A Union County grand jury has returned a three-count indictment against the Middlesex County man who was arrested late last year and charged in connection with the 2004 fatal shooting of a Plainfield resident in Scotch Plains, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Thursday.
David Ghigliotty, 35, is charged with first-degree murder and two related weapons offenses in connection with the death of 26-year-old Taji Pile.
Shortly after 10:45 p.m. on June 22, 2004, Scotch Plains police officers responded to the 1300 block of Rahway Road on the report of a male injured in the street, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Jillian Reyes, who is prosecuting the case. Pile was found there and rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next day, Reyes said.
An investigation involving the Prosecutor’s Office’s Homicide Unit (which became the Union County Homicide Task Force in 2008), the Plainfield Police Division, and the Scotch Plains Police Department ultimately resulted in Ghigliotty being identified as a suspect, and he was arrested without incident at his South Plainfield home in November 2016.
Bail in the case was set at $1.5 million by state Superior Court Judge Frederic McDaniel.
Convictions on first-degree murder charges are commonly punishable by 30 years to life in state prison.