By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano, who has drawn fire over his office’s investigation into the deaths of township residents John and Joyce Sheridan, has been removed from his post.
Mr. Soriano is to be replaced by assistant U.S. Attorney Michael H. Robertson, according to published reports. He is due to take office on March 7.
Gov. Chris Christie removed Mr. Soriano from his post on Feb. 18. His removal followed the release of a letter Feb. 17 that was signed by more than 200 politicians, attorneys and lobbyists and friends. It called for the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office to reopen its investigation into the 2014 deaths of the couple.
But state Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-16th Legislative District), who was friendly with both Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Soriano, disagreed with Gov. Christie’s decision to remove him. Mr. Soriano had stayed on as Somerset County Prosecutor after his term expired in October 2015. The prosecutor is appointed by the governor.
“I had a talk with Gov. Christie and he told me that he was removing (Mr. Soriano),” Sen. Bateman said. He added that Gov. Christie told him that it was not related to the Sheridan case, “but I believe it (was) related” because Mr. Soriano was removed from office one day after the letter was made public.
John and Joyce Sheridan were found dead in the bedroom of their home on Meadow Drive on Sept. 28, 2104. Mr. Sheridan, who was the president and CEO of Cooper Health System, allegedly stabbed his wife to death and then killed himself, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. It was ruled a murder-suicide.
The couple’s four sons, however, have challenged the Prosecutor’s Office’s determination that it was a murder-suicide. They want the cause of death listed for their father to be changed from “suicide” to “undetermined.”
“The only truth in this terrible tragedy is that no one knows what happened on that September morning — not us, not the (Somerset County) medical examiner, not the prosecutor,” the signers of the letter wrote. Those signers included former Govs. James J. Florio, Thomas Kean and Christine Todd Whitman.
Mr. Sheridan, through his personal and professional life, “earned the right to have his life and death assessed competently and accurately,” the signers wrote. At a minimum, it requires the medical examiner’s office to change the cause of death from “suicide” to “undetermined,” they wrote.
Sen. Bateman said the governor told him that he had “lost confidence” in Mr. Soriano.
“I certainly believe in my heart of hearts that it was a problem that (Gov. Christie) wanted to go away. Mr. Soriano was a professional. He was topnotch. He felt it was a murder/suicide and he made that call. He could only play the hand he was dealt.”
Mr. Soriano, who was “just doing his job,” based his decision on the Somerset County Medical Examiner’s report, Sen. Bateman said. “The facts are the facts,” he said, adding that it took months for Mr. Soriano to make his ruling public.
A reward has been offered for information on the case, but no one has come forward and there is nothing new, Sen. Bateman said. It was a tragedy and he “feels sorry” for the couple’s four sons. No one wants to think that their father killed their mother, he said.
