When Newark police Lt. John Formisano was arrested July 15 and charged with gunning down his wife and shooting her boyfriend in Morris County, investigators questioned him and then locked him in a cell at the Jefferson Township Police Department.

After that, Formisano was transferred to the psychiatric unit of St. Clare’s hospital in Boonton, where he remains nearly two weeks after the shootings. As of Friday, no first-appearance court date has been set.

Legal experts in New Jersey believe Formisano’s attorneys are using the mental health system to meticulously build a diminished-capacity defense known as “passion-provocation.”

Such a finding means a jury could convict Formisano of the lesser crime of manslaughter instead of murder in the killing of Christie Solaro-Formisano, 37, who was mourned Thursday night by friends and family at a vigil.

The reduced manslaughter charge carries fewer years in prison of possibly 10 years or less. Murder carries a minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life.

“To obtain a manslaughter rather than a murder conviction, the jury would have to find Formisano’s passions were inflamed, he was provoked and there was not a reasonable time to cool off and retreat,” said former Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi. “Being in that mental health facility assists with a defense of passion-provocation."

On Friday, Formisano’s attorney said his client will be treated at the facility until he is well enough to return to court.

“John is presently receiving medical treatment and when he is well enough to appear in court, the doctors will so advise and a date will be set," Anthony J. Iacullo said in an email. "Until then, the focus of the defense is on addressing those medical issues and seeing to it that he is well enough to hopefully someday return to the person he was before this tragic event.”

A candlelight vigil in honor of Christie Solaro Formisano was held at the Jefferson Library in Oak Ridge. She was killed on July 14th, allegedly by her husband, a Newark police officer. A photo of her was on display at the gazebo. Amanda Brown | For NJ Advance MeAmanda Brown | For NJ Advance Me

Formisano, who had filed for divorce a month before the shooting, arrived at the Jefferson Township home he once shared with his wife just before midnight July 14. He told investigators he stopped at the home to return a pair of glasses to his eight-year-old daughter, according to a police report.

Once inside, Formisano began to suspect that his wife had a man inside the bedroom the two once shared, the report said.

Formisano told detectives he “blacked out," but he recalled firing his gun at his wife and her boyfriend numerous times, according to the report.

After shooting the boyfriend, his wife fled the home and ran to a neighbor’s house, police said. After no one opened the door, she tried banging on the door of another neighbor’s home before her husband opened fire, shooting her to death, according to the report.

Formisano, 49, was arrested hours after the shooting in Livingston near where he had been living with his mother, according to police.

Criminal defense attorney David Bahuriak, who is not involved in the case, said he finds it “pretty unusual” that Formisano has avoided a first appearance for nearly two weeks.

“They have to do a pretty mechanical, mathematical assessment of his danger to the community and his flight risk,” Bahuriak said, questioning whether Formisano’s status as a police officer played a role in keeping him in a hospital instead of jail.

Bahuriak said civilian defendants with psychiatric issues have made court appearances and then been returned to the hospital for more evaluation.

“I think it’s short-sighted to just lock somebody up and then hold them or warehouse them until trial,” Bahuriak said. “I’m not disagreeing with what they’ve done, I would just like to see them do that in all cases like this one. Unfortunately, it’s not the norm.”

When Hiralbahen Bhavsar of Little Falls was arrested in May and charged with murder in the death of her 5-day-old baby, she was held in a hospital to address mental health concerns.

A few days into her hospital stay, she was brought to Bergen County Superior Court for a first appearance to address her criminal charges. When the hearing was over, sheriff’s officers brought the 29-year-old back to the hospital.

Her attorney, Stephen G. McCarthy, said each defendant with mental health issues is treated uniquely and in accordance with the specifics of their case.

“Depending upon the circumstances, it’s certainly possible for the defense attorney, the prosecutor and the court to have adjourned away that first appearance to a future date if (Formisano) is in some sort of psychiatric or medical distress,” McCarthy said.

He discounted the notion that Formisano is being offered preferential treatment because he’s a cop.

“Absolutely not. Sometimes the police suffer from being held to a higher standard,” McCarthy said.

Bianchi agreed, saying that due to the high-profile nature of the case, it would be difficult for Formisano to receive special treatment.

Neighbors and police outside the Formisano home the morning after the murder of Christie Solaro-Formisano and the shooting of her boyfriend.Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

If medical experts determine that Formisano suffered from diminished capacity at the time of the crimes, Bahuriak said his attorneys may still have a hard time selling a passion-provocation defense to a jury.

“Passion-provocation is a real defense. It can work,” Bahuriak said. “But it has to all happen in one act and this whole thing about chasing her down the street, that might be pushing the envelope.”

Bahuriak said another problem for the defense would be trying to prove a veteran police officer did not have the ability to determine what he was doing was wrong.

“I think it will be difficult to argue that the guy’s risen to the ranks of lieutenant of the police department but suddenly he’s incompetent and could not appreciate the wrongfulness of the crime,” Bahuriak said. “But that’s for a jury to decide.”

Bianchi said the jury may get hung up on the fact that after the shootings, Formisano drove more than 30 miles to Livingston.

“Flight is a goal-oriented behavior,” Bianchi said. “It shows that a person appreciates the wrongfulness of their actions. Prosecutors will hammer that.”

Bianchi also called Formisano’s explanation of dropping off eyeglasses a “weak reason” for being at the home.

“It’s 11:30 at night. She sees a flashlight outside,” Bianchi said. “It sounds to me like he’s in investigative mode, not dropping off glasses for an eight-year-old. If his explanation about the glasses falls apart, then his defense falls apart.”

Charlsey Sheib, a Newark-based psychologist with a background in forensic psychology, said the courts may believe there is a real need for a police officer accused of a heinous crime to receive extended treatment.

“It’s hard for people to believe a police officer, a hero, would kill the mother of his children,” Sheib said. “Automatically, people think he must have been crazy and they assume there must be something wrong and he needs to get an evaluation and (extended) mental health examination.”

Sheib said, however, that it’s rare for a person “to just snap and kill their spouse.”

“Domestic abuse that results in murder is an escalation of violence,” Sheib said, speaking generally about domestic violence. “There are no real crimes of passion when it comes to men who end up killing their wives. Usually these (crimes) are calculated and not the result of a loss of control.

“The men who are the most violent are not carried away by their fury," she said. “Their heartbeats actually drop as they become calmer and more violent.”

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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