39°
Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Foti ordered that Michael Gaffney, 21, remain under home confinement, except for medical treatment and visits with his attorney. He also must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, she said.
Foti said the “weight of the evidence” against Gaffney in the death of Francis Victoria Garcia wasn’t as “overwhelming” as she initially believed.
Authorities accused Gaffney of causing Garcia’s death through asphyxiation by compression of the spinal cord, which investigators said he told them occurred during rough sex in the back seat of her car in the parking garage of a Hackensack high-rise after they'd attended a party there.
“Compression injuries" were found around Garcia's neck, indicating that asphyxiation killed her, the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office reported.
Granted a second detention hearing, Gaffney's lawyer on Thursday pointed to evidence photos taken by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification that didn’t show a “handprint-shaped” bruise that prosecutors cited at the first hearing last month.
Responders who administered Narcan at the scene noticed a "substantial amount of vomit" in her airway, defense attorney Adam Lustberg told the judge, as nearly 20 relatives and loved ones on each side looked on in the Hackensack courtroom.
The final diagnosis by emergency room physicians at Hackensack University Medical Center was a "benzodiazepine overdose," the lawyer argued.
The case made headlines after Gaffney was charged with reckless manslaughter and sent to the Bergen County Jail on Nov. 2.
It blew up even bigger after prosecutors at the initial Nov. 13 detention hearing said Gaffney told them he'd posted an Instagram video that he'd made -- and later deleted -- of a naked, unconscious Garcia.
They said it bore the caption: "Just f***ed this b***h. I don't know what to do."
Investigators said Gaffney told them that he met Garcia on Instagram and went to the Nov. 1 party at 140 Prospect Avenue with her in her car.
After leaving the party, they returned to her car in the building’s parking garage and had sex in the back seat that got rough, authorities said Gaffney told them.
Gaffney returned to the apartment and announced that Garcia wasn’t breathing, after which someone went back to the car with him, prosecutors said.
City police then got a 911 call.
SEE: Maywood Man, 21, Charged With Killing Bloomingdale Woman In Car Outside Hackensack Party
Click here to follow Daily Voice Elizabeth and receive free news updates.
