A Gloucester County judge rushed the decision to grant a bench trial for a man accused of beating his parents to death in 2016, an appeals court ruled Monday.
The error gives Ryan E. Coles a new trial in the killings of Edward M. Coles Jr., 58, and Rosemarie Coles, 55, who were slain in the West Deptford home where their son also lived.
The now 36-year-old had been serving an 80-year term with a 33-year mandatory minimum in state prison.
A spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said Monday that prosecutors were still reading the decision and had no immediate comment.
A judge found Coles guilty at a bench trial – where the judge acts as jury – in early 2022.
The decision to grant that trial, though, was full of faulty decisions by the judge, a two-judge appeals panel wrote.
In late 2019, a different judge granted Coles’ defense attorney’s motion to have a bench trial, but did it without properly questioning Coles, nor explaining exactly why.
The judge did not have attorneys write motions, and granted the bench trial after an oral motion in open court. During that hearing, the judge asked Coles three basic questions without placing him under oath about the bench trial.
That judge was not named in the appeals decision.
Granting a bench trial requires judges make a principled decision based on law and fact, and follow four guidelines to determine if a defendant, “voluntarily, knowingly, and competently” is waiving the right to a jury trial, the ruling says.
The judge satisfied only one of the requirements, it says.
“That failure is particularly egregious here because defendant’s motion sought a waiver of his right to a jury trial in a case in which he was charged with two first-degree murders, and the gravity of those offenses therefore ‘tilted’ in favor of denying defendant’s motion but that was not considered by the court,” the appeals judges wrote.
And they had these words for the judge: “In sum, the [judge] abused its discretion by granting defendant’s motion because the [judge] had failed to consider or apply the correct legal standard, its colloquy with defendant did not satisfy the minimum requirements for a waiver... and it failed to provide any reasoned explanation — the [judge] provided no explanation at all — for its order granting defendant’s motion.”
At the ensuing bench trial, Coles’ defense attorney argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity and called a forensic psychologist to the stand to bolster the argument.
The Gloucester prosecutor argued Coles knew he was killing his parents, and had a forensic psychiatrist testify Coles suffered no mental disease or defect.
Coles’ grandfather had found the victims’ bodies underneath a pile of laundry in their home. The morning of the crimes, Edward Coles Jr. told his son that he and his mother planned to move into a 55-plus retirement community, the appeals decision says.
Ryan Coles admitted to police he’d beaten his parents with his fists, a wood chair and a glass bowl, the appeals decision says, and said, “I’ll never forgive myself for what I just did to my mom.”
After his conviction, but before he was sentenced, Coles had complained in a hand-written motion asking for a new trial about his trial lawyer’s effectiveness, including that it was his “impression” that the judge would find him not guilty by reason of insanity if he opted for a bench trial rather than a jury trial.
Coles also said in the motion he wanted to switch to a jury trial, but his attorney disregarded the request.
The defense attorney continued to represent Coles through his sentencing, and the trial judge later denied the motion for a new trial and told Coles he could appeal after his sentencing.
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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.
