The Christopher Gregor trial in Toms River NJ: What we know

The criminal trial of a Barnegat father who stands accused of endangering and ultimately murdering his 6-year-old son got underway this past week. The case, before state Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, has already become one of the most high-profile in Ocean County in years, with the proceedings even being carried by Court TV.

Here’s what we know so far:

What are the facts?

On April 2, 2021, 6-year-old Corey Micciolo died about an hour after his father, Christopher Gregor, 31, of Barnegat, brought his limp body into the emergency room at Southern Ocean Medical Center in neighboring Stafford. The child coded twice and died at 5:03 p.m. after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

What was the cause of Corey Micciolo’s death?

Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Jamie Schron told the jury in her opening statement Tuesday at Gregor’s trial, that the child died as a result of blunt-force trauma. Corey had contusions all over his body, and his heart and liver were lacerated, she said.

Gregor’s attorney, Mario Gallucci, told the jury in his opening statement that his medical experts dispute the cause of Corey’s death.

Gallucci said his medical witnesses will testify that Corey died as a result of sepsis caused by a bout of pneumonia.

What does the prosecution allege happened to Corey?

On March 20, 2021, surveillance footage from the gym at Gregor’s apartment complex, recorded the child running on a treadmill as his father lifted weights. Gregor was also seen on the video going over to the treadmill and continually increasing its speed, which caused Corey to fall off the machine — face-first — at least six times.

Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, who had visitation rights to her son, told the jury she noticed bruises on her child later that month. She took Corey to the hospital to see a child-abuse specialist where he revealed the treadmill incident. An examination by a pediatrician found no pressing health problems except for the bruises. Corey had about a dozen bruises, abrasions or scratches on him in various stages of healing.

Micciolo also filed an emergent application in family court for sole custody of Corey because she “was in fear for Corey’s life,” she said. One day before Corey’s death, the application was denied.

She testified that when she dropped her son off at his father’s apartment that next morning, Corey was fine. Eight hours later, he was dead.

After a nearly year-long investigation into Corey’s death, the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the boy had died of blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen, and that the death was a homicide, the Prosecutor’s Office said in a public statement in March 2022.

Gregor, who had already been charged with child endangerment in the aftermath of Corey’s death as a result of the treadmill footage, was now charged with the murder of his son.

What does the defense say?

Gallucci, Gregor’s defense attorney, has attempted to paint Breanna Micciolo as a less than ideal parent herself. He told the jury she had signed her son out of Community Medical Center in Toms River at some point before he died, against medical advice, even though she was told Corey might have sepsis as a result of complications from pneumonia.

Yes, the treadmill incident and playing football were the causes of Corey’s bruises, Gallucci said. But, he insisted the treadmill incident did not cause the child’s death.

“When you see that video, you’re going to be horrified, you’re going to be mortified,'” Gallucci warned the jury. “Corey's death had absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill.”

Micciolo had Corey when his mother was 17. After a paternity test confirmed Gregor was the father, he took custody of the boy and brought him to his family’s home to live with them. While Breanna Micciolo had visitation rights, she temporarily lost them at one point because of drug problems, Gallucci said.

On cross-examination this past week, Breanna Micciolo acknowledged a past drug addiction, said she had sought treatment and her visitation rights were restored. Nevertheless, on the same day her son died but before she learned of his death, she admitted that she had texted a boyfriend, asking him to get her methamphetamines.

Micciolo also admitted under cross-examination that after her son died, she and some friends threw rocks, dead fish, bones and eggs at Gregor’s parent’s house.

If convicted, how many years could Gregor spend in state prison?

If Gregor is convicted of murder, he would face a minimum sentence of 30 years without parole and up to a maximum sentence of life in prison. If convicted of child endangerment, the sentence would be expected to be about 10 years behind bars.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Treadmill murder trial: What we know about Christopher Gregor, son