By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Tue, May 13 2008 HAMILTON — A former Gloucester man has been found guilty of attempted murder in the choking of a Hamilton woman with a necktie last June. A Newburyport Superior Court jury found John Carey guilty of four of the five charges against him, including home invasion, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — the necktie prosecutors said he used to choke the victim, Rosemary Diskin. The jury cleared Carey of one count of assault and battery. He could face more than 50 years in prison when he is sentenced today by Judge Richard Welch. In convicting Carey, 48, who now lives in Braintree, the jury rejected his claim that he went to Diskin's home for a sexual liaison, and instead agreed with prosecutor Kim Faitella that Carey was there to act out his "ultimate sexual fantasy." That fantasy, Faitella said, involved strangling a woman — something depicted in hundreds of images found on his computer. Carey admitted on the witness stand that he is aroused by the practice of asphyxiation during sexual intercourse. Carey and Diskin, 56, were former neighbors and acquaintances, but Diskin was adamant that she and Carey were not having a relationship, as Carey had claimed. She said that Carey showed up at her Appaloosa Way home late on the night of June 6, claiming to have plans with her husband, who was not home. That's something Carey knew before he arrived because he had just called Tim Diskin, authorities said. When Carey arrived, she said, they had a brief conversation — and then he pulled out a cord and put it around her neck. As the two struggled, she testified, her son heard the commotion and came downstairs. She said she yelled to the boy to get a knife and stab Carey. The boy tried, but the knife broke. Carey then fled. Diskin ran to her neighbor's home, while her son ran to a friend's home. Carey showed up at the Hamilton police department the following morning, where he insisted that he and Diskin had been engaging in consensual activity. Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours over two days before reaching their verdict late yesterday afternoon. Carey, who graduated from Gloucester High School in 1977, has been held without bail since his arrest last June.
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