FREEHOLD — In what a Superior Court judge called a bizarre case of blind love, an Ocean Township man and his daughter were sentenced today to lengthy prison terms for killing her former husband.

At the same time, the woman’s mother was handed a seven-year prison sentence for plotting to kill the dead man’s mother.

Appearing frail in his gray jail-issued jump suit, Thomas Dorsett, 66, went on a rambling 30-minute stroll down memory lane. He talked about his “perfect” life with his wife, Lesley, and their daughter, Kathleen. In May, all three admitted roles in killing Kathleen’s ex-husband, Stephen Moore, or planning to have a hit man kill his mother, Evlyn Moore.

Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr., sitting in Freehold, sentenced Kathleen Dorsett, whom he called the “manipulator” of the family, to 58 years in prison for luring her ex-husband to the side of her Ocean Township house where her father was waiting to attack him. The sentence also included a consecutive term for helping her father put Moore’s body in the trunk of his mother’s car, which her father later torched.

Mellaci imposed a 45-year prison term on Thomas Dorsett for bludgeoning Moore, 42, of Manchester, on Aug. 16, 2010, and putting his body in the trunk of Evlyn Moore’s car before setting it ablaze in Long Branch two days later.

Lesley Dorsett, 68, was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiring to have Evyln Moore killed — at Kathleen Dorsett’s urging — so she could not testify against them or take custody of Kathleen Dorsett’s then 20-month-old daughter.

Authorities have said the Dorsetts killed Moore because they wanted him out of the child’s life.

“His overwhelming love for his daughter caused him to be manipulated by her. She was the moving force,” Mellaci said, in describing Thomas Dorsett’s “blind love.”

He said later, “Mr. Dorsett may have swung the murder weapon, but through her manipulation, Kathleen Dorsett put the idea and the weapon in his hands.”

Thomas Dorsett’s attorney, Steven Nelson, described his client as “the role model … for middle-class American men,” because he was a hard worker, started his own heating and refrigeration business and was active in his church and his children’s upbringing.

“It was inexplicable to anyone and everyone who knew him that this could have happened, where his head was,” Nelson told Mellaci. “He had the perfect life.”

In his rambling address, Thomas Dorsett described his wife as “perfect” many times and used the same word repeatedly to describe his children and his life.

He made only passing references to Stephen Moore, who he said was “a nice guy” whom he helped get a job at one of his supply houses.

He said he wished Stephen Moore never “walked out” or that Moore and Kathleen Dorsett “never got a divorce.”

He concluded by apologizing to his wife and daughter and proclaiming his love for them.

Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Marc LeMieux jumped on that, saying "How about 'I'm sorry for Stephen?' "

Kathleen Dorsett entered the courtroom smiling. When it came time for her to address the judge, she looked into the cameras to tell her daughter how much she loves her.

She said she wishes she had tried to make her marriage work.

“I’m so deeply sorry for all the pain I have caused Stephen’s family and my own,” she said through tears.

But Mellaci called them “crocodile tears” and called her “a narcissistic individual.”

“She used her parents’ love and devotion for her to manipulate them into actions which were totally out of character for them,” he said, calling the case “truly an American family tragedy.”

Lesley Dorsett apologized to Evlyn Moore, who sat in the front row.

“I’m truly sorry for Stephen’s death,” she told his mother. “Nothing can be worse than losing a child.”

LeMieux read Evlyn Moore’s statement to the judge. She called her son a “kind man” and a “devoted father” who loved his daughter.

“He went to his grave because of that love,” she said.

RELATED COVERAGE

• MORE PHOTOS: Dorsett family members sentenced in Ocean Township murder

• Appeals court refuses to disqualify attorney of Ocean Twp. man accused of killing former son-in-law

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