Man Accused Of Strangling Sarah Stern Pleads Not Guilty In Court

FREEHOLD – Liam McAtasney's attorney said there is little chance that his client - accused of killing Sarah Stern - will be able to avoid going to trial, according to a report in app.com.

"I don't think anything can be worked out in this case because he still maintains he did nothing wrong,''defense attorney Charles Moriarty said.

Moriarty entered the not guilty plea to murder and six other charges on McAtasney's behalf before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English.

McAtasney is accused of robbing and strangling Stern, a former classmate at Neptune High School, and enlisting his roommate Preston Taylor to help him throw her body off the Belmar Bridge.

Meghan Doyle, an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, said the only plea offer extended to McAtasney at this time is for him to plead guilty to all seven crimes he is charged with in exchange for a recommendation that he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Doyle has said that McAtasney plotted Stern's execution for at least six months. He later telephoned friend Preston Taylor, said he was going to murder Stern and then asked Taylor to go to Stern's house and move her body.

McAtasney, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree desecration of human remains and second-degree hindering.

He previously gave a description of the killing to a friend, who secretly videotaped a meeting between the two in which McAtsney gave a chilling description of Stern's murder at his hands.

So he watched her die as he strangled her in her family's home. He watched her for half an hour until he was sure, according to a report by nj.com.

At one point in the tape, McAtasney says he actually lifted Stern with such force that he lifted her off the ground.

Suspect Taylor, 19, of Neptune pleaded guilty earlier this month to seven charges - robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, disturbing or desecrating human remains and two counts each of hindering and tampering with evidence - for his part in Stern's murder.

Taylor also agreed to testify against McAtasney, who stands accused of murdering Stern to steal $10,000 that he split with Taylor.

Authorities have said that after Stern was murdered, the two men threw her body into the Shark River off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar. Despite massive searches, her body has not been recovered. Stern disappeared on Dec. 2.

An initial conference in the case has been scheduled for July 10.

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Image: Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office