The man says he was high on drugs at the time of the killing
Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi announced that a Cinnaminson man who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend and her father was sentenced today in Superior Court to 60 years in New Jersey state prison.
Dennis W. Pozniak, 29, was convicted by a jury in December 2016 for the murders of his girlfriend, Nicole Wilson, 24, and her father Bryan Wilson, 52, inside their home on Washington Street in Mount Holly in late January 2015.
Pozniak, originally from Cinnaminson, was living at the residence at the time. During the seven-week trial, he took the stand and admitted to fatally bludgeoning his victims with a large pipe wrench but said he did not recall taking their lives because he was high on drugs at the time.
During the trial, Burlington County First Assistant Prosecutor Raymond E. Milavsky stated that the murders were fueled by rage because Pozniak’s relationship with Nicole Wilson was ending and he would no longer be welcome to reside in the Wilson family home.
The bodies of Nicole and Bryan Wilson were discovered the next morning by another family member who lived in the house. That family member was one of several who spoke at Friday’s proceeding about the anguish and intense sorrow created by Pozniak’s actions.
Under the sentence handed down by the Hon. Jeanne T. Covert, P.J.Cr., Pozniak’s sentence does not carry the possibility of parole.
“These were horrific crimes that he committed, and he will never again be a free man,” First Assistant Milavsky said following the sentencing. “This is a verdict that justice required.”
The investigation was conducted by detectives from the Mount Holly Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
