Judge nixes testimony from New Zealand in Caneiro Colts Neck murders case

FREEHOLD As a judge prepares to schedule an important hearing on the reliability of a new method of evaluating DNA evidence used in the Colts Neck quadruple homicide case against Paul Caneiro, he ruled Thursday that the state's key expert on the technology will not be allowed to testify remotely from New Zealand.

Prosecutors asked that John Buckleton, a New Zealand scientist who created a computer program to analyze small quantities and complicated mixtures of DNA in the case against Caneiro, be allowed to testify via videoconference from his homeland because he is uncomfortable taking a 16-hour or longer flight to New Jersey due to a heart condition he suffers from.

Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley ruled he will not allow the witness to testify remotely.

Oxley noted he has not received any of Buckleton's medical records or any certifications from his physicians about what affect the journey to New Jersey could have on his health.

Prosecutors said Buckleton would be their key witness to testify at an upcoming hearing about the reliability of the computer program he created, which was used to generate the DNA evidence against Caneiro, an Ocean township man accused in the 2018 murders of his brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew.

Oxley said Buckleton had a co-author of the report he wrote in Caneiro's case, who could be called to testify in-person in Buckleton's place.

The judge noted that Caneiro has a constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him, which is of the utmost importance in the case of a quadruple homicide for which he could potentially face four, consecutive life prison terms.

Caneiro, 56, of Ocean Township is charged in the murders almost five years ago of his brother, Keith Caneiro, 50, sister-in law Jennifer, 45, niece, Sophia, 8, and nephew, Jesse, 11.

Prosecutors allege Paul Caneiro committed the murders and set fire to his brother’s Colts Neck mansion after Keith, his business partner, discovered he was stealing money from the companies they co-owned.

Authorities allege Paul Caneiro, after committing the murders, returned to Ocean Township and set fire to his own home, to try to throw off investigators by making it look it like his family was being targeted by violent criminals.

The victim's bodies were discovered later that day, on Nov. 21, 2018, by emergency personnel responding to the long-smoldering mansion fire in Colts Neck.

Keith Caneiro had been shot four times in the head and once in the back. His wife and children were stabbed repeatedly and badly burned. Jennifer Caneiro also had been shot in the head.

Evidence against the defendant includes DNA analyzed by a cutting-edge computer program known as STRmix, created by Buckleton for use on small or mixed samples of DNA.

The state employed the STRmix technology to analyze 13 DNA samples collected from the two crime scenes in the Caneiro case - the victims' Colts Neck mansion and the defendant's Ocean Township home. The analysis concluded eight of those DNA samples were mixtures to which Paul Caneiro contributed.

The STRmix technology has been used in other cases brought to trial in New Jersey, but the Caneiro case marks the first time the defense has challenged its scientific reliability.

The upcoming hearing at which Oxley will be charged with ruling on the admissibility of the evidence it generated in the Caneiro case, therefore, has statewide implications, the judge said.

"This is a case of first impression,'' Oxley said, noting his ruling could have an affect on the 18 or 19 other cases that have already been decided.

In issuing his ruling, Oxley said the state Supreme Court has made it a priority since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic to return to in-person court proceedings, particularly in criminal matters.

The upcoming pretrial hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, will center on the admissibility of the evidence generated by the STRmix technology, a computer program that uses  a method known as "probabilistic genotyping'' to analyze DNA.

In order for the evidence to be admissible, prosecutors will have to show the technology is generally accepted as reliable in the scientific community.

Prosecutors have said it is important to have a ruling on the reliability of the STRmix technology because the state police now uses it in its crime lab.

But the state Public Defender's Office, in a motion filed on Caneiro's behalf last year, contends probabilistic genotyping is "a far cry from traditional, 'gold standard' DNA testing,'' and the STRmix software "pushes the bounds of DNA testing far past what scientists 'generally accept.'"

Traditional DNA analysis produces a statistical result on the probability that someone else chosen at random in the population would have the same DNA profile as the contributor of the forensic evidence, the defense motion said.

By contrast, probabilistic genotyping programs run thousands of computer simulations to predict individual profiles of people in a DNA mixture to compare with profiles of a known suspect or victim, the defense motion said.

With probabilistic genotyping, "the hypotheses are chosen by people - they represent subjective choices made by the investigators as to what scenarios they think are likely and should be tested,'' the defense motion said.

Aside from the evidence derived from the STRmix program, other evidence against Caneiro includes a pair of jeans and a latex glove with Sophia's blood on them, according to a police affidavit. Both items were recovered from a container in Paul Caneiro's home, where police also found an unspent 9mm round of ammunition, the affidavit said.

Caneiro is charged with four counts of murder, two counts of arson and theft of more than $75,000 from his brother's family. He also is charged with insurance fraud, accused of collecting disability benefits and continuing to work while having his paycheck issued to his wife following a car accident.

Caneiro has been in the Monmouth County Jail since his arrest shortly after the murder.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Witness can't testify from New Zealand in Caneiro Colts Neck murders