FREEHOLD - A former Neptune police sergeant who shot his ex-wife to death in broad daylight in front of their young daughter on a busy Asbury Park street in 2015 has lost his bid to take back his guilty plea and go to trial.

Superior Court Judge Dennis R. O’Brien on Monday rejected claims by Philip Seidle that his attorney was ineffective in brokering a deal that spared him from life in prison without the possibility of parole for his ex-wife’s murder — a crime that shocked the community and also raised questions about how police handled the crime scene and prior domestic violence calls to the Seidle’s home.

In the deal, Seidle, now 59, pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years prison, with the chance to be considered for release on parole after he serves 25 years and six months.

In entering his guilty plea before Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley in 2016, Seidle admitted that he fired 12 shots in the direction of 50-year-old Tamara Wilson-Seidle on June 16, 2015, fatally wounding her.

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The youngest of the couple’s nine children, a daughter who was 7 years old at the time, was in the car with her father as he chased the victim through the streets of Asbury Park before running her off the road and gunning her down in front of a crowd of witnesses.

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Seidle now claims he received ineffective assistance from the attorney who represented him in the case, Edward C. Bertucio. In an appeal that is known as a petition for post-conviction relief, Seidle’s new attorney, Robin K. Lord, asserted that Bertucio fell short by not having Seidle undergo a psychological evaluation prior to pleading guilty and not taking the case to trial with a diminished capacity defense, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

O’Brien, however, rejected that assertion and found Bertucio did not give Seidle bad advice when he recommended the defendant plead guilty to the downgraded charge. If O’Brien had ruled otherwise, Seidle may have had the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues, unsolved mysteries and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com; 732-643-4202.