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With Bergen County’s courts struggling with half the normal complement of judges and the weight of a murder trial now in its fourth month, the prosecution of Sui Kam “Tony” Tung has to wait.
Robert Cantor
Defense attorney Robert N. Kalisch told Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi that neither he nor Assistant Prosecutor Wayne Mello has time for a major trial.
Kalisch is representing a defendant in a drug and weapons case and Mello is prosecuting a homicide.
Mello had a stand-in today — Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer, who is handling a murder trial of her own.
The judge set a March 2 date for all the return, clean up any outstanding issues and set a trial date.
Tung had a private lawyer but then apparently ran out of money, necessitating the appointment of Kalisch from the Public Defender’s Office, accounting for one of the delays.
Meanwhile, he remains held on $3 million bail, charged with murder, aggravated arson and desecrating human remains, among other offenses.
Detectives arrested Tung at his Yorkville apartment May 4, 2012, more than a year after Cantor’s body was found in the basement of his Teaneck home. Cantor had been shot and his Elm Avenue house set on fire.
Cantor and Tung’s estranged wife had been dating while both were in divorce proceedings, and Tung had confronted Cantor at his house more than once, authorities said.
Tung began stalking the popular Verizon software engineer after learning of the romantic relationship in 2010, as both couples were being divorced, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time.
A few months before the killing, Tung went to Cantor’s house and demanded to know where the two had sex, the prosecutor said. So Cantor brought him to a bedroom in the basement, where his body was later found, Molinelli said.
Tung showed up again the night of March 6, 2011, the prosecutor said. After shooting Cantor several times, Tung set the house on fire, he said.
An expert in computer repair, Tung then erased the hard drives on all of his computers, among other measures, to destroy evidence, he said.
STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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