(NewsNation) — A jury has found New Jersey father Christopher Gregor guilty of aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment in the death of his 6-year-old son, who he forced to do abusive treadmill workouts.
The verdict comes after a four-week trial where jurors heard from several witnesses over what could have led to the death of Corey Micciolo.
Gregor, 31, was initially charged with first-degree murder and endangerment of the welfare of a child stemming from surveillance video from the gym in his apartment complex that showed Gregor forcing his son to run at high speeds on a treadmill. The video shows Gregor continually increasing the speed on the treadmill, which forced his son to fall off the exercise equipment six times.
The jury convicted him of the lesser offense of aggravated manslaughter.
Gregor’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 2. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
Former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas that the “jury got it right” and that the legal system finally got justice for a boy who had long been abused.
Lawyers battled over treadmill abuse
“What kind of father would do this to their son?” Christine Lento, an assistant Ocean County prosecutor, asked the jury during closing arguments Wednesday.
As prosecutors played the surveillance video, Lento stated that “Corey is completely flat on his face on the treadmill,” but his father didn’t stop increasing the speed and did nothing to help his son.
“Everything that you need and want to know is captured on this video,” she told jurors.
Prosecutors also noted the boy had contusions all over his body, and his heart and liver were lacerated.
Gregor’s defense attorney pushed back, saying in closing arguments that the prosecution did not present any evidence that Corey died from blunt force trauma and lacerations to his heart and liver as the autopsy determined.
Instead, the defense team said the boy died from a “rapidly spreading infection” and not from injuries sustained when he repeatedly fell off the treadmill.
Defense attorneys also addressed a part of the gym video where Gregor appears to bite his son’s head. The father didn’t bite the boy, and there was no physical evidence that he did, Gregor’s attorney told jurors.
Gregor decided not to testify in his own defense, which drew audible gasps from those watching in the courtroom this week.
A ‘microcosm’ of child abuse
The case has drawn nationwide attention as the video highlights what some have called a “microcosm of every child abuse case in America.”
Former prosecutor Matt Murphy told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo that the trial is emblematic of sad reality of abuse.
“This is the way it always goes,” Murphy said on “CUOMO.” “You’ve got a child who is abused. The defense will almost every time call in experts to say that this was a part of resuscitation efforts. This is happening all across America.”
Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, said she reported suspected abuse over 100 times in 18 months, but no action was taken before the child’s death.
Jessica Pryce, author of “Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services,” told “CUOMO” last week that CPS has “to take accountability for what happened in this case.”
“When I was in the field, there was this line between the family court and CPS … But I want CPS to realize that we can’t do child safety alone … We’ve got to be the leader because we’re the experts in (keeping) kids safe.”
Two days after Corey’s death, Gregor was pulled over by Alcoa, Tennessee, police for speeding in a construction zone. In bodycam footage of the interaction, Gregor can be seen blaming Corey’s mother for his death.
NewsNation’s Rich McHugh contributed to this story.
