November 6, 2009
By KEN SERRANO
STAFF WRITER
Daniel Charron on Friday went to court for a second time to admit that he killed his live-in girlfriend with a carving knife and tried to kill four children including three of his own in December 2007.
Responding to questions from his attorney, Gregory Jordan, Charron acknowledged in a faint voice that he stabbed Myra Morrissey, 38, with the intent to murder her.
The South Amboy man began to plead guilty Thursday to one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder in trying to kill the children, ages 7 to 12. But the admission came only in broad terms and Judge James Mulvihill in Superior Court, New Brunswick, asked for more detail.
Charron, 50, told Mulvihill he was too embarrassed to continue when his attorney, Gregory Jordan, asked him what type of weapon he used.
"I'm done answering questions about victims," said Charron, handcuffed and shackled. "That's it."
Jordan later told Mulvihill that Charron "didn't want this to become a spectacle."
The added detail Friday, it turned out, did not amount to much. Charron merely responded yes to the questions. The only difference was the addition of the knife.
Amid the other charges, he also acknowledged molesting a young child, pleading guilty to sexual assault.
Sentencing for Charron is scheduled for Feb. 1, although Charron must undergo evaluation at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, which could delay the hearing. Charron, through his attorney, asked Mulvihill if his children could attend the sentencing so he could apologize to them in person. The children's mother will make that decision, Mulvihill said.
Under the plea agreement reached by Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Julie Davidson, Charron will spend 30 years in prison and will become eligible for parole only after the term ends.
He will undergo parole supervision for another 15 years.
Also under the plea agreement, he will also be sentenced to 10 years on all the charges other than murder, but that sentence will run at the same time as the 30-year term.
Outside the New Brunswick courtroom yesterday, Charron's ex-wife and the mother of his three children declined to comment on the plea agreement.
Police went to the home at 360 Henry St. at about 11:45 p.m. Dec. 1, 2007, after a 911 call came from a neighboring house where one of the injured children ran. Morrissey was found mortally injured with several knife wounds to her chest and back. In all, four children in the house were injured and taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where they were treated and released. Morrissey was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the attack.
Televised news reports showed a witness who claimed a barely-clothed Charron came out shortly after one of the children fled the house bleeding. The scene in South Amboy was chaotic with two helicopters landing at night, medics tending to the victims and police converging on the area.
Questioned by investigators, Charron, an exterminator at the time of the slaying, later said during a taped confession, "If you guys say I did something I guess that's a sign that I did something... I could have had a rage and done something."
Disgusted with himself as a convicted sex offender, he said his plan was to kill everyone in the house then kill himself by plowing his vehicle head-on into a truck on Route 9.
Ken Serrano: 732-565-7212; kserrano@MyCentralJersey.com
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