Christopher Gregor trial: Dad won't testify at trial in son Corey Micciolo's death

TOMS RIVER - In a surprise twist, testimony at the trial of Christopher Gregor in the murder of his 6-year-old son concluded Tuesday, with the defendant telling the judge he would not take the witness stand.

"I will not testify, your honor,'' Gregor, 31, of Barnegat, told Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan.

Defense attorney Mario Gallucci then told the judge, "There are no other defense witnesses.''

Prosecutors said they would not call any rebuttal witnesses.

Gallucci told the judge last week he planned to elicit lengthy testimony from his client, who is accused in the murder of his son, Corey Micciolo.

On Tuesday, Gallucci said that although he spent "many days'' consulting with Gregor and prepping him for his testimony, ultimately it was his client's decision not to testify.

"He has considered all of the ramifications, the pluses and minuses,'' Gallucci said. "I'm satisfied he understands the ramifications.''

The final witness called by the defense was Dr. Michael Baden, the renowned forensic pathologist who hosted the HBO series "Autopsy.''

Baden, on the witness stand Tuesday morning and part of the afternoon, told the jury that Corey most likely died as a result of severe pneumonia or another sudden, natural cause of death for which there is no explanation.

Baden contradicted the state's expert pathologist, who testified the child was the victim of a homicide and his death was caused by blunt-force injuries to his chest and lacerations to his heart and liver.

But Baden told the jury those injuries were caused during the aggressive, cardiopulmonary resuscitation that was performed on Corey for 49 minutes at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford in an unsuccessful attempt to save his life on April 2, 2021.

"The most likely cause of death was a very severe, rapid pneumonia,'' Baden testified inside a packed courtroom.

He said the child had symptoms reflecting that - shortness of breath, a bluish tint to his skin and a very low oxygen level. In addition, a CT scan showed the presence of pneumonia, Baden said, discounting physicians who testified for the state that CT scans of dead people's lungs are useless.

Baden also offered another possible theory about Corey's death - "sudden unexplained death in children syndrome.''

Baden said that is like sudden infant death syndrome, except it applies to young children who die suddenly when their heart stops, he said.

"Not knowing the reason, it's called sudden unexplained death in children syndrome,'' Baden said.

"The manner of death, from all the information we have, is natural,'' he testified of Corey's death.

Corey died a little more than an hour after Gregor brought him to the emergency room at Southern Ocean Medical Center, just hours after the child's mother returned him to his father after taking him to several medical facilities to be examined for suspected child abuse.

In addition to the boy's murder, Gregor also is charged with endangering his welfare, stemming from an incident on March 20, 2021, in which surveillance video at the gym in his apartment complex captured him speeding up a treadmill on which Corey was running, causing the child to repeatedly fall off the machine.

The state's medical witnesses have testified that Corey was in good health, except for bruises on his body, when his mother took him to see three doctors the day before he died.

Dr. Thomas Andrew, former chief medical examiner for New Hampshire, and Dr. Anat Feingold, an expert in pediatric infectious disease at Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, both previously testified for the state that Corey did not have pneumonia. Feingold told the jury last week that there was no bacteria or infection at all in Corey when he died.

Attorneys are expected to deliver their summations on Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Treadmill abuse trial: Day 10 in Christopher Gregor murder case