Middletown Woman Charged with Teen's Fatal Hit-and-Run Due Back in Court Sept. 6

Middletown, NJ - Toni Marletta, the Leonardo woman accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident that killed 15-year-old Marissa Procopio last summer, is next due back in Monmouth County court the Tuesday after Labor Day, Sept. 6. And she has until that day to decide whether or not she'll take a 7-years-in-prison plea deal, the most lenient offered by the county prosecutor.

The last time she was ordered to appear in court, at her arraignment on June 20, Marletta entered a "not guilty" plea.

At that time, the county prosecutor offered her a plea deal that she still has the option to take: Plead guilty to one count of Knowingly Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident Resulting in Death, and a second count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. She would also plead guilty to additional motor vehicle offenses. In exchange, the county prosecutor would make a recommendation of seven years in state prison.

Marletta has until her scheduled court appearance on Sept. 6 to decide whether or not to accept that plea deal. If she doesn't accept it, the deal expires at the conclusion of that court date, said Charles Webster, a spokesman for the county prosecutor's office.

The prosecutor's office would likely then put forth a second, less lenient deal: Plead guilty to one count of Knowingly Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident Resulting in Death, and four counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. In that case, the prison sentence prosecutors would seek is longer: A total of 14 years in state prison.

If Marletta decides to reject all plea offerings, she's facing a maximum 30 years in prison.

Dusk, July 7, 2015

On the evening of July 7, 2015 police said Marletta struck Marissa as the girl was trying to cross Rt. 36 near Avenue D at dusk.

Marletta, who had three 16-year-old girls in her car at the time, fled the scene, police said. But Middletown police found her car later that evening, parked outside of her Thompson Avenue home in Leonardo. It showed damage consistent with the collision, police said.

Marissa, an honor roll student at Henry Hudson High School in Highlands, died of massive head trauma. Her mother, Danielle, told Patch that she will never forget the phone call she received from Middletown police on the evening of July 7, 2015: Her daughter had been in an accident. She raced to Jersey Shore Medical Center, but Marissa was in a coma, and the girl never woke up. She was taken off life support 24 hours after she was hit.

Marletta is represented by Little Silver-based attorney Peter O'Mara. After her June 20 arraignment, she appeared to burst into tears as her boyfriend drove her away from court.

Top photo: Toni Marletta leaves Monmouth County Criminal Court on June 20, 2016/Patch photo