DiTaranto's Bid for Trial Date Granted

A motion by the attorney for Bradley Gardens resident Rocky DiTaranto, accused of murdering Carlyn Stone on May 24, 2009, has been granted, according to NJ.com.

DiTaranto's lawyer, James Wronko, made the request Aug. 15 in state Superior Court in Somerville, to Judge John Pursel. DiTaranto, of Maple Street, has been held in Somerset County Jail since he and two other men—David Granskie Jr., 26, of Oak Street, and Gary Wilson, 30, of Leghorn Avenue—were charged with killing Stone, 45, at a party over the 2009 Memorial Day weekend at a Bradley Gardens home.

Wednesday, Pursel granted the motion and said a date for the trial would be set at an Oct. 4 pretrial hearing. 

Wilson pleaded guilty on a murder charge  last month and was sentenced to 45 years in state prison. DiTaranto and Granskie will be tried together.

The trial has been delayed due to changes in Granskie's legal representation, and an appeal of a judge's ruling regarding a confession made by Granskie that his lawyers claimed was false.

But at Wilson's trial, Wilson testified that the three were drinking alcohol and doing drugs while at a Memorial Day weekend barbecue at the Oak Street home where Stone lived with Granskie's father. He said in the middle of the night, DiTaranto led Stone, who was also intoxicated, into the backyard of the home to have sex with her. 

Wilson said DiTaranto and Stone had sex in the backyard on the ground, with DiTaranto keeping his hands on Stone's neck to hold her down. Wilson said he then dropped a cinder block three times on her head to keep her quiet, causing her death.

As part of Wilson's trial, he agreed to testify against Granskie and DiTaranto.