Prosecution warns judge that Dalal may flee to the Cayman Islands.
By Raif Karerat
A judge denied a bid on Oct. 30 to reduce the $4 million bail set for 23-year-old Indian American man, Aakash Dalal, charged in separate indictments with plotting to firebomb Jewish facilities and to kill a prosecutor in Bergen County, N.J.
Defense attorney Brian Neary presented Superior Court Judge Joseph V. Isabella with a slew of petitions signed by 5,000 members of the Indian community demonstrating their support for the defendant, Dalal, of New Brunswick, reported the Bergen Record.
Neary argued that the current figure of $1 million was excessive for a “kid” with no previous criminal record and deep roots in the community.
However, Anthony Talarico, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor, told the judge that Dalal allegedly planned to flee to the Cayman Islands if his parents pledged their home as security for a bond.
Prosecutors accuse Aakash Dalal of New Brunswick, N.J. of using electronic messaging to plan four fire bombings in Bergen County, including one in which Molotov cocktails allegedly were thrown into the home of a rabbi and his family in Rutherford.
Prosecutors said Dalal’s co-defendant, Anthony Marco Graziano, also 23, carried out the bombings in December 2011 and January 2012 under Dalal’s direction — including one at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford, another at Temple K’Hal Adath Jeshrun of Paramus, and an attempted arson at the Jewish Community Center of Paramus, according to Cliffview Pilot.
Following his arrest in early 2012 on charges of conspiring to attack the facilities, a search of Dalal’s prison cell allegedly uncovered “an enemies list†and a plot to murder Martin Delaney, the assistant prosecutor in charge of his investigation, authorities said.
Dalal is facing close to 90 years in state prison without eligibility for parole if convicted on the terrorism, aggravated arson, bias intimidation, attempted murder and hindering apprehension charges contained in two indictments.
The judge stated that Dalal’s community ties and lack of prior record was offset by the seriousness of the charges, the likelihood of conviction and the extent of the punishment he faces. He followed up by remarking that Dalal is “looking at spending the rest of his life in jail.”