Superior Court Judge Mark Troncone, sitting in Toms River, ruled against Conrad Sipa, who was convicted of murder in the death of New York City fire lieutenant Richard Doody Jr., the New Jersey Law Journal reported.
Police discovered Doody’s body wrapped in a blanket at the couple’s Barnegat Light home after Murray called them from the couple’s Staten Island home to check on him.
Sipa, an occupational therapist from Colts Neck who’d been staying at the beach house, contended that he killed his 60-year-old friend in self defense.
The wrongful death suit brought by Doody’s widow, Virginia Murray, was stayed during the criminal trial. It was lifted after jurors in Ocean County convicted Sipa of murder, tampering with evidence, hindering apprehension and weapons offenses in April 2019.
Sipa, who turns 48 in a week, is serving a 40-year maximum sentence in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, records show. He’s not eligible for parole until 2053, when he’d be 80.
The award, reported by the New Jersey Law Journal, includes $3 million in past and future lost wages for Doody, whose pension as a retired firefighter ended when he was killed, $29,383 to Murray for damage to the couple’s Barnegat Light home during the killing, $1.5 million for pain, suffering and terror experienced by Doody just before his death and $540,000 to Murray for loss of services, consortium, companionship, counsel, advice and support.
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