Two men have entered guilty pleas in a 2018 home invasion that ended in a killing.
Thadius W. Oswald, 19, of Paulsboro, and Corey L. Grier, 21, of Woodbury, robbed three residents in a Woodbury home of their cash and cellphones on Aug 11, 2018.
One of those residents, Misael Ruiz Garcia, 32, then followed Oswald out of the Centre Street house and across the street, where prosecutors said Oswald turned and shot the victim at point-blank range.
Witnesses identified Oswald as the shooter and he was arrested two days later on charges including murder, robbery, theft, burglary and weapons offenses. A security camera video from a “very well-lit alleyway” showed him fleeing the scene, prosecutors said.
Oswald pleaded guilty June 7 to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and faces up to 26 years in prison when he is sentenced July 26, according to prosecutors.
Grier was arrested earlier this year on charges including felony murder, robbery and conspiracy. He lived near the victim and even attended his funeral.
He pleaded guilty Monday to a second-degree charge of conspiracy to commit robbery and prosecutors will recommend 8 years behind bars when he is sentenced Aug. 16.
Assistant Prosecutor Dana Anton noted in a February hearing that Oswald and Grier fled in opposite directions after leaving the Centre Street house, but the fact that Grier participated in the robbery — something he had already admitted to — made him accountable for the killing, even if he didn’t pull the trigger.
Grier’s public defender, Richard O’Brien, said his client was on good terms with Ruiz Garcia and described the killing as “a spontaneous action on the part of Mr. Oswald that Mr. Grier could never have contemplated."
Grier’s prior record includes three felony convictions for robbery, burglary and obstruction.
Oswald wasn’t a newcomer to the criminal justice system, either. Two months before the killing, he was indicted on weapons charges.
Gloucester County Prosecutor Charles Fiore praised the work by his staff and Woodbury police in pursuing the case and securing the guilty pleas.
Corey L. Grier, 21, of Woodbury, appears before Superior Court Judge Kevin T. Smith for a detention hearing at Gloucester County Superior Court, in Woodbury, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. Grier is charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy, burglary and theft.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Medi
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