her that Gilbert Jr. would, 'chop her into little tiny pieces.'

By the time Rothschild and Gilbert Jr. met he already had a history of violence bad enough to have seen him arrested more than once.

During his time at Princeton he was busted for possessing cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms and charged with third-degree aggravated assault when he head-butted a nurse who was treating him after he was admitted to the hospital high.

He completed a pre-trial intervention program and the assault charge was dismissed the following year in 2008 leaving him to go onto complete his degree in Economics.

Thomas Gilbert Jr's mother said her son is suffering from a mental illness, has delusions claiming he is being poisoned by radioactive fallout in prison and even ate a battery. He's pictured in 2015

Thomas Gilbert Jr's mother said her son is suffering from a mental illness, has delusions claiming he is being poisoned by radioactive fallout in prison and even ate a battery. He's pictured in 2015 

According to prosecutors the process of mental unraveling was accelerated by Gilbert Jr's fear that his father was going to cut him off financially.

He had reportedly decided to stop paying the $2,400 rent on his son's Chelsea apartment and to reduce his weekly allowance from $600 to $400 

Financial records aired in court suggest that Gilbert Sr. was not as financially flush as some believed.

He was thought to be worth $200million at the time of his death. In fact he had just $10,000 in stocks and bonds, less than $20,000 in cash and retirement funds and some $500,000 in 'miscellaneous assets.'

It is not clear if Gilbert Jr. was aware of any of this when he went to have his conversation with the older man that day.

Friends have since told of an apparently lengthy history of mental health issues experience by Gilbert Jr. He was on some sort of medication during his days at Princeton.

He told his ex Rothschild that, through the years, he had been on Xanax for anxiety, undergone substantial psychotherapy and some reports suggest he had seen a psychiatrist as recently as the month before his father's shooting. 

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Thomas Gilbert Jr makes outbursts in court leading the judge to threaten him with removal

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