Jurors Hear Six State Witnesses in Daniels Murder Trial

COURT HOUSE — Jurors heard testimony of six state witnesses on Aug. 2 in the murder trial of Gerald Daniels, accused in the June 2004 stabbing death of 81-year-old Sandman Towers resident Wallace Savitz in Wildwood.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Johnson called Larry Meehan as the state’s first witness. A fifth floor resident of Sandman Towers, Meehan served as a security officer for the building in June 2004.
He told the jury, “I knew Wally [Savitz] well.”
“Did you ever see Mr. Daniels in the hallways when you were working security?” Johnson asked.
“A few times,” Meehan said.
“Did you receive a lot of complaints about him, written or oral?” Johnson questioned.
“Most were oral,” Meehan responded.
When asked if there times when he would receive a compliant about Daniels and then not report it, Meehan answered affirmatively.
“How were Daniels and Savitz getting along in June 2004?” Johnson asked.
“They weren’t getting along. They both hated each other,” Meehan said.
Assistant Deputy Public Defender Defense Mary Pfeifle asked about people sleeping in the hallways. Meehan said that people had been doing so in or around June 2004 and one person wasn’t a resident.
Meehan said Daniels was always polite.
“I never had any problem with Gerry [Daniels],” Meehan said.
Johnson asked one more question of Meehan, “Did Wally complain about anyone else in June 2004?”
“No, Gerry was the only one he told me about,” Meehan said.
The second witness was Nicholas Thompson, assistant executive director of the Wildwood Housing Authority in June 2004.
He said because of the amount of complaints about Daniels, he’d prepared a notice to cease. Eight residents were listed in the notice to cease; Savitz was not one of them.
On the cross-examination, Pfeifle asked about the notice to cease. The notice was completed, but never served because Thompson was unable to locate Daniels on Friday June 11, 2004. On the morning of June 14 Savitz was found dead.
Thompson described the notice as a violation of the lease, but “more or less a warning.” He said all of the residents named on the notice had spoken to him directly, but Savitz’s name was not on the list.
The third witness was Wildwood Police Detective Walter Cupernot, a member of the force for 16 years.
On June 14, 2004, Cupernot was asked to review security tapes to determine which cameras showed Wallace Savitz’s most recent exit and return.
Cupernot said he spent two hours observing the surveillance tapes and observed Savitz return to the building at 5:37 p.m. June 12 wearing the white T-shirt, dark pants, and white sneakers in which he was found dead. A baseball cap he was wearing in the surveillance footage was also found at the scene.
He said he observed Daniels on the tape June 12 and initially said he saw him return but never exit, which led him to draw the conclusion Daniels used another door.
On cross-examination, Pfeifle played DVD copies of the tapes pulled from a hard-drive taken from another camera angle of the front entrance, of what appears to be Daniels leaving the building at 6:43 p.m. June 12, and on three other occasions over the next 24 hours.
Cupernot agreed he had been mistaken.
The state’s next witness was Ronald Hamann Jr., the principal draftsman for the county Engineer’s Office who created a diagram of Room 606 with a ratio of 1 inch to 1 foot, including a color-coded legend, with the location of the body, a sponge mop, frying pan and blood.
Hamaan was followed by testimony of Officer Sean Yuhas, patrolman for the City of Wildwood.
Yuhas said Sgt. McLaughlin asked him to join the investigation and was tasked with the initial interview of Daniels with senior investigator Michael Hickman. Inside Daniels’ apartment, he said he sat down in a chair; saw a blood spot on a wall and what appeared to be a bloodstain on the bed sheet.
He said Daniels denied knowing Savitz, going to his apartment or Savitz coming to his apartment.
The next witness was Michael Hickman, a lieutenant for approximately three years, a sergeant in 2004 and member of the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office.
On June 14, 2004, he was assigned by his lieutenant to assist with the search of James Reilly Jr.’s room and an interview.
Hickman testified he had to read the forms to Reilly Jr., who is blind, and that Reilly Jr. was cooperative the whole time.
Hickman said an interview with Meehan led him to question Daniels. He said when he went to Room 203 on June 15 and smelled bleach, he also noticed a recently wet floor and a recently wiped wall. He said Daniels had scratches on his arms and knuckles.
“Did he demonstrate any problems?” asked Johnson.
“No,” replied Hickman.
“Did he show you he couldn’t understand?” inquired Johnson.
“No,” Hickman said.
“Did he know Wally Savitz was dead?” asked Johnson.
“Yes,” Hickman said.
Hickman testified that Daniels said his mother told him June 14.
He said that Daniels also said scratches were from picking up paper on Morey’s Pier, a job he did for a guy named Jake.
Hickman said an investigation found there was no one by the name of Jake who worked for the organization.
Pfeifle asked about Hickman’s training in interviewing mentally disabled individuals. He said that he had none.
Hickman testified he spent an hour and a half in Reilly Jr.’s room and that there was a spot of blood on the bottom of his bed.
“Did he have an explanation for the blood?” Pfeifle asked.
“He said there’s no reason it would be anyone else’s blood,” Hickman said.
Jurors were dismissed before 4 p.m. with the instruction not to return to the courthouse until yesterday morning to hear what is expected to be the last of the state’s witnesses. The defense will then begin the presentation of its case.