Trial in Murder for Hire Plot Begins
FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY – Opening statements in the trial of State vs Jay R. Goldberg, 64, of Little Egg Harbor, are scheduled to begin in Monmouth County Superior Court on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at 9 a.m. before the Honorable Francis J. Vernoia, P.J.Cr.
Goldberg is on trial for the attempted murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of Supervising Ocean County Prosecutor Steven N. Cucci. Mr. Cucci retired from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in January of 2014. Goldberg plotted Mr. Cucci’s murder from the Ocean County Jail in May and June of 2012 while awaiting sentencing where he faced a potential 50-year period of incarceration in New Jersey State Prison for the Aggravated Manslaughter of Sarkis Shahinian and related drug charges.
The trial is being prosecuted by Executive Assistant Prosecutor Michel A. Paulhus and Assistant Prosecutor Jamie L. Schron. Detective Brian Haggerty, of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, is the lead investigator.
On April 22, 2009, Goldberg fired five shots with his .45 caliber Glock handgun and killed his neighbor, Shahinian, in Goldberg’s home. Goldberg and Shahinian’s girlfriend, Cathy Blair, had been maintaining twin marijuana production facilities in the basements of their respective Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey homes.
In March of 2012, Assistant Prosecutors Cucci and Schron prosecuted Goldberg’s trial before the Honorable James M. Blaney, J.S.C. Despite Goldberg’s claim of self-defense, a jury found defendant guilty of Aggravated Manslaughter, a first degree crime and Maintaining a Controlled Dangerous Substance Facility, another first degree crime and other related crimes. Goldberg was found guilty by a jury in that case on March 16, 2012.
On May 30, 2012, Mr. Cucci received a letter from an inmate housed with Goldberg in the Ocean County Jail whom Goldberg had solicited to have Mr. Cucci killed prior to Goldberg’s sentencing.
During the first week of June 2012, an undercover detective from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office recorded incriminating conversations with Goldberg.
On June 29, 2012, Judge Blaney sentenced Goldberg to 20 years in New Jersey State Prison on the Aggravated Manslaughter count, and 10 years in New Jersey State Prison on the Production Facility charge, each count to run concurrently. Goldberg is presently serving that sentence in South Woods State Prison.
Goldberg is represented by First Assistant Deputy Public Defender Van W. Lane, of the Monmouth County Public Defender’s Office.
The media and public are reminded that criminal charges are merely accusations and that these defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
JAY R. GOLDBERG
Photo courtesy NJ DOC