A retired Los Angeles police officer who ran a Christmas tree farm in Pleasant Valley, New York, will spend the next 20 years in state prison for gunning down his girlfriend's 20-year-old son in the family's driveway. Thomas Case, 54, was sentenced in Dutchess County Court after a jury convicted him of first-degree manslaughter in the October 2024 shooting death of Anthony Cuozzo.
The case had drawn scrutiny in the Hudson Valley since Cuozzo's death, and it reached a jury this past spring after an extensive homicide investigation by the New York State Police. As reported by NEWS10 ABC, jurors determined that Case intentionally shot Cuozzo multiple times on October 5, 2024, at the Bilmar Nursery property on Rawls Road, where Case lived and operated his business. According to Mid Hudson News, Cuozzo was the son of Case's girlfriend, Sara Cooper, who was present at the residence the night of the shooting.
A Stabbing, a Chase Down the Driveway
Trial evidence showed the fatal encounter began with a physical confrontation in which Cuozzo stabbed Case in the chest with a pocketknife, according to the same Mid Hudson News account of the trial. Case then pursued Cuozzo down the driveway and fired at least four shots, striking him three times in the back. The station reported that audio from a 911 call Cuozzo was making at the time captured the gunshots as he tried to retreat from the property.
Jurors spent six days deliberating after hearing five and a half days of testimony before reaching their verdict on September 3, per NEWS10 ABC. Ultimately, they found that Case acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance — a determination that reshaped the entire case against him.
How a Murder Charge Became Manslaughter
Under New York Penal Law § 125.20(2), proving that an intentional killing occurred under extreme emotional disturbance functions as an affirmative defense that reduces a second-degree murder charge to first-degree manslaughter, according to FindLaw. That distinction carries enormous weight: second-degree murder can bring a life sentence, while first-degree manslaughter caps out at 25 years.
Case had not always faced the lesser charge. A Dutchess County grand jury originally indicted him in January 2025 on second-degree murder along with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Hudson Valley Post, which reported Case was held without bail at the Dutchess County Jail following his arraignment. First-degree manslaughter is classified as a Class B violent felony in New York, meaning judges must impose a determinate prison term of 5 to 25 years with no eligibility for probation, per the Marwaha Law Group.
A Near-Maximum Sentence
Judge Karen Edelman-Reyes sentenced Case to 20 years in prison plus five years of post-release supervision, landing just five years short of the maximum allowed under the statute. Senior Assistant District Attorneys Joseph Gruner and Anthony DeFazio prosecuted the case under Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi, whose office announced the conviction in May.
Parisi said the sentence holds Case accountable for taking Cuozzo's life, according to NEWS10 ABC's report on the sentencing. “No sentence can restore what was taken from Anthony Cuozzo's family,” Parisi said, adding that the family has endured an unimaginable loss and that the outcome may provide some measure of justice and finality.
Remembering Anthony Cuozzo
Cuozzo was a lifelong area resident who graduated from Arlington High School and went on to earn a degree from the School of Audio Engineering in Manhattan, pursuing a career as a sound engineer, according to his obituary published by McHoul Funeral Home. He was 20 years old when he died.
