Self-defense or manslaughter? Door-to-door salesman goes on trial in Jackson man's death

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19-03-2025

TOMS RIVER - Jaime and Joseph Delgardio were having dinner with two of their three daughters in their Jackson home on May 26, 2022, when they were interrupted by a door-to-door salesman.
The salesman, Michael Tsamas, was offering the Delgardios a $100 gift card and a discount on their Jersey Central Power & Light Co. bill, Jaime Delgardio told an Ocean County jury Tuesday.
But, Delgardio said she became suspicious because Tsamas, wearing a Verizon shirt and an identification badge from another company, was offering them a discount from the electric company.
So, Joseph Delgardio asked Tsamas to leave.
But, concerned that Tsamas had written down their JCP&L account number, Joseph Delgardio grabbed his phone and his wife's car keys and headed out of the house in pursuit of the salesman, Jaime Delgardio testified.
"He's probably out scamming the neighbors,'' Jaime Delgardio said her husband told her on the way out. "I need to get our account number back.''
About a half hour later, 44-year-old Joseph Delgardio was dead.
As Jaime Delgardio walked up the block from her house to find a heavy police presence at the corner of West Veterans Highway and Conor Road, an officer stopped her and told her "my husband was in an altercation and he had passed away,'' Jaime Delgardio testified.
Tsamas admitted he stabbed Delgardio in the neck, but he also told police Delgardio first threatened to kill him.
Now, the jury must decide if Tsamas' actions were in self defense or criminal.
Tsamas, 35, of Laurence Harbor, went on trial Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, charged with aggravated manslaughter and five weapons offenses.
Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Victoria Veni, in her opening statement, told jurors they would be able to watch the fatal stabbing unfold on video.
"You will see the defendant stabbing Joseph in the head,'' Veni told the panel. "You will also see him stabbing him in the neck.''
Courtroom spectators were warned of the graphic nature of the video before Veni played it for the jury.
It showed Delgardio throwing Tsamas to the ground before Tsamas thrust a sharp object into Delgardio twice. With Tsamas still on the ground, Delgardio walked away. Someone could be heard saying, "Call the cops, call the cops.''
Defense attorney Chip Dunne told the jury the 19-second video didn't show events that immediately preceded the fatal stabbing.
That's when Dunne said Joseph Delgardio drove down the street, made a U-turn, pulled in front of where Tsamas was walking and "jumped out of his car, screaming, 'I'm going to (expletive) kill you.''
Dunne played a body-camera video from Matthew Cilento, the first Jackson police officer to arrive at the scene, showing Tsamas telling the officer exactly that.
That video shows Tsamas telling Cilento that Delgardio grabbed his shirt and went to punch him, and then asked him, "Who do you really work for?''
When Tsamas responded he worked for Verizon, "he says, 'I don't believe you; I'm going to (expletive) kill you,'" the defendant told the officer on the body-camera video.
Dunne told the jury that Tsamas was in "fight-or-flight'' mode. He tried to run away, but Delgardio caught him, so ''he has to fight - he has no choice,'' the defense attorney told the jury.
Jaime Delgardio, the state's first witness, said when Tsamas first came to the house, he was complimenting her husband on the family's garden and talking about bow hunting at Turkey Swamp.
Tsamas told the couple they qualified for a monthly discount on their electric bill and a gift card because they had recently signed up for Verizon Fios, she said.
But, when Jaime Delgardio noticed a different company on his identification badge and asked Tsamas what company he actually worked for, "he got uneasy,'' and said, "Oh, I work for them all,'' she told the jury.
"I thought it wasn't a legit thing,'' she testified. "It didn't make sense how the electric company and cable company were doing a deal.''
Cross-examined by Dunne, Delgardio said Tsamas never became aggressive or argumentative while he was at the house, and he left when they asked him to.
Cilento testified that when he arrived at the scene, Joseph Delgardio was on the ground, with first aid squad members performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him.
"There was a lot of blood around him and there was a laceration to his neck,'' Cilento testified.
Tsamas was standing on the corner, Cilento said. His pants and shirt were covered with blood, the officer said.
Among items recovered from Tsamas' pockets when he was searched were two "push daggers,'' one in a sheath and another, with blood on it, not in a sheath, the officer testified.
No weapons were found on the victim or in his car, Cilento testified.
Cilento acknowledged he did not uncover anything to suggest Tsamas was doing anything illegal while working door-to-door that night.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Door-to-door salesman goes on trial in Jackson homeowner's death