BORDENTOWN CITY: Suspended chief’s trial expected to be under way

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   The trial of suspended Bordentown Township Police Chief Phil Castagna was expected to begin Wednesday in state Superior Court in Mount Holly, a court official confirmed Tuesday.
   Mr. Castagna, 47, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and arson in an alleged plot to kill his ex-wife, Joyce Leopold, in a 2003 fire that damaged the back of the couple’s house in Burlington. Ms. Leopold, who was separated from her husband when the fire occurred, was not injured in the blaze.
   Recent developments previously threatened to delay the trial. In mid-January, Robin Lord, of Trenton, Mr. Castagna’s attorney, sought a stay in both the proceedings and a Jan. 12 ruling by the Appellate Division of Superior Court, which reversed the decision of a lower judge in the trial and allowed the admission of the prosecution’s audiotapes as evidence in the trial.
   Ms. Lord’s request was denied by a state Supreme Court judge.
   Previously, Superior Court Judge Thomas Smith Jr. decided Jan. 6 not to change his Nov. 7 ruling that the tapes, which require the authentication of prosecution witness Gary Hall, could not be part of the trial because of issues surrounding Mr. Hall’s immunity in the trial. Those issues have since been resolved, and Mr. Hall is protected to the satisfaction of the courts.
   Prosecutors have stated that Mr. Hall — whose identity was kept under wraps until Ms. Lord learned it last year — made electronic recordings of himself speaking with Mr. Castagna about a plot to have Ms. Leopold killed.
   Mr. Hall is serving a five-year prison sentence in Florida on an unrelated conviction. From the beginning, Mr. Castagna has maintained that the Burlington County prosecutor’s office paid Mr. Hall about $40,000 to set him up.