BRENTWOOD – Joseph Todd Gamester will remain in prison to serve out his 12- to 24-year sentence for the stabbing death of a Rye man outside a Portsmouth bar in October 1999, a judge ruled yesterday.

Gamester, 41, formerly of Newmarket, came to Rockingham County Superior Court last week asking to be released from his sentence after having served eight years in state prison for manslaughter.

Judge Kenneth McHugh denied the request, saying Gamester continues to show a lack of remorse for stabbing Anthony Record in the chest, piercing his heart with an 8-inch fishing knife.

GAMESTER

"He describes himself as simply being an innocent bystander that unfortunately was near the victim when 'he exploded,'" McHugh wrote.

Gamester and Record had tussled outside the Old Bridge Cafe in the early morning hours of Oct. 15, 1999, before Gamester went to his truck and retrieved a knife and killed him.

McHugh wrote that Gamester will not only need to serve his 12-year minimum, but also is now required to take a victim impact course if he wants to be considered for parole in 2013.

At a hearing last week, Record's family and prosecutors focused on Gamester's lack of remorse during his 2001 trial and how he tried to lay blame on the deadly confrontation with the victim in the case.

Assistant Attorney General Lucy Carrillo also said Gamester has not been a model inmate, as he claimed. While incarcerated, he tested positive once for cannabis, she said.

Gamester went on trial for two counts of second-degree murder in 2001, but a jury found him guilty of reckless manslaughter.

McHugh decided that Gamester's actions even before his arrest showed that he had no remorse for the killing.

After stabbing Record, Gamester was pulled over by a state trooper for speeding a short time later.

But Gamester made up an excuse for having blood on him before the trooper let him go.

"Although he had an encounter with a police officer shortly after the murder, the defendant made no mention of the incident," McHugh wrote. "In fact, he never went to the police; rather, the police found him."

Even when Gamester was sentenced, McHugh added, he continued to blame Record for being prosecuted.

"The focus was on him as opposed to what he had done," McHugh wrote.