Hearing For Paul Caneiro Postponed Until Friday

COLTS NECK, NJ — Paul Caneiro, the man accused of setting his own Ocean Twp. house on fire with his wife and daughters inside, was due for his first court appearance this Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 9 a.m.

However, that has now been postponed at his lawyer's request, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor.

Caneiro's defense lawyer, Bob Honecker, requested that his first court appearance be pushed back to this Friday, Nov. 30, again at 9 a.m., at the Monmouth County courthouse in Freehold. He will appear before Judge James J. McGann.

“We were prepared to be in court tomorrow," said Chris Swendeman, a spokesman for the Monmouth County prosecutor.

"We were presented with new evidence from the prosecution on Tuesday afternoon, and we want more time to review it," said Honecker. He refused to divulge what that new evidence was.

Honecker used to be an assistant prosecutor for Monmouth County; he's now a private defense attorney. He did not immediately return Patch's call Tuesday afternoon asking why it was delayed.

Friday will be Caneiro's detention hearing, at which point the judge will decide if he can go free or if he will remain in jail until his trial starts. The prosecutor wants him kept in jail; Honecker has reportedly said he will ask that Caneiro be allowed free. He even told Patch earlier this week that he will be asking his wife and daughters to testify on their father's behalf at the hearing — even though they were in the house when police say Caneiro set the fire.

"His family thinks he saved them," maintains his lawyer. "They will speak to how he woke them up and got them out of the house."

Caneiro is accused of starting the fire at his Tilton Drive home at 5 a.m. last Tuesday, Nov. 20. He is charged with aggravated arson. There have still been no charges filed in the murder of his brother's entire family, Keith, Jennifer, Jesse and Sophia Caneiro, and the arson of their Colts Neck mansion. That fire broke out the same day, Nov. 20, at 12:30 p.m. The family of four was murdered some time before the fire started, county prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni said.

Photo of Paul Caneiro released by the Monmouth County jail.