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Ulster County resident Gregory Thayer, age 50, of the town of Ulster was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 25 to 25 years for manslaughter and 15 years for criminal possession of a weapon.
Both sentences will run concurrently, said the Ulster County District Attorney's Office.
He was convicted in May of killing Bruce Swierc of California and Rhinebeck in Dutchess County.
A murder charge against Thayer was reduced to manslaughter due to extreme emotional disturbance due to the fact that Swierc was “talking trash” and “making f----d up comments”; so he went upstairs to his bedroom, got a gun, returned downstairs to the kitchen and shot Bruce in the back of the head while he was sitting at the kitchen table, the DA's Office said.
After shooting Bruce in the back of his head, Thayer called his sister, Stephanie Thayer, instead of 911 or the police; removed the bullets from the gun, took pictures of the victim with his phone, etc., court documents show.
Swierc grew up locally but was living in California with his wife and children. He came to console his mother, a Rhinebeck resident, who had recently lost her long-term partner.
He had planned to spend a few days more to see relatives and Thayer with whom he had been close since childhood, before returning to his wife and kids in California. He was 48 years old.
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