The teenage son of a former New Jersey police officer accused of killing two high school girls in a hit-and-run crash involving his Jeep last year plans to pursue an insanity defense, his attorneys disclosed in court Monday.
Lawyers for Vincent Battiloro told a judge they intend to cite his mental health as they seek to avoid a conviction in the deaths of 17-year-old Cranford High School seniors Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas on Sept. 29, 2025.
“The court has received … the notice of defenses that you have put forward of diminished capacity and insanity,” Union County Judge Lisa Walsh said.
“Thank you, your honor,” Battiloro’s attorney, Rubin Sinins, replied.
Sinins entered a not-guilty plea on Battiloro’s behalf during the brief hearing at an Elizabeth courtroom. Battiloro, appearing in person for the first time, sat stone-faced in khaki jail clothing with his hands cuffed in front of him.
The mothers of Niotis and Salas sobbed and glared at Battiloro from the courtroom gallery. Both wore shirts bearing photos of their daughters and the words, “Justice for Bella and Maria.”
Battiloro, the son of a retired officer and the nephew of a local police chief, allegedly stalked Niotis for months before the killings, attorneys for the victims said.
Prosecutors allege the then-17-year-old Garwood resident was seeking revenge after Niotis reported him to police and helped get him suspended from school for harassing and stalking her and her family.
Battiloro’s parents, who are now 18, also contacted police four times in the weeks before the deaths, seeking advice about how to manage their troubled son.
According to prosecutors, Battiloro’s father said his son sprayed him in the face with mace before taking his car.
Outside court Monday, Cory Rothbort, an attorney for the Salas family, said he was not surprised by the defense’s decision to pursue diminished capacity and insanity claims.
“I don’t think that surprises anyone,” Rothbort told reporters. “That’s their strategy. That’s their tactic. We prepared the families for that.”
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Even so, Rothbort added, “It doesn’t take away the grief.”
Brent Bramnick, an attorney for the Niotis family, said the defense would use “every possible way they can to defend themselves.”
During the hearing, Sinins also said the defense would seek to move Battiloro’s case to another jurisdiction, citing in part the extensive media coverage.
“There have been things that happened in the public eye as well as in the media since the outset of this case that already give rise for the basis of the motion,” Sinins said, explaining his intention to ask that the trial be transferred to another court.
Jillian Reyes of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office told the judge that prosecutors were not offering Battiloro a plea agreement.
“At this point in time, the state is not giving an offer to the defense,” Reyes said.
Battiloro faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the two murder charges.
He was initially charged as a juvenile, but a judge approved transferring the case to adult court this summer. Monday marked Battiloro’s first appearance in person.
The day of the killings, Battiloro allegedly got into his Jeep and parked near one of the girls’ homes in Cranford, prosecutors claimed.
Battiloro saw the duo riding e-bikes in the opposite direction down the quiet road of the affluent town, before he whipped his car around and floored it, mowing them down at 70 mph in a 25-mph zone, prosecutors claimed.
He fled on foot and was arrested that day but was released mere hours later into his dad’s care. Battiloro was then arrested again two days later.
The lawyers for the victims’ families Monday called for the state attorney general’s office to probe if cops improperly handled Battiloro’s case because of his family cop ties.
Battiloro’s dad, Jeffrey Battiloro, is a retired Chatham Borough cop and his uncle is a police chief near Westfield.