Prosecutor: DiGilio was at Wharfside Before Going Out on Boat and Striking Another Vessel

Brick resident Anthony DiGilio was described in court on Wednesday as both a reckless boater who sped away from an accident scene, leaving five people adrift in the dark of night, and a husband and father whose boat was cut off on his way home from a night out on the water with friends, resulting in a tragic accident.

DiGilio's trial for the that claimed the life of 49-year-old Robert Post, an Essex Fells resident, began Wednesday with opening statements from Senior Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Hillary Bryce and defense attorney Joseph Tacopina.

Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson's Toms River court room was packed with family members and friends of Post – so packed that Ocean County Sheriff's officers had to ask some to leave since it violated the fire code.

A jury of 15 – 12 who will decide DiGilio's fate and three who will later be randomly selected as alternates – was also seated in the court room as the trial began. The jury consisted of 10 men and five women, most whom could be described as middle-aged.

"I want to tell you a story of two couples and a friend who went for a boat ride on a gorgeous summer night," Bryce said to begin her opening statement. 

Before they set off home after an evening out on the water, Post had a passenger on the boat check the Boston Whaler's bow navigation light, Bryce said. Then they got underway, skipping a ride up the Point Pleasant Canal due to rough currents, instead opting for the calm waters of northern Barnegat Bay and the Metedeconk.

"They were telling jokes, they were seeing shooting stars, then a tragedy happened," said Bryce.

DiGilio's 27-foot Imperial performance boat, with its lights off, ran over top of the 17-foot Boston Whaler at what experts will testify is a speed somewhere between 51 and 69 m.p.h., Bryce said.

A 9-1-1 call placed by one of the boat's surviving passengers, which will be played for the jury at some point during the trial, includes an audible sound of DiGilio's boat speeding away, Bryce promised.

Witnesses, Bryce said, will testify DiGilio was at the Wharfside restaurant in Point Pleasant Beach between 8 p.m. and midnight the night of the accident, and had his boat's bow lights turned off when he motored out toward the ocean, then turned back toward the canal and inland waterway.

Between his lack of bow lighting and high speed, Bryce contended, "he was basically driving a 27-foot ballistic missile at that Boston Whaler."

She called the accident a "completely reckless act" on the part of DiGilio.

Tacopina, however, told jurors in his opening statement that the evidence will show DiGilio did, in fact, have his bow lights illuminated and Post's Boston Whaler caused the accident.

"The bow light was indeed working, and it was on," said Tacopina, disputing a claim by Bryce that the Imperial's flaps over the the bow lights were closed and one bulb was burnt out.

Tacopina also argued there are no posted speed limits on Barnegat Bay or in the Metedeconk River, and his client's speed was appropriate for the conditions that night.

"It's not like a highway," said Tacopina. "There are no posted speed limits, no yield signs."

Additionally, he said, evidence will show DiGilio's boat had the right of way, and Post should have stopped his boat or changed course to avoid the accident.

"This was nothing more or less than an unfortunate accident caused by Mr. Post," said Tacopina.

The trial will continue Wednesday afternoon, potentially with the prosecution's first witness set to testify.