A New Jersey judge on Friday denied a request by Paul Caneiro to be released from jail, rejecting the accused quadruple murderer’s claim that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated after more than six years behind bars without a trial.
Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc Lemieux ruled that Caneiro must remain in custody while the state’s appeal over evidence is pending, despite defense arguments that a speedy-trial deadline would lapse on Sept. 14 and require his immediate release. Caneiro, 58, has pleaded not guilty to charges in the Nov. 20, 2018 killings of his brother and his brother’s family in Colt’s Neck.
Caneiro’s attorneys told Lemieux during a Friday hearing that their client has been confined for more than six years without being tried and that justice required his release. “It is simply not just to hold someone in jail for seven years without having the opportunity to have their case tried,” defense attorney Monika Mastellone said.
Prosecutors countered that the speedy-trial clock should be tolled while their office appeals a trial court ruling on the admissibility of DVR video evidence. The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed last week to hear the state’s appeal just days before jury selection had been scheduled to begin Sept. 8, pausing the case. Prosecutor Christopher Decker told the judge the state was ready to proceed and argued the pause was the result of a legitimate appellate process. “The state is here to say we are trial ready,” Decker said.
Lemieux pressed both sides on what it means to be “trial ready,” a showing prosecutors must make to extend the speedy-trial timeline. “There is no doubt that both sides were ready to proceed to trial,” Lemieux said. “You were ready to proceed last Wednesday. My question is, are you still ready?”
The charges against Caneiro stem from the deaths of his brother, Keith Caneiro, 50; his sister-in-law, Jennifer, 50; and the couple’s children, Jesse, 11, and Sophia, 8. Prosecutors allege Caneiro shot his brother, shot and stabbed his sister-in-law, stabbed the children and then set the family’s $1.5 million Colt’s Neck mansion on fire to conceal the crimes.
Caneiro was scheduled to begin jury selection in early September, but the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision to accept the state’s appeal halted preparations. Defense lawyers argued that because the deadline they identified would pass without trial, Caneiro must be released; prosecutors maintain the appeal preserves the state’s ability to present evidence at trial and justifies continuing detention.
Lemieux’s ruling keeps the case in the lower court while the appellate process runs its course. If the state’s appeal is resolved in time, the case is now set to resume with jury selection beginning Jan. 5, 2026. Prosecutors have indicated they intend to seek admission of the DVR video evidence at trial.
Caneiro remains jailed on the charges. He has consistently pleaded not guilty. The litigation over the DVR evidence and the timing of the trial underscores the tension between defendants’ speedy-trial rights and prosecutors’ efforts to preserve contested evidence through the appellate process.