ELIZABETH -- In the more than two years since his arrest for the murder of a Clark lawyer, Internet celebrity Caleb "Kai" McGillvary has waged a legal battle from his jail cell, filing lawsuits in both state and federal court.

McGillvary, 27, was charged with the May 12, 2013 killing of Joseph Galfy, 73, in Galfy's home on Starlite Drive in Clark.

McGillvary contends Galfy drugged him and then sexually assaulted him, and claims investigators later destroyed evidence. He also said authorities never had him examined for sexual assault even though he told them of the attack in a statement he gave after he was arrested.



"A sexual assault forensic evidence collection was not performed on me," he wrote in the 22-page handwritten federal court suit.

McGillvary filed one suit in Superior Court against a psychologist who examined him for the Union County Prosecutor's Office, and filed another suit in federal court, naming 19 defendants, including the psychologist, the Union County Prosecutor's Office and investigators in the criminal case.

He is claiming authorities violated his right to due process of law through destruction of evidence and the failure to collect evidence.

"Prosecutions would result in immediate and irreparable damage to both society and myself," McGillvary wrote in the complaint that he filed with the help of his supporters.

McGillvary met Galfy in Times Square on May 11, 2013 and Galfy invited him back to his Clark home.

In a recorded statement given to police following his arrest, McGillvary said that at Galfy's home he drank several beers and was given food, including hamburgers, that he believes were drugged.

According to the statement, which was played in a pre-trial hearing earlier this year, McGillvary said he passed out, and when he awoke on the floor, Galfy was pulling down his (McGillvary's) pants.

He said he pushed Galfy away and again passed out, only to awake with a metallic taste in his mouth and semen on his face. He said he also struck Galfy.

At the beginning of the recorded statement, Johnny Ho, an investigator from the Union County Prosecutor's Office, tells McGillvary that he has been charged in a homicide.

However, minutes later, when Ho states that Galfy died, McGillvary is heard giving a loud sigh, apparently surprised by news of the death.

In the lawsuit, McGillvary says authorities never investigated his claim of being sexually assaulted.

"Evidence relating to sexual assault is material to a claim of self defense," he states. "A valid claim of self defense would exonerate claimant from criminal liability for all charges relating to his aggressor."

McGillvary, who refers to evidence from the grand jury hearings in his case, said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Peterson told the jurors that he showed no signs of being drugged shortly after the May 12 incident.

The suit states that authorities ignored statements from two witnesses that McGillvary appeared under the influence of drugs on May 12, but those statements were not presented to the grand jury, according to the suit.

It also states that semen was found on Galfy's underwear, but Peterson told the grand jury that no semen was found.

Galfy, who had been a partner at the Rahway law firm of Kochanski, Baron and Galfy, was found dead in his bed, severely beaten, clothed only in underwear and socks, Union County authorities said.

Investigators using cell phone records identified McGillvary as a suspect. He was arrested May 16 at a Greyhound bus terminal in Philadelphia.

McGillvary, who is originally from Canada, gained wide celebrity in February 2013 when he stopped an attack on a utility worker in Fresno, Calif., by striking the assailant in the head with the handle of a hatchet.

He has continued to gain a wide following on social media that began in the months before his arrest.

Last year, McGillvary wrote a letter to Gov. Chris Christie saying his case had been mishandled. Supporters put the letter on a website established to raise funds for him.

Both the prosecutor's office and the Public Defender's Office, which represents McGillvary, have refused to comment on the case outside of court.

A status conference on the case is scheduled for Monday before Superior Court Judge Joseph Donohue.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.