Morris Teacher Who Shot Ex-Cop Boyfriend To Death Will Be Resentenced

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A former Morris County teacher who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing her boyfriend in 2021, has been ordered a new sentencing hearing due to judge errors, a New Jersey appellate court ruled.

This month, a three-judge panel overturned Virginia Vertetis's 20-year sentence, ruling that it was "not consistent with the Code of Criminal Justice."

Vertetis, 61, was first convicted in 2017 of the murder of retired NYPD officer Patrick Gilhuley during a trial in which her attorneys argued she acted in self-defense. The state claimed Vertetis killed him out of jealousy because he dated several women.

It went on to say that she acted out of rage because her attempts to keep their relationship going through sex and threats had failed. Vertetis initially received a 30-year prison sentence.

However, in 2020, the appeals court determined that jurors were misled about the state's self-defense laws, and she was granted a new trial, in which she pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.

• Read more: NJ Ex-Teacher Gets 20 Years For Killing Retired-Cop Boyfriend

During her plea, the former Mount Olive resident admitted to taking a handgun from beneath her mattress during an argument with Gilhuley and shooting at him six times down a stairwell. According to court records, she admitted that she did not act in self-defense and that her actions were reckless.

The shooting took place on March 3, 2014, on Apollo Way in the Flanders section of town.

According to the panel, the judge imposed the 20-year sentence based on an assessment of risk aggravating factors presented during the original case, including a pattern of domestic abuse Vertetis described.

On July 5, the appeals panel argued that "the court's analysis of aggravating and mitigating factors was based, in part, on factual findings that were unsupported by competent, credible evidence in the record."

"We agree, in part, with defendant that certain findings the court relied upon in applying aggravating factor three were not 'supported by competent, credible evidence in the record,'" the appellate panel wrote.

The panel specifically expressed reservations about the court's finding that Vertetis retrieved Gilhuley's service revolver from his residence with the intent to shoot him, and, "that there were no injuries to the defendant other than the scratches on her arms, thereby supporting the court's conclusion decedent did not engage in any domestic abuse of defendant in light of her lack of reporting of any such abuse to authorities," the appellate panel wrote.

Vertetis' sentence has now been vacated as a result of those findings, and she will be sentenced again by a different state Superior Court judge, according to the appellate court.