Eric Carter was sentenced for lighting his home on fire and slashing the face of his fiancee's son with a knife
TRENTON - Three years of time have faded the knife scars that crossed the cheeks of Eric Carter's soon-to-be-stepson.
But they've done little to erase the memory of the night he got the wounds.
"There was no reasoning with Eric," the son said Thursday, addressing the courtroom at Carter's sentencing.
He's an adult now but was only 16-years-old the night Carter - his mother's fiance - lit their home on fire and slashed him with a knife. Prosecutors only refer to him as D.C. in interviews.
"(Carter) took away my happiness and attempted to take away my life," D.C. told Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta before returning to his seat in sobs.
D.C. was only one of four people who spoke at Carter's sentencing Thursday - including Carter's biological son who called his father a good man - before Pereksta sentenced Carter to three concurrent 10-year prison terms.
The sentence was part of a plea deal that Carter took in April when he admitted to coming home to his Trenton house from a club with his fiancee in November 2013 and getting into an argument.
Carter said he grabbed a bottle of Tiki torch oil and threw it over his fiancee before threatening to kill her and her two children who were asleep upstairs.
His fiancee escaped while Carter searched for a lighter. When he found one, he dashed the oil around the kitchen, living room and stairs before setting the place on fire.
Then, Carter said in April, he grabbed a knife and went to search for his fiancee's then-16-year-old son.
Man lights house ablaze with children inside
D.C. said he awoke to find Carter attacking his face with the knife. He tried to plead with Carter to no avail, D.C. said.
Carter has said he gabbed his 7-year-old daughter, who had also been asleep at the time and dangled her off the edge of the roof before firefighters rescued her. He then kicked a ladder away from the burning house and went inside where he collapsed, unconscious.
Carter was saved and later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, aggravated arson and endangering the welfare of the children.
D.C. and his mother were both saved, but the memory haunts the teen years later.
His grandmother, who also spoke at the sentencing, said her grandson can't sleep most nights.
"This whole situation has changed (D.C.) a lot... I just want him to feel safe."
But Carter's adult son, who spoke on his father's behalf Thursday, said Carter is not a bad man - something happened to him that night. Carter has claimed he was drugged at the club.
"He was controlled by something ingested into his system," Carter's son, Shaquan Harron said Thursday.
"That man was not my father... That was a monster."
Harron went on to call his father a lovable role model who continues to give him guidance from prison.
"No matter what situation he's in, he remains positive," Harron said.
Carter's public defender, Joseph Kracora, echoed Harron's words Thursday, saying that his client was not known as a violent man.
"Everybody seems to agree that this came out of nowhere," Kracora said.
Carter will have to spend at least eight and a half years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman