BY JENNIFER DOME
Staff Writer
Jack Fuller Jr. A grand jury last week indicted Jack Fuller Jr., the man authorities believe is responsible for Brittney Gregory’s death, for a single count of murder.
If convicted, Fuller could face 30 years to life in prison.
The 16-year-old’s body was discovered on July 27 after she had been missing for two weeks. Her body was found buried in Lakewood in a 2-foot-deep grave near the Metedeconk River boundary separating Monmouth and Ocean counties. The site is about two miles from Brittney’s home.
On Feb. 9, the day the grand jury returned the single-count indictment, Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas F. Kelaher announced that the Capital Case Committee concluded that the Prosecutor’s Office would not seek the death penalty in Fuller’s case. According to a Feb. 9 press release from Kelaher, the committee “has concluded that it is not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the existence of at least one statutory aggravating factor and, therefore, the death penalty is unavailable.”
The factors that the Capital Case Committee look at when deciding if the death penalty is applicable include whether or not the defendant committed or attempted to commit murder, robbery, sexual assault, arson, burglary or kidnapping at the time when Brittney was murdered. They also look at the age of the victim, who must be 14 years old or younger for the death penalty to be considered.
The Prosecutor’s Office released no new information about the cause of Brittney’s death. After an autopsy was performed in July, preliminary results revealed that Brittney was found unclothed but with no signs of mutilation. The autopsy proved that Brittney was dead when she was buried and Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Robert A. Gasser has said that asphyxiation has not been ruled out as the cause of her death.
Fuller was arrested on July 18 and has been held at Ocean County jail on $1 million bail ever since. Fuller, a Howell resident, has served two prison terms for burglary, theft and other offenses since 2000.
In November, Fuller’s attorney, John Goins, asked state Superior Court Judge Vincent Grasso to reduce Fuller’s bail. The motion was denied after Executive Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Ronald DeLigny, who will be prosecuting the case on behalf of the state, presented information that the state police DNA laboratory found that blood in Fuller’s vehicle was that of the Brittney’s.
At that time, Gasser, the public information officer for the Prosecutor’s Office, said there was another passenger in Fuller’s vehicle with Brittney on July 11, the day she disappeared. Tom Long, the other passenger, was in the vehicle when Fuller picked Brittney up. At that time Brittney was seated in the rear of the vehicle and moved up front when Long was dropped off, Gasser said.
Another witness reportedly told police that Fuller spoke to him about how deep a body should be buried so it cannot be found, Gasser said.