Caleb McGillvary who is better known as Kai The Hitchhiker has recently had a Netflix documentary aired regarding his story and a brutal murder. According to court reports Caleb McGillvary had met the victim 73-year-old Joseph Galfy Jr at New York City Times Square and the retired lawyer invited him back to his home in New Jersey. Two days after their initial meeting Caleb McGillvary fatally beat the older man to death. Now Caleb McGillvary attempted to tell the court that he acted in self defence after Joseph Galfy Jr drugged and sexually assaulted him, this accusation was never proven. Caleb McGillvary would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to 57 years in prison.
Caleb McGillvary Now
| Caleb L McGillvary | |
| SBI Number: | 000102317G |
| Sentenced as: | McGillvary, Caleb L |
| Race: | White |
| Ethnicity: | Unknown |
| Sex: | Male |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Height: | 6’1″ |
| Weight: | 180 lbs. |
| Birth Date: | September 3, 1988 |
| Admission Date: | May 30, 2019 |
| Current Facility: | NJSP |
| Current Max Release Date: | October 27, 2061 |
| Current Parole Eligibility Date: | October 27, 2061 |
Caleb McGillvary More News
A Union County jury has found a minor Internet celebrity guilty of murdering a prominent attorney in his Clark home in 2013.
Caleb “Kai the Hitchhiker” McGillvary, 30, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder. He now faces up to life in prison.
Prosecutors say McGillvary brutally beat 73-year-old Joseph Galfy Jr. about two days after the two met by chance in Times Square. Galfy, a retired Army major and partner in a Rahway law firm, allowed McGillvary, a drifter and self-declared “indigent illegal immigrant from Canada,” to stay at his home.
McGillvary claimed that he hit Galfy in self-defense, suggesting that Galfy may have drugged and raped him. McGillvary said investigators ignored evidence of Galfy’s semen.
But prosecutors say Galfy’s injuries contradicted McGillvary’s claims of self-defense and that the professional hitchhiker made inconsistent statements to investigators and cut his long hair to avoid being recognized after the slaying. Despite the freshly shorn appearance, a barista in Philadelphia recognized the neck-tattooed McGillvary three days later and called police.
Prosecutors said Galfy’s 5-foot-5 and 230-pound frame suffered numerous blows to the face, neck, chest and arms. His skull was cracked in three locations, he had four broken ribs and serious bruisings, scrapes and bleeding. His partially clothed body was found by police on May 13, 2013.
“This was a brutal, vicious, senseless crime, and we are pleased that the interests of justice have been served,” Acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan said Wednesday after the verdict. “We sincerely thank the jury for their service and hope that today’s verdict brings some measure of solace to Mr. Galfy’s family, friends, and loved ones.”
McGillvary achieved some internet notoriety early in 2013 after a bonkers interview with a Fresno, California TV station in which he described how he saved a woman from an attacker who claimed to be Jesus. McGillvary said he beat back the attacker using a hatchet.
McGillvary’s trial also was marked by outbursts, NJ.com reported.
His Facebook fan page on Wednesday posted a “message from Kai” that said that “this false conviction WILL be overturned” and that he is “looking for a REAL lawyer who can ACTUALLY, EFFECTIVELY argue my case for appeal.”
“I just watched four weeks of railroading and with the most pathetic closing argument I have ever heard: a closing argument that flew in the face of facts and was designed only to harm my case,” the statement says. “Don’t worry though, we have been documenting everything and already have more than enough instances of misconduct, abuse of discretion, and ineffectiveness of defense counsel to overturn this false conviction and get a new trial.”
McGillvary faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced June 13 in Elizabeth. A spokesman for the prosecutor declined to comment on McGillvary’s immigration status.
https://nj1015.com/kai-the-hitchhiker-guilty-of-brutally-murdering-nj-lawyer/
Caleb McGillvary Other News
“Kai the Hitchhiker” won’t be hitching a ride from New Jersey State Prison soon.
A state appellate court denied on Wednesday the appeal of the murder conviction of the internet celebrity, whose real name is Caleb McGillvary. He was found guilty in Superior Court in Union County of murdering Joseph Galfy, 74, inside his Clark home on May 13, 2013.
McGillvary gained internet fame in February 2013 after intervening in an attack on a California utility worker in which he described using a hatchet to fend off the attacker, who weighed 300 pounds and claimed to be Jesus Christ.
The YouTube video of the interview garnered more than 1 million views. McGillvary also appeared a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
McGillvary, 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2019 and sentenced to 57 years in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until Oct. 27, 1961 when he will be 73 years old.
In a July 3 blog posted on Facebook, McGillvary wrote that he hoped the appellate judges would be “heroes” and overturn the conviction.
But he also vowed that if the judges “rubber stamp the false conviction,” he would take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A denial of his appeal, McGillvary wrote, “would be an open (and VERY public) admission that the corruption in the Union County judiciary extends to the entire state.”
The appellate court rejected McGillvary’s claims the evidence did not support the murder conviction, his counsel was ineffective and Union County Superior Court Judge Robert Kirsch made errors during the four-week trial.
McGillvary also drafted his own legal brief in the appeal, raising several points, including that he was denied the right to represent himself during the trial
ut the appellate court, in its 36-page decision, found no merits in all the arguments.
The appellate judges noted that Kirsch had “noted the overwhelming proofs that (McGillvary) caused the victim’s death” including evidence that Galfy had suffered a broken neck, broken ribs and “the mauling of his head” to the point where his ear was torn with the cartilage visible.
In his defense, McGillvary claimed he acted in self-defense to ward off Galfy’s sexual advances, but the appellate judges wrote that “Galfy was a seventy-four-year-old man, smaller in stature than (McGillvary), and the severity and number of his injuries supported the jury’s conclusions that (McGillvary) knew his actions created substantial risk of death, or that he was aware that death was practically certain to result.”
“The record does not suggest a miscarriage of justice occurred,” the judges wrote.
The judges also wrote there is “little support” for the points that McGillvary raised in his own legal brief.
McGillvary argued the trial should have been moved out of Union County because Galfy was a former law partner of the presiding criminal judge in the county.
McGillvary also contended that Kirsch treated him “disrespectfully” during the trial and that he should have been permitted to call the prosecutor and the judge as witnesses.
The court found no evidence to support those claims, adding that even as Kirsch was denying McGillvary’s motion to represent himself, he “continuously interrupted” him and previously had “outright disregarded” the judge and had delivered an “unrestrained outburst” describing the trial as a “kangaroo court.”
McGillvary, a native of Canada, testified he led a “home-free” lifestyle in which he played music and worked construction jobs when he needed money, but otherwise spent his time surfing.
After the California incident, he made his way across the United States, being offered food and places to stay by people who knew him from the internet, eventually ending up in New York City when he met Galfy in Times Square about a day and a half before the killing.
Galfy invited McGillvary to his home where he stayed the night then left after breakfast, McGillvary testified at the trial. After plans to meet an internet friend in Asbury Park fell through, McGillvary decided to spend a second night at Galfy’s house.
After a dinner and a few beers, McGillvary testified he “was feeling like really warm and fuzzy” and the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was hearing the theme song to “Jeopardy.”
When he awoke, McGillvary testified, he was in Galfy’s bedroom and the man was trying to sexually assault him.
“I was trying to get him away from me,” McGillvary testified. “That’s all I can remember.”
He was arrested days later in the Greyhound Bus terminal in Philadelphia.
“You are crafty, you are cunning, you are disingenuous, and you are manipulative,” Kirsch told McGillvary at the sentencing, describing numerous ways in which the he attempted to cover his tracks in the period following the killing, including cutting off his distinctive long hair. “And when you become eligible for parole, you will still be younger than Mr. Galfy was when you murdered him.”