Victor Panebianco pleads guilty in fatal stabbing of Christopher Millwater near Stony Brook Yacht Club

A North Carolina man will avoid life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend’s former boyfriend outside the Stony Brook Yacht Club last year.

Victor Panebianco, 32, admitted before state Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead on Tuesday to chasing down and stabbing Christopher Millwater, 52, of Selden, as he left the club in the early morning hours on Nov. 10.

Prosecutors will recommend Panebianco serve 25 years in state prison under the agreement. He had faced the possibility of a 25-year-to-life sentence if convicted of second-degree murder.

"You should be kissing the ground [your attorney] walks on," Mazzei told Panebianco before taking his guilty plea. "He convinced me to accept this agreement. I don’t think you deserve it, quite frankly."

Panebianco and his girlfriend, Kacy Corso, 34, of East Setauket, have now both admitted tracking down Millwater as he tried to drive away from the club, where he was known to be a regular, around 3:30 a.m. the day of the killing. Corso drove her Honda Civic into Millwater’s vehicle before Panebianco attacked him, the defendants told the judge.

"Did you jump out of [her] car and run after him while swinging a knife?" Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty asked Panebianco.

"Yes," he responded.

Under the plea agreement, Panebianco admitted traveling with Corso to Long Island in the hours before the attack and stabbing Millwater multiple times with the intent of causing "serious physical injury."

Panebianco said he and the victim had never met.

"Victor has always been extremely remorseful about this incident and has now taken full responsibility for his actions," defense attorney Jonathan Manley, of Hauppauge, said following the hearing. "It’s been his desire from the outset to avoid a difficult trial."

Prosecutors have said Corso was in a long-term romantic relationship with Millwater that ended badly. Before the stabbing both she and Panebianco accused Millwater of harassing her in posts on Facebook.

At Corso’s arraignment in December, Shetty said police-worn body cameras captured Corso saying she was afraid of what she might do to Millwater.

Corso is expected to serve 7 years in state prison under her own manslaughter plea.

Video surveillance showed the couple going to the yacht club and Corso using her car to block Millwater's vehicle in the parking lot while Panebianco ran toward him.

Prosecutors had said Millwater tried to drive away when Corso drove "full force" into his car, sending it spinning through the parking lot.

Prosecutors have said the evidence showed Millwater running from Panebianco while yelling for help before Panebianco straddled him as he stabbed him.

Panebianco and Corso fled the state that morning with license plate readers tracking them across four states to North Carolina, prosecutors have said. Police recovered the vehicle, clothing and a knife.

Corso admitted last month that she fled the state to avoid prosecution. She is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2.

Panebianco’s sentencing will follow on Sept. 22.