George Jenewicz was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Nov. 14 for fatally shooting his live-in girlfriend in his South River home 10 years ago.
The 55-year-old will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least 221/2 years in prison for first-degree murder and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. The term will run concurrent with the time he has been serving for a hindering charge.
Jenewicz has been incarcerated since his arrest, which was eight days after he murdered his girlfriend of several months, Eunice “Nadine” Gillens-Joseph, 41, in 1998. After the killing, Jenewicz dismembered the victim’s arms and head with a hatchet, and put her head in a pot of water on the kitchen stove, with the intention to boil it, authorities said.
State Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa, sitting in New Brunswick, said in his many years as a judge, this was one of the most gruesome and horrible crimes he had ever dealt with.
“This [crime] was done in an especially heinous and depraved manner,” he said to Jenewicz, who was in a light tan prison jumpsuit for last week’s sentencing.
The fatal shooting occurred on Oct. 22, 1998, at Jenewicz’ home on Cleveland Avenue. Jenewicz reportedly shot Gillens- Joseph once in the chest with a .357-caliber Magnum.
Jenewicz would later tell the court he had a deteriorating relationship with Gillens-Joseph. He said he and Gillens- Joseph got into an argument the day of her death because he had purchased alcohol for himself rather than cocaine for her addiction. He said he shot Gillens-Joseph as a reaction after she jumped at him from the bed in the bedroom, arguing and reaching for a .22-caliber shotgun.
According to police reports, friends of Jenewicz reported the crime to police eight days later, after he reportedly asked for their assistance in removing Gillens-Joseph’s body from the home.
At the scene, police found Gillens- Joseph’s severed head in a pot on the kitchen stove and her armless torso wrapped in a plastic bag in a garbage can in the basement. Jenewicz testified that he walked, carrying her arms in a knapsack, to nearby Varga Memorial Field on William Street, where he disposed of them in the marsh.
In 2002, the former biological technician at Bristol-Meyers Squibb was spared the death penalty and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the murder.
However, the Supreme Court reversed the conviction of Jenewicz last January, ruling that the trial court erred in not allowing certain testimony from Gillens-Joseph’s mother, Lillian Tankard, and in precluding testimony from John Kelly, a drug counselor and a rehabilitated cocaine abuser.
The court also cited that the trial court “inappropriately denigrated what evidence in support of [the self-defense] claim that the defendant could marshal at trial.” That related to the testimony and cross-examination of a doctor who evaluated Jenewicz’s ability to plead an insanity defense or a diminished capacity defense.
The court said the culmination of the three errors prevented the defendant from receiving a fair trial.
The court did not reverse the hindering charge against Jenewicz for not notifying police of what had occurred, and dismembering the victim’s body with a hatchet.
On Sept. 24, after just two hours of deliberation, a jury of six men and six women rejected Jenewicz’s claim of self-defense in his second trial, leading to last week’s sentencing.