Attorney for man accused in dad’s killing says police used trickery to get confession (2024)

The attorney for a Brick man accused in the beating death of his father told a judge Thursday that detectives used trickery to obtain a confession from his alleged accomplice and former prison bunkmate.

Mark J. Austin, 28, is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses in the death of his dad Mark R. Austin, who authorities said was found bludgeoned and underneath blankets on a sofa in his Acorn Drive home on Sept. 7.

Jeray Melton, 27, of Salem City is also charged in the murder.

Melton confessed to his role in the killing nearly a week into the investigation, authorities said. He told authorities that Austin, his former jail bunk mate, drove him to Brick and held a gun to his head while ordering him to beat the father to death, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

But Austin’s attorney, Robert DeGroot, argued in court Thursday that the statement Melton offered police was coerced and the result of leading questions by investigators.

Instead, DeGroot said Austin had picked up Melton in Salem that night and drove him to his Brick residence to sell him marijuana, then drove Melton back to Salem. However, Austin offered a different story to police initially, saying he picked up his father’s friend on Route 70 that day and brought him back to the residence, then drove the man back to Route 70, according to the affidavit.

“If someone is alive today and has a streaming TV and had the occasion to see ‘Making of a Murderer’ on Netflix, I suggest that this instance, the conduct of the police in dealing with Jeray Melton, is no different than what was depicted there,” DeGroot said. “The state starts to feed a theory of the case. And Jeray Melton starts to adopt those things.”

Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Mike Weatherstone acknowledged police interviewing Melton lied to him by saying Austin had already “given him up" in order to secure his confession, but that that is legal in New Jersey.

DeGroot said the prosecutors have suggested the motive for the attack was a $7,000 or $8,000 debt that the father owed to his son, a crane operator working for a company in Linden.

But Mark R. Austin had little money to his name, DeGroot said, as he was formerly a construction worker who slipped into a heroin addiction after being treated with opioids for an accident-related injuries. He was unemployed and living in his ex-wife’s home with her permission, he said.

DeGroot denies either man owed the other money.

“(Austin) doesn’t say ‘My father has a bunch of money.’ We know he doesn’t have money because he suffers from that addictive illness. There is nothing here to suggest there was something going on between my client which... caused Mr. Melton to do this,” DeGroot said.

A row of family members and friends in the courtroom were present to support Austin, DeGroot said.

Arguing for Austin’s detention, Weatherstone said cell phone evidence and data obtained from search warrants verified the story Melton gave police.

Melton told police that Austin was in possession of his father’s cell phone after the killing, Weatherstone said.

Investigators had already discovered that Austin’s phone and his father’s phone were in the same area of Route 70 around 9 p.m. the night of the murder, the same time the body was discovered by one of Mark A. Austin’s friends, Weatherstone said. Austin’s phone, he said, was pinged going back and forth between Salem City and Brick Township that day.

“Little details like that demonstrate the veracity of what Mr. Melton was providing to police," Weatherstone said. “Did the police use trickery? Absolutely. Did that trickery in fact receive a detailed confession outlining what Mr. Melton had done and whose behest he did it at?”

In addition, authorities said they found an old cell phone registered to Austin and that led to the connection with Melton.

There was a partial Facebook Messenger conversation from the night of killing with Melton, who was a bunkmate of Austin at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility for three months in 2016, authorities said. One of the messages Melton sent to Austin says “he noticed the cameras.”

Austin initially told police that home surveillance cameras in the house were not working, but investigators obtained warrants to get the video and found some footage from the day of the murder, authorities said.

“He noticed the video cameras or surveillance cameras were missing, and in fact, when we did a search of the residence, the surveillance cameras were missing,” Weatherstone said.

Weatherstone said Austin returned Melton to Salem after the killing. He destroyed evidence by putting Melton’s clothes in a bag filled with bleach and throwing it into a dumpster, Weatherstone said.

The judge will issue a decision on whether Austin will remain detained at an Oct. 9 hearing.

Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.