Jury finds Glenn Terry guilty of plot to kidnap attorney

A former Holtsville man was convicted Thursday of driving a car full of weapons and trying to kidnap his attorney, Suffolk Conservative Party Chairman Frank Tinari, in a bizarre attempt to reopen a settled civil case.

Glenn Terry, 48, showed no emotion as he heard the verdict finding him guilty of second-degree attempted kidnapping and five weapons charges.

Terry faces a maximum of 34 2⁄3 to 44 years in prison when state Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho sentences him Dec. 14 in Central Islip.

Tinari, who testified during the two-week trial but was not present for the verdict, said he was grateful and relieved.

“As an attorney, I have great respect for the judicial process,” he said. “I would like to thank the Suffolk County Police Department and the Suffolk County district attorney’s office for the professional way that they handled the investigation and the prosecution.”

“Justice was done,” Assistant District Attorney Peter Timmons said following the verdict, which came after 13 hours of deliberations over three days.

Jurors heard testimony that Terry planned for more than a year to grab Tinari, duct tape his mouth shut, stash him in his father’s basement in Holtsville and soak him with gasoline. But Terry also told police he didn’t want to hurt Tinari — just scare him into doing the right thing.

Defense attorney Marc Gann of Mineola said he was disappointed by the verdict. He said he plans to argue that Terry deserves some measure of mercy when he is sentenced, in part because of some psychiatric and medical issues.

One of those medical issues — severe burns suffered when Terry fell into a bathtub full of scalding water — is what first brought him together with Tinari. He hired Tinari in 2002 to sue the oil company and contractor that installed his hot water system.

Tinari eventually negotiated a $450,000 settlement in 2008. After a few years — and after spending all the money — Tinari testified that Terry wanted the case reopened and became enraged when Tinari explained there was no way to do that.

Terry moved to Port Charlotte, Florida, in 2014 after he began planning to kidnap Tinari, Timmons told jurors. In Florida, Terry bought a Ruger 9-mm pistol, Taser electronic dart gun, Zap stun gun, Rambo combat knife, pepper spray, handcuffs and other kidnapping tools.

Timmons said Terry sold his Florida house and drove back to Long Island. The day after he arrived, March 27, 2015, he went to Tinari’s Central Islip office and laid in wait for him near the front entrance. But Tinari had arrived at work before Terry showed up, and came in the back entrance.

He was on his way back for a second attempt when police pulled him over for a traffic offense and spotted a Taser cartridge in the car.

Gann said in his closing argument that merely going to Tinari’s office did not amount to a kidnapping attempt.

Jurors apparently struggled with that issue during deliberation, asking Camacho several times for guidance on how to discern what Terry’s intent was when he drove to Tinari’s office with the weapons.

Camacho responded by instructing jurors on the legal definitions of intent and attempt to commit kidnapping.