COLTS NECK, NJ — The New Jersey man convicted of murdering his brother and his brother’s family before setting their Colts Neck home on fire in 2018 will not get a new trial, a judge ruled on Thursday.
Paul Caneiro, 59, of Ocean Township, was convicted on all counts in February after he was accused of murdering his brother, Keith, Keith's wife, Jennifer, and their children, Jesse and Sophia, in their Colts Neck home in November 2018 before setting it on fire.
Shortly after Caneiro’s conviction, his defense attorneys, Monika Mastellone and Andy Murray, filed a motion for a new trial.
In a brief supporting their motion, Mastellone and Murray argued that the judge involved in Caneiro’s trial, Marc C. Lemieux, “denigrated” them both in and out of the jury’s presence, which ultimately denied him the chance at a fair trial.
But in a reply brief filed on April 6, prosecutors say this isn’t the case and argued that Caneiro did receive a fair trial before an impartial judge and unprejudiced jury.
“During the course of the trial, the Court had to rule on numerous objections made by both the State and the defense. In so doing, the Court at times ruled in favor of the defense and at other times in favor of the State,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Decker and Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Wallace wrote. “The vast majority of the Court’s comments regarding these objections took place at sidebar, outside the hearing of the jury.”
“Neither the Court’s conduct at sidebar, nor the Court’s conduct or comments in the presence of the jury, were prejudicial to the defense. The Court’s comments to defense counsel were neither denigrating nor hostile,” the reply continued. “Rather, the Court’s comments were focused on ensuring that the case was tried in an expeditious manner, that the jury understood the evidence, and that the Rules of Evidence were followed by the parties.”
In a written opinion filed on Thursday, Lemieux sided with the state and said that the court “does not find that its conduct was denigrating or prejudicial to the defense.”
“To the contrary, the record reflects that the court’s interventions were consistently responsive to specific and identifiable failures by Ms. Mastellone to adhere to the court’s rulings and New Jersey’s Rules of Evidence,” Lemieux wrote. “During trial, Ms. Mastellone advocated zealously but repeatedly failed to comply with the court's instruction, mischaracterized witness testimony in questions posed, and persisted in lines of inquiry after objections had been sustained and explained.”
“Indeed, it was Ms. Mastellone’s non-compliance that necessitated the court’s repeated intervention to maintain the orderly conduct of the trial and to ensure that the presentation of evidence remained within the limits established by law, not judicial hostility or bias.”
Overall, Lemieux ruled that “a new trial based on an alleged denigration of defense counsel before the jury is not warranted.”
“Throughout the trial, the court relied on the New Jersey Rules of Evidence and its inherent authority to manage its courtroom,” he wrote. “Judicial intervention occurred when defense counsel did not adhere to the court’s rulings, and each intervention was grounded in specific and correct evidentiary authority. Defendant received a fair trial.”
Caneiro was denied a new trial after being convicted on all counts on Feb. 13 in connection with the deaths of his brother, Keith, Keith’s wife, Jennifer, and their children, Jesse and Sophia, in November 2018.
On Nov. 20, 2018, the family was found dead at their home in Colts Neck, following a fire that broke out at the house.
The fire at Keith’s home was discovered a few hours after two fires started at Paul Caneiro’s home in Ocean Township. Paul Caneiro, his wife, and their two daughters escaped uninjured.
When authorities arrived at Keith Caneiro’s home, they found him shot to death on the front lawn.
A day after the fire broke out at Keith Caneiro’s home in Colts Neck, Paul Caneiro was arrested and accused of setting his own home on fire.
He was then charged with four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder, in connection with the deaths of his brother and his brother’s family.
In July 2019, he was also indicted on a charge of insurance fraud, as prosecutors said Caneiro stole $78,000 from his and Keith’s businesses over the course of two years.
Prosecutors argued that Paul Caneiro killed Keith, Jennifer and the children in part because of the theft from the business.
They also alleged that Paul stood to inherit half of a $3 million life insurance policy that was only payable if Keith’s entire family died.
The defense tried to point suspicion at the third brother, Corey, repeatedly during the trial, but the jury apparently rejected that, coming to a guilty verdict after less than six hours of deliberation.
Now that Caneiro has been denied a new trial, he faces sentencing on Tuesday, May 19, where he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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