Lesnik sentenced in murder case

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

“You can look at me, or you can be a coward,” Carla Craig, mother of murder victim Marshall Craig said to the man who killed her child.

Dylan Lesnik, 29, who had minutes earlier pleaded guilty to the first-degree premeditated murder, chose to continue looking down toward his lap.

Carla Craig didn’t let her voice waiver at all while she delivered a powerful, emotional victim impact statement during Lesnik’s sentencing Monday in front of Washington County Judge John DiSalle.

In December, Lesnik attempted to kill his then-girlfriend Cassie King, who was pregnant, and then fled his Spring Street home with an alleged accomplice, Troy Chiera, 34, of Brownsville. Days later, he returned to the apartment building and stabbed 27-year-old Marshall Craig to death.

Lesnik admitted in court that Marshall Craig’s murder was planned and intentional and that he intended for King to die when he attacked her with a knife, severing an artery in her neck. Lesnik faced the death penalty if the homicide case went to trial because he tortured Marshall Craig, stabbing him multiple times and continuing to stab him after his death.

To avoid the death penalty, Lesnik decided to plead guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for Marshall Craig’s death. Lesnik also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to another 20-40 years in prison for the attempted homicide of King. The sentences are to run consecutively.

First Assistant District Attorney Jason Walsh said the plea deals were made with the blessing the Craig family as well as with King’s approval.

When Lesnik refused to look at her, Carla Craig continued.

“For 27 years and 59 days I was his mother until you took him from me,” she said, punctuating every word with anger in her voice, staring at Lesnik the entire time.

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