A New Jersey jury Friday convicted tech boss Paul Caneiro of slaughtering his enterprise accomplice brother and the brother’s household of their posh Colts Neck mansion, which he then burned down.
The jurors discovered him responsible of homicide, arson, weapons possession prices and associated crimes after a month-long trial that includes almost 50 witnesses in Monmouth County.
The panelists reached the decision after roughly 5 hours of deliberations that started Friday morning.
He faces a most of life in jail.
Caneiro, 59, is accused of capturing Keith Caneiro — with whom he shared two companies — on Nov. 20, 2018, after the sibling confronted Paul hours earlier about allegedly stealing almost $80,000 from him.
Paul allegedly reduce the ability to the tony home on a hill, shut off the generator and waited in the dead of night for Keith, 50, to come back outdoors, earlier than capturing him 5 instances.
He went inside the house capturing and stabbing Keith’s spouse, Jennifer, 45, after which stabbing his niece Sophia, 8, and his nephew Jesse, 11, prosecutors claimed.
Then Paul set a gradual burning fireplace on the residence earlier than returning to his Ocean Township hosuse the place he turned off the safety cameras earlier than setting a blaze there too to make it seem he was additionally a goal, prosecutors claimed. Paul, his spouse and two daughters all made it out unscathed.
Paul’s motive was to silence his brother earlier than it was confirmed he pilfered the cash from his brother’s belief, meant to fund Keith’s life insurance coverage coverage, prosecutors alleged.
The alleged wayward brother was overextended paying for 4 luxurious automobiles — together with an Audi for his gal pal Yisel Restrepo. He was additionally bankrolling journeys for himself and Restrepo at a time when he and his brother’s companies — a tech firm and an extermination firm — have been struggling and Paul was on incapacity funds, prosecutors claimed.
In the meantime, Caneiro’s lawyer, Monika Mastellone, steered a 3rd brother, Corey Caneiro, could have truly carried out the crimes, which he allegedly framed Paul for. The plot would have made Corey the only heir of Keith’s household $3 million belief as Paul would forfeit his share if convicted of homicide, Mastellone identified.
Mastellone referred to as Caneiro’s two daughters to the witness stand who testified about how shut Paul was to Keith and his household. Mastellone argued Paul beloved all of them an excessive amount of to ever commit such heinous acts.
Paul cried throughout opening statements and shutting arguments when Mastellone described his close-knit relationships with the victims.
The protection legal professional additionally claimed Paul wasn’t struggling however was raking in over $200,000 in incapacity funds and he and Keith’s extermination firm was probably set to be bought off for a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars}.
Mastellone additionally claimed that investigators had “tunnel imaginative and prescient” and “affirmation bias” as they probed the murders and fires, which she claimed meant they missed different theories and suspects, all main them to the incorrect man.
