Cape Murder Suspect in Limbo

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE - Twenty-five years passed before someone was charged in the 1982 death of Lower Township resident John Attenborough.

More than two and a half years have passed since someone was arrested in the case.

Today, both the victim’s family and the suspect charged with his murder continue to wait for resolution.

George J. Carty III, the Ohio man charged with murder in Attenborough’s July 27, 1982, slaying, is the longest-serving inmate in the Cape May County Jail.

Now 52, he was arrested at his Richmond Heights, Ohio, home on Dec. 18, 2007, after the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office announced a break in the cold case. He waived an extradition hearing and arrived at the county jail here the following day - Dec. 19, 2007 - where he has been held ever since, so far a total of 982 days as of Aug. 26.

A murder indictment against Carty was dismissed on Oct. 7, 2009, when Superior Judge Raymond Batten ruled that Cape May County Detective Ed Musick misled the grand jury about whether DNA found at the scene might have belonged to Carty. He was indicted 13 days later for the same murder.

In December 2009, the judge also tossed a related polygraph Carty had taken in West Virginia, on the grounds that Carty was coerced and not properly advised of his Miranda rights.

The lengthy stay at the jail has distinguished the case, given that the jail normally holds those who have been convicted of crimes no longer than 364 days. Carty has yet to go to trial.

“If he had accepted a plea bargain, he would have likely been out by now,” defense attorney David Stefankiewicz said, although he would not divulge details of any plea discussions.

Both the defense attorney and prosecutor handling the case have changed since that December, and the case has essentially been on hold since Dec. 18, 2009, when a judge ruled that the bulk of Carty’s videotaped statement was inadmissible.

The Prosecutor’s Office quickly appealed the ruling.

A spokeswoman with the state Appellate Division of Superior Court said Tuesday that no date has been set to hear oral arguments from the Prosecutor’s Office and Stefankiewicz, although a date could be set at any time.

“The appeal filing didn’t come at the most opportune time,” Stefankiewicz said. “The Appellate Division is inundated.”

In the meantime, Carty and his supporters and the Attenborough family wait.

Carty, who was born in Cape May County, is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, down from the $500,000 bail amount set when he first arrived at the jail.

After that first court appearance, Dec. 20, 2007, his attorney at the time, Mary Linehan, said Carty was “naturally really shaken by these allegations and he maintains his innocence.”

Stefankiewicz, who later came into the case, said that stance hasn’t changed.

“He’s innocent,” Stefankiewicz said. “I’ve thought all along the only reason to keep him in jail was to wear him down.”

But those claims have not swayed family members or Prosecutor Robert Taylor.

Attenborough’s family members often sit in court during hearings in the case, but they have chosen not to speak to reporters.

Attenborough was the father of four children and grandfather to five children. He and Carty worked together at the Wildwood Golf and Country Club in Middle Township about one year before Attenborough’s death. Attenborough, 57, was the head chef but was replaced by Carty after Attenborough was fired.

Attenborough’s bloodied, beaten body was found on Portsmouth Road, which was then unpaved, in what has since become the Tranquility Park housing development in Lower Township. An autopsy found he died of blunt trauma.

Taylor’s office argues that in a videotaped statement given at a West Virginia State Police office March 19, 2007, Carty describes beating Attenborough.

The state’s brief to the Appellate Division points to sections of the videotape, which it says show the following: “Defendant said the victim attempted to embrace him. ‘I don’t like him leaning on me.’ Defendant said, ‘John, what the (expletive) are you doing?’ Defendant knocked the victim to the ground. ‘I pushed him away and he falls to the ground.’ ‘I pushed him pretty hard.’ He fell - he fell like maybe six feet away.’ ‘He lands on the ground.’ Defendant demonstrated how he pushed the victim.”

But in the interview, West Virginia State Police polygraph examiner James Merrill questioned Carty using hypothetical scenarios and it was that technique that Judge Batten previously called into question.

Merrill asked Carty to “visualize,” discuss hypothetical scenarios and discuss the “realm of possibilities.”

Batten went on to dismiss the first indictment against Carty on Oct. 7, 2009, citing statements by a detective that misled a grand jury about DNA tests in the case and the results of a polygraph examination given to Carty.

The detective’s statements were “akin to evidential nitroglycerin,” Batten said.

A second grand jury indicted Carty again on Oct. 20, 2009.

DNA test results have failed to link Carty to the crime scene, but Taylor said Tuesday that while there is no signed confession in the case, “it is a statement where he admits what he did and how he did it.”

Stefankiewicz said the interview violated Carty’s right against self-incrimination because at one point Carty said “no polygraph” and the interview was riddled with hypothetical questions.

The prosecution argues that Carty waived his Miranda rights and that his reluctance to take the polygraph test was because he was trying to get to a meeting, not because he was concerned about his constitutional rights.

Batten found that anything said after Carty uttered the words “no polygraph” was inadmissible.

“They basically railroaded George and put the brakes on any investigation,” Stefankiewicz said. “To my knowledge, the state hasn’t developed any physical evidence. They just sort of stopped investigating.”

Taylor said the investigation had taken place over more than 25 years and was complete.

“We don’t railroad anyone,” Taylor said. “There is enough evidence, if it can all be presented to a jury, that will substantiate the charge.”

Carty’s sister, Diana Hall, said her brother is innocent, and she faulted the interview technique that asked Carty to talk about possible situations.

“George is a writer besides being a chef and a doctor. If someone says, ‘let’s go (with this possibility),’ he can come up with a story,” she said. Carty graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine on May 28, 2005.

She regularly corresponds with him by mail and leaves her Virginia home to see him several times a year.

“There’s no reason in the world he would admit to something he didn’t do,” Hall said of her older brother.

Hall said Carty has missed family birthdays, funerals, graduations, births and reunions.

“His life has come to a total standstill,” Hall said. “He’s not living. He’s just existing.”

She said the family had hoped he would at least be able to leave the jail pending the appeal.

“I just don’t understand the process of why this is taking so long,” Hall said, adding, “The wheels of justice have just ground to a halt.”

Hall said her brother was “numb” from his years spent in the jail, but he copes by praying and meditating.

His wife, Cheryl, moved to Cape May County to be closer to him and works as a nurse.

Hall plans to visit both this coming weekend.

Stefankiewicz said he has not seen his client lately because of his schedule and owes him a visit, but he said he is still surprised by the Prosecutor’s Office’s stance on bail.

“I can’t understand the prosecutor’s position not to lower the bail here. George has done a lot of constructive things with his life. There’s no reason other than sheer vindictiveness,” Stefankiewicz said.

Taylor countered,“He’s charged with murder and anyone charged with murder is a potential flight risk.”

Stefankiewicz said he was optimistic the appeal would be heard soon and a decision would follow shortly.

“I think that there is some light at the end of the tunnel here,” Stefankiewicz said. “But it can never be too soon for George.”

Published in the Press of Atlantic City, Thursday, August 26, 2010. Story by Trudi Gilfillian.