A Monmouth County grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday charging suspended Neptune Township Police Officer Philip Seidle with one count each of first degree Murder, second degree Possession of a Firearm for an Unlawful Purpose and second degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child, announced acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Seidle, 51, of Neptune Township, is currently being held in the Mercer County Correctional Center, Hopewell Township, on $2 million bail with no ten percent option, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, P.J.Cr. Since that time, a motion for bail reduction before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner was denied.
He is charged with the shooting death of Tamara Seidle, the mother of his nine children.
If convicted of Murder, Seidle faces a minimum sentence of 30 years without parole in a New Jersey state prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole. Under New Jersey law, an individual who is convicted of Murder may be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole if the murder was committed by his own conduct and one or more of the enumerated aggravating factors exist.
Seidle faces life without parole because the grand jury found he committed the homicidal act by his own conduct and due to the existence of two aggravating factors – that he purposely or knowingly created a grave risk of danger of death to another person in addition to the victim; and that the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind or an aggravated assault to the victim.
If convicted of Possession of Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, Seidle faces a maximum of 10 years in a New Jersey state prison, subject to a mandatory minimum of one-half of the sentence imposed or 42 months (3.5 years), whichever is greater, without parole.
If convicted of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Seidle faces a sentence of five to ten years in state prison.
