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Meanwhile, the attorney for the primary defendant said it’s “not a fair fight” that his client is waging against “all these assistant prosecutors and all the detectives, against one individual.”
Julio Pina-Catena (above, left) is charged with attempted murder and various other crimes in connection with what authorities said was a vicious assault on May 4, 2011 that left the victim with a fractured skull and eye socket and no memory of the incident.
His co-defendant — and Rutherford roommate — Kenny Cabrera (above, inset), is charged with helping him try to conceal evidence.
Defense attorney Robert Galantucci emphasized the “presumption of innocence” of his client, Pina-Catena, which he called “the only way one person can stand a chance against this whole legal system.
“When the government moves against one individual, all those assistant prosecutors and all the detectives against one individual, it’s not a very fair fight,” Galantucci said. “So our forefathers put all these principles into play so individuals would have a chance against the government.
“The victim was just brutally beaten, that’s not at issue,” he said. “The issue is, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Julio did this. The burden of proof, THEY have to prove — not Julio. You need to be firmly convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt.”
When the victim’s son arrived home the night of the attack, “he quickly realized [that] his cherished home, his sanctuary, had been turned into a bloody, violent, grisly crime scene,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer contended.
“The foyer floor was stained with pools of blood,” she said. “Blood spatter covered the inside of the entry door and the walls.
“He quickly rushed into the living room where he saw his father lying on the couch, his head covered in blood, his eye swollen shut,” Grootenboer said. “He was barely conscious.”
The older man was hospitalized for 10 days, then had to spend several weeks in a rehabilitation facility where he slowly regained his health, she added.
What he didn’t regain, Grootenboer said, was his memory — not that his testimony would be necessary, she said.
The prosecutor promised to present DNA, cell phone records and witness accounts that all point to both mens’ guilt.
There’s also evidence from the crime scene, which Grootenboer said became a frightening tableau:
- Both couches were stained with blood;
- Blood had pooled on the carpet;
- The TV screen was smashed;
- A picture of a young girl at communion had the frame cracked and the eyes scratched out with a sharp instrument;
- Another picture of the same girl older was damaged the same way. On it, the words “U R Filthy Bitch” had been carved;
- Her framed college diploma was defaced, as well. Several other pictures of her were strewn around, ripped and torn, frames broken.
The photos were of the victim’s daughter, sister of the man who had once had an 8-year relationship with Pina-Catena.
“Whoever committed these crimes also harbored a deep hatred for his sister,” Grootenboer said. “There is only one person that description fits – Julio Pina-Catena.
“The perpetrator also hated the son,” she said. “His bedroom was ransacked, the mirrored door on his closet smashed. His computer, in the living room, had been unlawfully accessed.
A key piece of evidence is a Santa Barbara candle the victim’s son found lighted in the living room. Pina-Catena, Grootenboer said, fancied himself a Santeria priest who called himself “Dr. Pina-Catena.”
Cellphone records show that Pina-Catena’s phone was used near a cell tower in Wallington, not Rutherford, where he claimed to be during the several hours that the prosecutor said he was at the crime scene. Grootenboer said Pina-Catena had done most of the damage to the home over several hours, then attacked the elderly man when he came home.
A neighbor told police she saw Pina-Catena’s red Toyota Camry roll through the neighborhood twice, both before and after authorities say the attack occurred.
The victim’s son broke up with him two years earlier moved on to another relationship, Grootenboer said.
In turn, she said, Pina-Catena used his computer to create false and defamatory letters aimed at his friends, and created a phony online sex profile that cast him as a disreputable person of dubious moral character.
Galantucci, in turn, so all that has been provided so far, through an indictment, is a “one-sided affair.”
“Julio is presumed to be innocent,” he told jurors. “When you go into the jury room, I suggest that is the first thing you put on the table.”
Cabrera’s attorney, Anthony Alfano, had a similar message.
“There are many, many questions you will have,” he told the jury. “They have to prove [the allegations].”
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
TOP: Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer with defense attorneys David Altieri, Robert Galantucci BELOW: Cabrera, Pina-Catena (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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