DiGilio Defense Attorney: Security Cam Video Proves Boat's Bow Light Was On

Closing arguments began Friday morning in the trial of Brick resident Anthony DiGilio, who is facing charges of vehicular homicide and assault by vessel in an Aug. 3, 2008 boating accident on the Metedeconk River.

As part of his closing statement, defense attorney Joseph Tacopina showed jurors a video of a boat he said was DiGilio's leaving the Wharfside Patio Bar in Point Pleasant Beach with its lights on at the same time evidence shows he left the establishment to go home.

The prosecution has contended that DiGilio's boat's navigation lights were not on at the time of the late night accident and that his vessel was travelling too fast for the conditions at the time.

Their case largely hinges on those allegations being proven true, since experts have testified that DiGilio's boat had the right of way when the accident – which killed 49-year-old Essex Fells resident Robert Post and injured several others – occurred. Post was at the helm of his 17-foot Boston Whaler at the time.

The video, taken from a security camera at Fisherman's Supply, a bait and tackle shop on Channel Drive in Point Pleasant Beach, shows a boat with both its bow and stern lights illuminated at 12 a.m., the time DiGilio was said to have left the Wharfside, just a short distance up the channel from the tackle shop.

"The objective proof in this case shows us that the bow light in this case was upright and on," said Tacopina.

"That is Anthony DiGilio's vessel that left at midnight," he said, of the video. "His bow light is on. That's his bow light."

Tacopina said the video shows the unique placement of the stern light in DiGilio's 27 foot Imperial. In the Imperial, the stern light is placed to the rear of the cockpit rather than on the transom, as it is in most other boats.

Tacopina used the bulk of his closing arguments – which were still ongoing when court adjourned for lunch at 12:50 p.m. – to attempt to poke holes in the prosecution's case against DiGilio.

The defense zeroed in on one witness, Wharfside security guard Eric Axel, who testified that DiGilio's bow light was not on when he left the establishment.

Tacopina said Axel's testimony was not reliable since he only came forward in September 2012 when he was in a class at the Ocean County police academy being taught by Assistant Prosecutor William Heisler, who is one of two prosecutors assigned to the DiGilio case.

"Eric Axel, his story is just so ridiculous, and a little offensive," said Tacopina. "What changed suddenly for him in 2012? Do you think maybe, one week into the academy, he was just trying to show off to the chief prosecutor, so he opened his mouth and put his foot in?"

In earlier testimony, Axel said he thought he would "never end up on the witness stand" after calling out in class that he was there the night DiGilio was at Wharfside.

Tacopina also reviewed testimony about the lights on DiGilio's boat. Defense and prosecution expert witnesses clashed over whether the light was illuminated at the time of the accident.

"You have dozens [of reasonable doubts] in this case," Tacopina told jurors. "You only need one."

Closing arguments will resume later Friday afternoon. DiGilio, if convicted, faces more than 10 years in prison.