New Charges Delay Jury Selection In Trial On Brick Man's Murder

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Monmouth County couple accused of murdering a Brick Township man for money and marijuana is facing a host of additional charges following an indictment issued by a Monmouth County grand jury this week, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

And that new indictment drew sharp criticisms from the defense attorneys for Raquel Garajau, 20, and Joseph Villani, 21, who are accused of killing Trupal Patel, 29, of Brick Township in February to rob him of marijuana and cash.

Garajau, of Tinton Falls, who had been an honor student at Brookdale Community College, and Villani, of Ocean Township, were indicted in May on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in the death of Patel, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni has said.

They are accused of killing Patel in the garage of Villani's Ocean Township home and then dumping his body. Patel's body was found Feb. 22 on the downslope of a hill in Shark River Park by a Monmouth County park ranger who was picking up litter in the area, Gramiccioni has said.

On Monday, a superceding indictiment issued by the grand jury included the following additional charges:

• first-degree conspiracy to commit murder
• second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery
• third-degree conspiracy to commit theft of marijuana
• third-degree theft of marijuana
• third-degree conspiracy to commit theft of cash and/or a Movado watch
• third-degree theft of cash and/or a Movado watch
• second-degree conspiracy to possess a weapon for an unlawful purpose
• second-degree conspiracy to disturb human remains
• second degree-disturbing human remains
• third-degree distribution of marijuana
• four counts of fourth-degree tampering with physical evidence
• one count of third-degree hindering the apprehension of themselves
• counts of fourth-degree hindering the apprehension of each other,
• and two counts of witness tampering.

A charge of unlawful possession of a weapon was removed from the indictment, but the superceding indictment includes sentencing enhancers on several of the counts, accusing Villani and Garajau of committing the crimes while in possession of or using an assault weapon. The full indictment document also includes an aggravating factor alleging Villani killed Trupal during the commission of another crime, which would become a factor at sentencing if Villani is convicted.

According to an NJ.com report, Robert Honecker Jr., who is representing Garajau, and Elyse Schindel, the attorney for Villani, ripped prosecutors for seeking a new indictment two days before jury selection was to begin in the case. The defense attorneys and the prosecutor's office have been wrangling before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Thomas Scully for weeks over evidence in the case, including a slew of text messages prosecutors say demonstrate a conspiracy between the couple, according to an Asbury Park Press report.

The NJ.com report quoted Honecker as calling the new indictment a case of "prosecutorial vindictiveness" and manipulative. Schindel accused the prosecutor's office of trying to circumvent New Jersey's pretrial detention rules.

Jury selection was postponed until next week, according to the NJ.com report.

Read more about that here.

Trupal Patel, photo provided by Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office