Mistrial for Bordentown's Castagna

After a lengthy trial on charges that he plotted to have his wife killed, Philip Castagna anticipated a resolution to a six-year legal saga that included his suspension as police chief of Bordentown City.

Yesterday, his fate only grew knottier, as a Burlington County jury acquitted him on one charge each of aggravated arson and contempt, but could not agree on whether he had conspired to commit murder.

Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Smith Jr. declared a mistrial shortly before noon on the jury's third day of deliberations.

"We have reviewed the evidence again and still cannot come to a unanimous decision," jurors said in a note received at 11:20 a.m., referring to the count of murder conspiracy and an accompanying contempt charge. Jurors wrote Thursday that they were at an impasse on those charges.

Any retrial of the suspended police chief will exclude the charges on which he was acquitted yesterday. A conference on the matter is scheduled in court for May 11.

Outside the courtroom, Castagna thanked the relatives and friends who supported him and expressed relief at the outcome. He called the case against him unjust.

"To this day, I don't know why this was done to me," said Castagna, 47.

His mother, Roberta Petrow, was more blunt: "What they did to my son was bull-," she said.

Burlington County Prosecutor Robert Bernardi said in a statement that the prosecution was disappointed, adding, "In this case, the jury has spoken, and we must accept their verdict. We will now prepare to retry Mr. Castagna pursuant to the court's direction."

The alleged murder plot was never carried out, and the estranged wife, Joyce Leopold, was not harmed.

During the trial, which opened Feb. 18, the prosecution argued that Castagna enlisted the help of a convicted felon to set fire to Leopold's house. His motive, the state said, was frustration that a temporary restraining order the woman secured against him in June 2003 was ruining his professional life.

Much of the state's case on that issue hinged on the word of the felon, Gary Hall, who was also the prosecution's star witness. He said in court that he set fire to Leopold's Burlington City home in July 2003 after Castagna, then his friend, asked him to do it.

But authorities gathered no forensic evidence at the scene, and the defense raised the possibility of Hall's having a separate motive to commit arson. The day before the fire, Hall appeared in court for a domestic dispute with his former girlfriend - a good friend of Leopold's to whom Castagna had introduced him. The ex-girlfriend was at Leopold's house the night of the fire, the defense argued.

Castagna was suspended from his job shortly thereafter, over charges that he threatened Leopold in violation of the restraining order. His conviction was later overturned.

Hall testified that he went to the authorities in August 2004 once Castagna began enlisting his help to kill Leopold, fearful that investigators already suspected Hall's role in the arson and would suspect him again if Leopold turned up dead.

The secret tapes he made of their conversations between August and October 2004 - the month Castagna was arrested - were at the heart of the prosecution's case that the police chief conspired to have his wife killed.

On the tapes played for the jury, Castagna never explicitly asked Hall to kill his wife. His statements were often vague and brief. Once, he told Hall to "accomplish the mission," but did not say what that mission was.

Defense attorney Robin Lord noted that Hall neglected to tape many conversations, and indicated in conversations with investigators that only a few words out of someone's mouth could make him sound guilty. She argued that authorities did not adequately supervise his taping or try to verify his claims by putting him and Castagna under surveillance.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano said that Castagna's intentions were clear, however, and that the police chief did not need to spell out in detail on the tapes what he wanted Hall to do after they had already talked about it.

Lord, who assailed Hall's credibility throughout the trial, returned to the same theme yesterday in remarks outside the courtroom.

"We're delighted that the jury saw through the bull behind the arson charge," said Lord. "However, I can't for the life of me understand why they were hung on the conspiracy to commit murder charge, when it was absolutely obvious that the state's case was based on the words of a lunatic."

Castagna said yesterday that he wanted to return to his police chief job in Bordentown City, where officials have said they would pursue administrative charges against him if he were acquitted. Those charges, which allege misconduct unrelated to the criminal case, were shelved pending the outcome of the trial.

The man who holds the position now is Matthew Simmons - a best man at the wedding of Castagna and Leopold.

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