Opening statements set for Wednesday in jewelry store murder trial - NJ.com
JERSEY CITY -- Jury selection was completed yesterday afternoon for the murder trial of a Bloomfield man accused of gunning down a Kearny jewelry store owner inside his store in 2009.
John DeRosa, 58, is charged with fatally shooting Xavier Egoavil, 47, of Kearny, on Aug. 18, 2009 as the victim's horrified mother looked on. Egoavil was killed during a robbery at his Rachel Jewelers store on Kearny Avenue at 8:45 a.m.
Opening statements by Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Rinaldi and defense attorney Scott Finkenauer are slated for Wednesday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Patrick Arre.
DeRosa faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
The prosecution alleges that when two men entered the store and announced a robbery, Egoavil scuffled with the gunman, who opened fire and struck him in the head, back, thigh and chest. The robbers then stole jewelry and ran to a getaway car. DeRosa is charged as the gunman.
The accused getaway driver, Elvis Feratovic, 30, of Bloomfield, was charged with felony murder, but pleaded guilty to robbery and agreed to testify against DeRosa.
Edmir Sokoli, 29, of Bloomfield, was also charged with felony murder and pleaded guilty to robbery. He too agreed to testify against DeRosa, the prosecution said.
Egoavil was survived by his wife, Gina, and two children: a son who was 10 years old at the time and a daughter who was 6.
At a pretrial hearing in November, DeRosa said he was contemplating representing himself due to the delay in getting his day in court. But the judge noted that he did not cooperate with his first attorney and did not get along with his second attorney. The judge said DeRosa's third attorney was overwhelmed at his practice and had to give up the case, while his fourth lawyer became a judge.
The prosecution alleges that after the shooting and robbery, DeRosa and Sokoli ran around the corner to where Feratovic was waiting in the getaway car. The robbery was captured on the jewelry store's security video system, and other security cameras also captured aspects of the crime and the getaway car, officials said.
Investigators got a break in the case when Kearny police received a tip that the alleged getaway car was being worked on at a Passaic County auto repair shop to alter its appearance, officials said.
DeRosa has already done prison time for a 1987 manslaughter in Essex County and he has had contacts with the justice system going back as far as 1970, state corrections records indicate.
