Tuesday, August 10, 2010
By JULIUS ZEITLINGER
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The trial of a Jersey City Heights man charged with killing his girlfriend two years ago is set to resume this morning at 9 a.m. in Hudson County Superior Court.
A jury was chosen last week to the hear the case against Leonardo Buccheri, 42, who is charged with fatally shooting Soveira Rojas, 28, inside the couple's Webster Avenue home on Aug. 10, 2008.
When police arrived at the Webster Avenue home, they found a "defaced" .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol belonging to Buccheri at the scene, reports said.
Buccheri said that Rojas shot herself after they arrived home from a barbecue at Palisades Interstate Park in Bergen County, reports said.
Buccheri was originally charged with several weapons offenses, but was later charged with the murder after the state Regional Medical Examiner's Office ruled it a homicide and after ballistics tests by the State Police, reports said.
The state alleges that Buccheri was in possession of the weapon and shot Rojas in the chest, said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Rinaldi.
Buccheri, who is currently being held at the Hudson County jail in Kearny without bail, faces a sentence of 30 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder charge, Rinaldi said.
A medical examiner and a State Police investigator are expected to testify today, the assistant prosecutor said.
The defense attorney is Paul Condon.
Buccheri was sentenced in May 1996 to a four-year term in state prison for burglary and was released on parole in April 1997.
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