The detention hearing for a Port Republic man accused of shooting another driver during a road rage incident in Galloway Township was postponed for a second time.
Ernest Heinz, 46, of Port Republic has been jailed since Sept. 11, hours after he allegedly shot a woman in the face after confronting her at a red light on Jimmie Leeds Road at the entrance to Stockton University's campus.
A three-hour lockdown of the school and nearby hospital followed, until Heinz was arrested without incident inside the Blue Heron Pines neighborhood in Galloway Township.
Maritza Arias-Galva suffered a gunshot wound that entered through her upper nose and left side of her face, and exited on the right side, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
She was able to stay conscious, and gave police a description of both the vehicle and man who shot her, police said.
Heinz's original detention hearing was set for last Wednesday before Judge William Miller. But Heinz's attorney, Mercer County-based William E. Wackowski, asked for a postponement to give him time to go over evidence with his client.
The new date was this Tuesday, but now a new attorney — Robin Lord — has taken on the case and requested a postponement until Thursday, according to court records.
It was not clear how the extra days would be counted. Under bail reform, each side can ask for a postponement of as many as five days for a detention hearing. Tuesday is the fifth day.
Heinze previously worked as an actor, having parts in shows including "The Sopranos" and playing the jury foreman in 2011's Leonardo DiCaprio-helmed "J. Edgar.
He was in court for real briefly last Wednesday via video from a room in the Atlantic County Justice Facility, but the public could not see him at that time.
Detention hearings usually are livestreamed online, but an unknown technical difficulty led to an hour of hearings not being made public.
The link went to an error message.
BreakingAC was able to request an audio recording of the proceedings, but there was no video available.
"Judge, we seem to be having issues with the livestream," the court clerk told the judge in the recording.
The clerk said he turned the stream off and on a couple of times, but it did not fix the issue. Only Atlantic County had a problem Wednesday.
Miller suggested possibly sending the Zoom link to media, but was unsure if that was appropriate.
When Wackowski indicated he would be asking for a postponement, the judge put everything on the record, while the public stream remained down.
"There’s a livestream and media interest in this as well," the judge noted. "I don’t know if they're having technical problems. We'll address that with them directly if there is, but it's going to be postponed anyway."
Heinz did not speak at all during the brief hearing.
When asked, "Are you Mr. Heinz," when he appeared virtually before the court, his attorney piped in to answer, "He is."
Heinz will remain jailed pending the outcome of Tuesday's hearing.
Due to the issues with the livestream, there still are no photos or videos of him in jail publicly available.
Rules in place by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office bar the jail from releasing mugshots prior to conviction.
(This story originally ran Sept. 17, 2025. It has been updated to include the postponement and new attorney.)
'I feared he would finishThe victim of a road rage shooting last week in Galloway Township says her only mistake was trying to merge onto a lane as hers was ending. READ MORE
