DiGilio Case Goes to the Jury

The vehicular homicide and assault case against Brick resident Anthony DiGilio is now in the hands of a jury.

Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Hillary Bryce delivered an approximately two hour-long summation of the state's case Monday morning, wrapping up closing arguments that began Friday with defense attorney Joseph Tacopina delivering his own nearly five hour-long summation.

Bryce used her summation to try to convince jurors that DiGilio, now 33, was operating his boat recklessly and that his recklessness caused the death of 49-year-old Robert Post of Essex Fells, who was at the helm of a 17-foot Boston Whaler that collided with DiGilio's 27-foot Imperial performance boat.

"There was no way for Bob Post or anyone on that Boston Whaler to see Anthony DiGilio coming," said Bryce. "He was out there, going way too fast, and ran over that boat."

Bryce characterized DiGilio's actions as "senseless and reckless," and reiterated the state's contention that DiGilio was not only travelling too fast for the conditions at the time of the late-night accident, but also did not have his boat's bow lights turned on.

"I submit to you he was going way too fast, and I submit to you he did not have his bow  light on," said Bryce.

Bryce disputed a claim made by the defense that a prosecution witness, Jack Neary, saw DiGilio's boat console lights on and, thus, his bow lights had to be on as well since all of the boat's lights run from a single switch.

"The bow light was in the down position because it did not have damage consistent with it being up," said Bryce.

The Imperial is unique in that its bow lights must be manually lifted up – effectively, the lights would not be visible even if they were turned on if the flap exposing them was not in the up position.

"There is no evidence of the red or green light going on in the Imperial vessel that night," said Bryce.

On Friday, Tacopina showed a video from a security camera at the Fisherman's Supply bait shop in Point Pleasant Beach that showed a boat he said was DiGilio's motoring down the channel beside the Wharfside Patio Bar – where DiGilio was the night of the accident – with both its bow and stern lights illuminated.

Bryce ended her summation by zeroing in on the fact that DiGilio left the scene of the fatal accident, then put his boat on a lift and eventually took it out of the water. The defense has claimed DiGilio believed he hit an object such as a log or buoy. The defense has also claimed that DiGilio's boat was cut off by the Whaler.

"A boat cut you off, but you don't even know you hit a boat?" asked Bryce. "Which is it? What makes sense?"

Bryce also brought up Post's possession of a captain's license, a document significantly more difficult to obtain than a standard boating safety certificate, as proof that he was a skilled boater.

Hodgson Instructs the Jury

Judge Francis Hodgson spent about 30 minutes instructing jurors – eight men and four women – on the law regarding the case.

"In this world we know very few things with absolutely certainty," he said, though the prosecution still must have proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt in order to find DiGilio guilty.

Hodgson instructed jurors against using the fact that DiGilio did not testify in his own defense as an indication of guilt.

"That fact should not enter in your deliberations or discussions," he said.

Jurors, he said, should disregard one of Bryce's statements in her summation where she said DiGilio "liked to go fast."

The fact that DiGilio left the scene of the accident should only be used against him if it is found by the jury that he did so to seek "refuge and flight for the purpose of evading apprehension or arrest," not if he left simply because he did not know he struck another boat.

The judge also told jurors that under the law, the definition of recklessness is a "gross deviation from the standard of conduct a reasonable person would observe," and "a defendant cannot be found criminally culpable" of vehicular homicide in a case "where he was only negligent."

DiGilio faces more than 10 years in prison if convicted on the vehicular homicide charge and two charges of assault by vessel.