A jury has declared New Jersey father Christopher Gregor guilty of aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment following the death of his 6-year-old son, whom he subjected to abusive treadmill exercises.
The guilty verdict concluded a four-week trial during which jurors listened to multiple witnesses concerning the circumstances leading to Corey Micciolo’s death.
Thirty-one-year-old Gregor faced charges of first-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child, based on surveillance footage from the gym in his apartment complex that captured him forcing his son to run at high speeds on a treadmill. The video depicted Gregor persistently increasing the treadmill’s speed, causing his son to fall off the machine six times.
The jury convicted him of the lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter.
Gregor’s sentencing is set for August 2, and he could face up to 40 years in prison.
“What kind of father would do this to their son?” Christine Lento, an assistant Ocean County prosecutor, queried the jury during her closing arguments.
As prosecutors presented the surveillance footage, Lento explained that “Corey is completely flat on his face on the treadmill,” yet his father continued to escalate the speed and failed to assist his son.
“Everything that you need and want to know is captured on this video,” she emphasized to the jurors.
Prosecutors also pointed out that the child had contusions all over his body and that both his heart and liver were lacerated.
In their closing arguments, Gregor’s defense team argued that the prosecutor had failed to prove that Corey’s death was attributable to blunt-force trauma and organ lacerations, as the autopsy had indicated.
The defense asserted that the boy succumbed to a “rapidly spreading infection” and not the injuries from repeatedly falling off the treadmill.
Defense attorneys also addressed a segment of the gym footage where Gregor seems to bite his son’s head, arguing that Gregor did not bite the boy and that there was no physical evidence to support such a claim.
Gregor chose not to testify in his defense, which elicited audible gasps from those present in the courtroom.
The case has garnered national attention, with the video being described as a “microcosm of every child abuse case in America.”
Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, stated that she had reported suspected abuse over 100 times in an 18-month period, yet no action was taken before the child’s demise.
Two days following Corey’s death, Gregor was stopped by Alcoa, Tennessee, police for speeding in a construction zone. Bodycam footage from the encounter depicts Gregor blaming Corey’s mother for their son’s death.
Rich McHugh contributed to this story.
