A n Old Bridge man pleaded guilty on Feb. 8 to aggravated manslaughter and conspiracy to commit an aggravated assault in the fatal beating of a computer scientist who was attacked while walking with his family in June 2010.
Julian C. Daley, 18, admitted his role in the death of Dr. Divyendu Sinha during a hearing at the Middlesex County Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan. Daley pleaded guilty under an agreement reached with Middlesex County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberiet.
Under the plea agreement, Daley is expected to be sentenced to serve 15 years in a New Jersey state prison and must complete 85 percent of the term before he can be eligible for parole.
In addition, Daley, who was the second defendant to plead guilty in the case, agreed to testify truthfully against the three remaining co-defendants when their case goes to trial, which is scheduled for Aug. 5, according to Kaplan’s office.
Daley also pleaded guilty on Feb. 8 to an unrelated burglary count, admitting he broke into a home in his neighborhood on Dec. 6, 2012, while he was free on bail after being charged with the attack on Sinha. Following the burglary, Daley’s bail was revoked and he since has remained in custody. The first defendant to issue a plea, Steven K. Contreras, 19, also of Old Bridge, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty on Nov. 27 to a count of conspiring to commit an aggravated assault upon Sinha.
Contreras is expected to be sentenced to four years in a New Jersey state prison, and must serve 85 percent of the prison term before he becomes eligible for parole. He also agreed to testify truthfully against the remaining co-defendants, according to Kaplan’s office.
Contreras and Daley were among five suspects who were charged during an investigation by then-Detective Greg Morris of the Old Bridge Police Department and Sgt. Paul Miller of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Morris is currently working as an investigator in the prosecutor’s office.
The five, all students at Old Bridge High School at the time, were charged after the investigation showed they allegedly beat Sinha outside his home as he was walking with his wife and two sons on June 25, 2010. The sons, ages 16 and 12, sustained minor injuries.
Sinha was hospitalized, but died three days after the attack.
The remaining defendants are Cash Q. Johnson, 19, Christian M. Tinli, 20 and Christopher Conway, 19.
The five defendants initially were charged as juveniles, but at the request of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the cases were moved to Superior Court for trial as adults.