ONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT: The case of a man cleared of attempted murder charges but convicted of aggravated assault and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend during rough sex in her North Arlington apartment ended quietly yesterday when a judge in Hackensack sentenced him to the 405 days he spent in jail and a year’s probation.
“Good luck to you,” Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venezia told Thomas Cieslik.
Defense attorney Joe Depa said his client continues to maintain his innocence. However, Depa said: “Your honor, he’s very sorry and he completely agrees with the court’s actions.”
At the time of his arrest Cieslik was a strapping 6-foot-4, 285-pound bouncer and wrestler. Since the end of his trial he has lost nearly 100 pounds, moved in with his parents, brother and sister in Union, and taken a job as a tree surgeon, Depa said.
Venezia rendered the verdicts in early July after a three-day bench trial. Calling the victim a “somewhat vulnerable person,” the judge said there was no doubt that Cieslik threatened to kill her twice.
“She was in immediate fear of death, under the circumstances,” he said.
Thomas Cieslik after the July verdict (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Venezia also cited red marks on her neck from a strap that he said Cieslik pressed against her “severely enough to cause her to almost choke and spit out her tongue” in convicting him of aggravated assault.
“I’m convinced the victim told the truth,” the judge said in announcing the verdicts July 3. “Her throat was on fire. There was redness in the back and neck caused by the actions of the defendant. His purpose was to attempt to purposely or knowingly cause bodily injury to this victim.”
Venezia also acquitted Cieslik of the most serious counts: attempted murder and attempting to cause serious bodily injury.
“I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt [that] his purpose was to cause serious bodily injury,” the judge ruled. “Assault with the belt was to cause bodily injury — not serious bodily injury.
“It’s a heavy-duty charge and I’m not making light of what occurred,” Venezia said, noting that Cieslik never struck the victim, with either an open or closed hand.
However, the evidence “does not meet the standard of an attempted murder charge,” the judge said at the time.
Until that day, Cieslik had been held since his May 2012 arrest, even after his bail was reduced to $300,000 from a half-million dollars. He left the courtroom a free man.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts characterized the split verdict as fair, in light of Cieslik’s apparent change in outlook and attitude. She said she appreciated the diligence that Venezia used in reaching a complex decision.
Depa, however, said: “These were phantom bite marks. There was no breaking the skin. When she was triaged, there were no marks on her legs.”
He also called the woman “a confrontational individual” and said the two had “the prototypical volatile relationship.”
“Typically after making love, she would start a fight,” the lawyer said. This time, “Cieslik had had enough. He was planning to leave.
“The bag was already packed,” Depa told the judge, “and, coincidentally, it belonged to a former boyfriend.”
Knowing he was wanted, Cieslik turned himself in the next day, North Arlington Police Chief Louis Ghione told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter