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Indications are that Bergen County prosecutors will bring in a strangulation expert to bolster their case, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
A defense attorney seeking a bail reduction for Thomas Cieslik today said he and the prosecutors are too far apart in plea negotiations to reach a deal. He instead asked that Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi lower his client’s bail.
The judge, in turn, said a request for a bail reduction would have to formally be made.
Cieslik’s original bail was $300,000, but DeAvila-Silebi increased it to $530,000 last May, two days after he was jailed.
Cieslik, of Union, bit the woman around the back of her neck, breaking her skin, then threw her off the bed, a five-count indictment returned by a Bergen County grand jury alleges.
She tried to use her cellphone to call police, but it was dead, prosecutors said.
When she tried plugging in the phone charger, the woman told police, Cieslik took it from her, broke it and tied the cord around her neck, holding it until she blacked out.
When she came to, she said, she went straight to North Arlington police headquarters.
Knowing he was wanted, Cieslik turned himself in the next day, North Arlington Police Chief Louis Ghione told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Cieslik and his lawyer are due back before DeAvila-Silebi on March 4.
STORY: Mary K. Miraglia
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