NEWTON - A 50-year-old Sussex County man was sentenced Thursday to five years in state prison for killing his onetime Boy Scout leader who he accused of sexually abusing him.

Clark T. Fredericks of Stillwater will get credit for the time he has spent at the Sussex County jail since the incident on June 12, 2012 and will be eligible for release on parole in about nine months, because he must serve 85 percent of the five-year sentence.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley in Newton imposed the minimum sentence for passion/provocation manslaughter, the second-degree crime to which Fredericks had pleaded guilty. He had originally been charged with first-degree murder.

During a more than three-hour sentencing hearing, the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney agreed the evidence was overwhelming that Fredericks had, in fact, been abused as a child by the man he stabbed to death, Dennis Pegg, 68, of Stillwater.

Noting the unique circumstances, Critchley said, "I don't feel like I am sentencing someone who was committed to a criminal lifestyle. What happened to him as a child made him snap."

"It is clear that the young Mr. Fredericks was exploited, abused and damaged by someone who wormed his way into a position of authority," Critchley said.

But the judge stopped short of reducing the charge to a third-degree level and imposing a four-year sentence, as had been requested by defense attorney Daniel Perez, who pointed out, among other things, that Fredericks had been provoked.

Critchley said he had been "tempted" to do that, but he and Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller pointed out that provocation had already been taken into account when the charge was reduced.

Also, they pointed out, killing is not the way to solve problems. In fact, both praised Fredericks for saying that when he addressed the court.

"I don't recommend that anyone follow in my steps," Fredericks said, noting that he never spoke about the abuse until the night of the killing.

"No matter how painful it may seem, I urge everyone to speak out about abuse," and bring perpetrators to justice though the legal system instead, Fredericks said.

Fredericks has said that Pegg, who was also a Sussex County corrections officer, sexually abused him when he was between the ages of 8 and 12. Pegg was a family friend and Fredericks had frequently visited at his house.

Pegg told him to keep the matter a secret and once, he severely beat a dog to show Fredericks what would happen to him if he told anyone, according to Fredericks.

While drinking alcohol and using cocaine with a friend, Robert Reynolds, on June 12, 2012, Fredericks said he told Reynolds about the abuse and Reynolds said "let's go get him."

The two men went to Pegg's home in Stillwater and less than 40 minutes after their conversation, Pegg was dead after having been stabbed 30 times, according to authorities.

Also addressing the court was Frederick's niece, Kimberley Fredericks, who said Fredericks had been "the best uncle and friend in the world. I couldn't ask for a better role model."

"I couldn't figure out how such a great guy could be alone and so angry," until she found out about the abuse, the niece said, urging a light sentence.

Afterwards, Clark Fredericks' mother and sister expressed relief the case was over and praised how it was handled, declining to complain about the sentence not being reduced even more.

"The judge did the best he could based on the evidence," said the defendant's sister, Holly Celiano. She joined her brother in urging sex abuse victims to report the crimes as quickly as possible.

Fredericks' mother, Joan Fredericks, said, "I feel like my prayers have been answered ... When he gets home, the first thing I will say is 'welcome home and what would you like to eat.' "

As for Pegg's family, Mueller, the assistant prosecutor, said his death "was harder on them than I have seen with any other victim."

"Not only did they lose someone they love, they lost a memory," Mueller pointed out, noting he wasn't the person they thought he was and he never got a chance to explain.

Mueller read a statement from Pegg's family which acknowledged there may have been some wrongdoing on Pegg's part, but called Fredericks "a self-appointed judge, jury and executioner."

Instead of properly going through legal channels to address the problem, "You chose to savagely end his life with your unlawful action," Pegg's family said. "Ironically, you asked for justice only after you killed the person you say harmed you."

Mueller urged people not to lose sight of "the horrific nature of this crime."

"Dennis Pegg was home alone, watching ESPN. Then two intruders came in and he was stabbed 30 times," Mueller said.

But, the prosecutor pointed out, psychologists hired by both the state and the defense team came to virtually the same conclusions -- that Fredericks had been abused by Pegg.

Fredericks "very obviously acted under provocation. He was let down by various individuals as he grew up," Mueller said.

"People made complaints against Dennis Pegg 30 or 40 years ago, but there was never a viable prosecution," Mueller said. "People recanted."

In the early 1980s, he said, one case was investigated for two years, but there was "never enough evidence to prosecute."

"We have zero tolerance for child abuse," the prosecutor added. "It doesn't matter if the target is a police officer or a prosecutor, we will prosecute regardless of the position."

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook