Guilty plea - again - in Mastic slay, rape

Less than two months after his guilty plea to a 2008 murder and rape in Mastic was overturned by a state appeals court, a Port Jefferson Station man Tuesday admitted for the second time that he stabbed a North Carolina correction officer to death and sexually assaulted a female acquaintance.

Tomas Peck, 28, is expected to be sentenced a second time next month to serve 25 years to life in prison for the death of Tyrone Terry, 21, of Henderson, N.C., on Feb. 10, 2008.

Peck had pleaded guilty two years ago to second-degree murder in Terry's death and to first-degree rape for assaulting Terry's girlfriend, who had been present when Terry was killed at the woman's Mastic home.

A state appeals court in November threw out Peck's guilty pleas. The appeals panel ruled that State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle had failed to tell Peck when he pleaded guilty that Peck would be on parole if and when he is released from prison.

Peck's attorney, Eric Naiburg of Hauppauge, said Tuesday the appeal court's unusual rationale for tossing Peck's earlier plea was the "stupidest thing" he'd ever heard of in court.

Tuesday, Doyle instructed Peck that he would be on parole if he leaves prison.

Just to make sure the plea would stick, "I . . . made the judge say it again," Assistant District Attorney James Chalifoux said.

Peck Tuesday entered the same plea he'd made in 2009: guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree rape and other charges. His formal sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 17.

Prosecutors had said Peck entered the woman's home, using a key he had obtained earlier. He stabbed Terry after finding him sleeping at the home of the woman, whom Peck had met at his job at a retail store.

After repeatedly stabbing Terry, Peck raped the woman twice, prosecutors said.