NJ Appellate Court upholds Bridgewater carjacking conviction
SOMERVILLE - An East Orange man who pleaded guilty to a 2016 carjacking in Bridgewater has lost the appeal of his conviction.
Bryan A. Gibbs, 23, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Kathy Qasim to seven years in state prison for his role in the carjacking in a corporate parking garage.
Gibbs will be eligible for parole on July 10.
A co-defendant, Cody Masiello, 23, of Bridgewater was also sentenced to seven years in prison. He will be eligible for parole on Dec. 27.
Gibbs appealed his conviction on the grounds that he was not allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and his attorney was "ineffective."
On July 18, 2016, the victim was sitting alone in a white Toyota Corolla in the parking garage when two young men ran toward the car. One tapped on the window and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint. The driver cooperated and after the pair fled in the car, he ran to a nearby building to ask someone to call police.
In a canvass of the area, police found two men, later identified as Gibbs and Masiello, who fit a description given by the victim. Police took them to the garage for a showup with the victim who said they were not the carjackers. No arrest was made.
Local crime: Former Bridgewater-Raritan band director faces sex assault charge in Kansas
But five days later, Gibbs was pulled over in Seaside Heights for running a stop sign in Seaside Heights in the stolen Toyota. Masiello was also in the car.
After Gibbs and Masiello gave conflicting accounts, they were taken to police headquarters, where they denied any involvement in the carjacking, court papers say.
But a few weeks later, Masiello told police he was "tired of lying" and said he and Gibbs were involved in the carjacking.
A search of Gibbs' residence found the victim's house keys. A warrant for his cell phone records found a text message to a friend, saying he had "wheels" but the car was "hot," according to court documents.
Gibbs, a few days short of his 18th birthday, was charged as a juvenile with first-degree carjacking in the Family Division of Superior Court. Six months later, Gibbs consented to have his case moved up to the Criminal Division of Superior Court as part of a plea agreement. Gibbs agreed to be sentenced as a second-degree offender to seven years in prison, three years less than the sentence for a first-degree offender.
But six months after pleading guilty before Judge Robert Reed, Gibbs made a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, which was denied.
Gibbs then applied for post-conviction relief, arguing his lawyer failed to conduct a pre-trial investigation of the case and did not adequately communicate with him.
That was denied and Gibbs went to the appellate court to challenge that denial.
But the appellate court on Tuesday rejected the appeal, saying his argument was not supported by the record.
"His arguments amount to no more than bald assertions insufficient to establish a prima facie case of ineffective assistance of counsel," the appellate court wrote in its 13-page opinion.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Appellate Court upholds Bridgewater carjacking conviction
