Hauppauge man admits to samurai sword slay

On the verge of jury selection for his second trial, a Hauppauge man instead admitted Monday that he killed his stepfather by nearly slicing off his head with a samurai sword.

In the course of pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter, Zachary Gibian described in a soft voice what happened during questioning by Assistant District Attorney John Scott Prudenti.

Gibian, now 23, said he'd returned home the morning of Feb. 27, 2005, and found his mother, Laura Nager, in tears after yet another of her frequent arguments with her husband, Scott Nager, who was asleep on the couch.

"My mother went upstairs," said Gibian, as defense attorney William Keahon put a hand on his right shoulder. "I snapped. I went into the garage and got a sword, and I hit him two times."

"And after you hit him two times, what happened?" Prudenti asked.

"He died," Gibian replied.

In return for the plea, Suffolk County Court Judge James Hudson agreed to sentence him to 25 years in prison on May 16. With time already served and time off for good behavior, Gibian could be free in less than 16 years.

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The plea averted a second murder trial for Gibian, which promised to be as lurid as the first. In that trial, Gibian blamed his mother for the crime and his defense painted Scott Nager as an emotionally abusive collector of Nazi memorabilia who also molested Gibian.

Monday, Gibian specified there was no sexual abuse.

An appellate court threw out his 2006 murder conviction, ruling that Gibian should have been allowed to testify that his mother admitted the killing to him and that State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle should not have curtailed Keahon's closing argument.

Laura Nager, who now lives in Arkansas, declined to comment Monday.

District Attorney Thomas Spota said the plea and sentence were appropriate, although he pointedly criticized the Appellate Division in Brooklyn for accepting "the lie that his mother killed his stepfather."

Keahon said his client took the plea offer because with time off for good behavior he could have "a chance at a real life" with his family when he gets out of prison at age 39. If he were convicted of murder again, he likely would have been in prison for another 40 years before being paroled, Keahon said.

"In essence, he saved 20 years," Keahon said.