TOMS RIVER, N.J. (Court TV) — A New Jersey father has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter in the death of his 6-year-old son, who prosecutors argued died from injuries sustained from chronic abuse.
Christopher Gregor, 32, was charged with murder in the death of Corey Micciolo, however the jury found him guilty of the lesser-included offense of aggravated manslaughter. Gregor was also found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child.
Christopher Gregor reacts as the jury’s verdict is read Friday, May 31, 2024. (Court TV)
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2, where he’s facing up to 40 years in prison.
Surveillance footage from the fitness center at Gregor’s apartment complex presented at trial shows Corey Micciolo running on a treadmill as his father increases the speed on March 20, 2021. In the video, the boy stumbles and falls multiple times as he attempts to keep up. Gregor can be seen grabbing Corey by the shirt, and at one point, he appeared to bite the child’s head, prosecutors said.
Two weeks later, on April 2, Gregor said he brought his son to a hospital after the boy woke up from a nap stumbling, slurring his words, and experiencing nausea and shortness of breath. Corey was taken for a CT scan, where he began having seizures. Lifesaving measures were taken, but Corey could not be saved.
Dr. Dante Ragusa, an Ocean County medical examiner who performed an April 3 autopsy on Corey’s body, issued a finding on the cause of death: Blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions with acute inflammation and sepsis. However, he did not rule on the manner of death; rather, he deemed it “undetermined.”
It wasn’t until a consulting forensic pathologist reviewed the case in September 2021 that the manner of death was determined to be homicide. Dr. Thomas Andrew believes Corey suffered an acute traumatic injury to the heart 4-12 hours before his death. Dr. Andrew found what he described as evidence of chronic abuse, including blunt impact injuries of the chest and abdomen with laceration of the heart, left pulmonary contusion, laceration and contusion of the liver.
Corey Micciolo was allegedly killed by his father. (Courtesy Breanna Micciolo)
Gregor was initially arrested for endangering the welfare of a child on July 7 for the treadmill incident. Authorities said he was “subsequently released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.” He was arrested for Corey’s murder on March 9, 2022.
Clarification: Gregor was charged in two separate incidents, each having different charges associated with them. The treadmill incident, which resulted in a charge of child endangerment (Count 1), occurred on March 20, 2021. On April 2, 2021 (Count 2), Corey died of blunt force trauma; no treadmill was involved. The charge of causing Corey’s death is described as Gregor “knowingly caused serious bodily injury resulting in the death of another.”
Gregor’s defense also hired a consulting forensic pathologist who determined Corey’s manner of death was “natural.” Defense attorney Mario Gallucci clarified further in a written statement to Court TV that Corey’s death was caused by “complications from pneumonia.”
At the time of his death, the boy’s mother and Gregor shared joint custody. According to reports, Gregor was not present in Corey’s life until he was four. Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, said she reported Gregor for abuse over 100 times, but no one took action. Breanna has since sued the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency for failing to protect Corey properly.
DAILY TRIAL UPDATES
DAY 11 – 5/31/24
- The jury finds Christopher Gregor guilty of aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2.
DAY 10 – 5/29/24
- Christopher Gregor’s defense attorney told the jury Corey Micciolo died from a ‘rapidly-spreading infection.’
- Ocean County prosecutor Christine Lento left few details unmentioned as she walked jurors through over 130 slides, many of which included a plethora of bullet points or other elements, but by the time she concluded, jurors had certainly been freshly reminded about a staggering amount of circumstantial evidence weighing against Gregor.
- Lento said “this treadmill video, which was recovered by the prosecutor’s office speaks for itself.” “Everything that you need and want to know is captured on this video.”
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Prosecution Closing Argument
DAY 9 – 5/28/24
- Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden told the panel of Ocean County jurors that Corey Micciolo died of natural causes, the most likely of which being complications from pneumonia. This testimony squarely countered that of the State’s expert witness, Dr. Thomas Andrew, who testified that Corey’s death was a homicide and tied the boy’s injuries to a pattern of physical abuse.
- The defense rested after Christopher Gregor invoked his right to remain silent in a colloquy with Judge Ryan Tuesday afternoon.
DAY 8 – 5/22/24
- The State called its final witness Wednesday morning, then rested their case in chief just before noon.
- The State’s last witness was pediatric infectious disease specialist Anat R. Feingold, MD, MPH – and the State, apparently in anticipation of Mario Gallucci’s impeachment approach forthcoming on cross – proactively elicited the fact that this was Feingold’s first time ever providing expert testimony in court.
- The State’s primary objective was to elicit expert testimony which excluded infectious disease as a cause of Corey’s death. This is because Dr. Baden is going to testify for the defense that Corey died of natural causes – pneumonia and sepsis.
- For their part, the defense objective in cross-examining Dr. Feingold was quite clear – hammer home the fact that she’s not a forensic pathologist, in an effort to discredit her testimony about cause of death (or, in this case, what wasn’t the cause of death).
- The timing of Dr. Feingold’s testimony was somewhat unwieldy, because she was clearly called by prosecutors to counter defense expert Dr. Baden’s findings re: Corey’s cause and manner of death, but the jury hasn’t heard Dr. Baden’s findings yet, other than in passing references by Mario Gallucci during opening statements.
DAY 7 – 5/16/24
- Sgt. Raymond Coles was recalled to the stand and questioned about Gregor’s alleged attempts to flee.
- Coles testified that Gregor’s phone was moving away from the hospital for 24 hours with no attempts to return, and that it was placed into airplane mode.
- Christopher Gregor’s attorney told Court TV that the defendant plans to take the stand in his own defense.
DAY 6 – 5/15/24
- Due to scheduling issues, only one witness was called to the stand Wednesday: David Gregor, the defendant’s father
DAY 5 – 5/8/24
- The state called forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Andrew. He testified to Corey’s cause and manner of death claiming he died of blunt impact injury of the chest and abdomen with laceration of the heart. He also testified that the manner of death was homicide.
- WATCH: Watch Gregor Leave ER As Nurses Scramble To Save 6-Year-Old Son’s Life
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Day 5 Recap
DAY 4 – 5/7/24
- Sgt. Raymond Coles testified about Christopher Gregor’s phone search history. Searches in March and April of 2021 included: “Will red marks turn into bruises,” “Can your phone be tracked in airplane mode” and “Can my car be tracked?”
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Day 4 Recap
DAY 3 – 5/2/24
- Dr. Ye Kyaw Aung, who evaluated Corey the night of April 1, 2021, testified that aside from some bruises and scratches which varied by degree and age, Corey appeared to be in good health when he was discharged from Jersey Shore University Medical Center just after midnight on April 2, 2021, with no signs of infection or sepsis.
- Gregor’s defense quizzed Aung on whether he followed the proper procedures in discharging Corey and releasing him to his mother in the early morning hours (around 1 am) of 04/02/2021.. Aung insisted that Corey’s blood work and other diagnostic tests came back within the normal range and that discharge with instructions to follow-up with a child abuse specialist was the appropriate step.
- One of the investigators in the case, Sgt. Matthew Scutti, testified to the autopsy performed on Corey.
- Scutti also described going to Christopher Gregor’s home. He said the smell of cleaned or dried vomit was emanating from the victim’s bedroom.
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Jury Sees Photos of Gregor’s Home
- William Doyle, who worked as a triage nurse at Southern Ocean Medical Center, described seeing Gregor bring Corey to the emergency room on April 2.
- Doyle described Gregor as having a “clinical” affect and didn’t seem upset.
- WATCH: Video Shows Christopher Gregor Bringing His Son to Hospital
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Day 3 Recap
DAY 2 – 5/1/24
- Breanna Micciolo returned to the stand. During re-cross, the defense tried to attack her credibility by talking about ways she could have spent money raised from a GoFundMe page.
- Juror #3 was dismissed after a sidebar, but the judge did not elaborate as to why.
- Corey’s first-grade teacher testified that she noticed bruises on Corey and that the child had a change of demeanor in school.
- During cross-examination, the defense tried to say that the bruises didn’t appear until Corey returned from his mother’s home.
- Pediatrician Dr. Nancy Deacon, who saw Corey Micciolo for an ’emergency appointment’ in 2021, testified to the child’s injuries and what he told her happened.
- Things became heated during cross-examination when the defense accused Deacon of changing her testimony between a pretrial hearing and trial. The court reporter read back testimony to reveal the only difference was linguistic: the term “prodded” or “pressed.”
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Pediatrician Details Corey’s Injuries
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Day 2 Recap
DAY 1 – 4/30/24
- In their opening statement, the prosecution said they would present evidence showing Corey Micciolo was murdered by his father; specifically, that the six-year-old boy died as a result of physical abuse sustained while under Gregor’s sole care after Breanna Micciolo dropped him off at Gregor’s Barnegat townhome on April 2, 2021
- Defense attorney Mario Gallucci painted Gregor as a responsible father trying his best to care for his son amid ongoing hostilities between Gregor and the boy’s mother, Breanna Micciolo
- Gallucci tried to brace jurors for surveillance footage jurors they would see Tuesday afternoon showing Gregor increasing the treadmill’s speed and forcing Corey back onto treadmill after falling over several times
- Gallucci told jurors Corey Micciolo died of natural causes, citing defense expert witness Michael Baden, M.D.
- WATCH: Gregor Defense: Child’s Injuries Were From ‘Lifesaving Techniques’
- Breanna Micciolo, the mother of Corey Micciolo, took the stand
- WATCH: Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Day 1
