Ernest Heinz is arraigned with his attorney, Robin Lord.
The "Sopranos" actor accused of shooting a woman during a road rage incident that put Stockton University on lockdown pleaded not guilty Friday.
Ernest Heinz, 46, of Port Republic, has been jailed since September, following a manhunt that sparked the lockdown of the university's main campus in Galloway Township.
Maritza Arias-Galva was shot in the face, but able to stay conscious, giving police a description of the vehicle and the man who pulled the gun, authorities previously said.
"My client maintains his innocence," attorney Robin Lord said outside the courtroom following his brief arraignment.
The state has offered a 15-year sentence under the No Early Release Act that would mean Heinz would have to serve 12 years and nine months before he would be eligible for parole.
Lord indicated he would reject that deal.
"It's not an acceptable offer to the defense," she said.
Lord said the indictment is overcharged, for whoever is responsible, reiterating her client's insistence that he is not guilty.
The state's own narrative of what happened represents a clear case of passion provocation, not a knowing and willing attempted murder, she said.
Lord expressed frustration with the state, who just "dumped" 600 pages of discovery to her on Thursday, despite her client having been indicted in December.
"I've been begging for discovery for a month and a half," she said.
There still is more evidence for her to receive, as the prosecutor in the case indicated there are two terabytes of digital evidence that was too massive to send through the portal where discovery normally is sent.
The massive packet of discovery the defense recently received does include the warrant to have a storage facility searched, Lord was told when she asked during the hearing before Judge Joseph Levin.
Heinz allegedly visited that facility within a half-hour of the shooting. Several firearms were recovered from there, according to the charges.
Heinz is accused of shooting the victim with a .380 caliber handgun that was apparently registered to his father, who shares his name.
The younger Heinz had been at his parents' Galloway Township home taking care of his ailing father before leaving that day in a white Honda CRV registered to his mother, BreakingAC previously reported.
Video shows him entering that home in a township development less than 10 minutes after the shooting, holding a small gun matching the one the victim described to police, according to the state.
He then was seen leaving the home minutes later with a black rifle case and red Wawa bag.
In the 20 minutes that pass before he returns, Heinz allegedly went to an acquaintance's storage facility, where the weapons later were found.
The guns recovered, according to the charges, include a Beretta Nano 9mm handgun, Ruger LC9 9mm pistol, three 12-gauge shotguns, a 20-gauge shotgun and a Marksman BB pistol.
The .380-caliber Sig Sauer handgun used also is named in the charges, along with .380-caliber ammunition and a Browning ammunition magazine.
Heinz is not legally allowed to own weapons due to a still-active domestic violence restraining order from 2002, records show.
Heinz was living in California working as an actor and real estate agent, before returning home to help care for his dying sister, who had since passed away, his attorney told the judge during his detention hearing Sept. 25.
Now he was taking "the night shift" to help his mother care for his father.
He had been there overnight before the shooting.
Arias-Galva told police she was driving north on South Pomona Road heading toward the White Horse Pike on the outside lane of travel, when she put on her turn signal to merge into the inside lane, where there was a white SUV that sped up and then cut her off.
The other driver then tried to ram her car twice, blocked her path and then followed her onto Jimmie Leeds Road, she said.
He started screaming at her at the red light at the entrance to Stockton, threatened to kill her and then pointed the gun, she said.
"I remember the deafening sound of the gunshot as the bullet shattered my window," she wrote on a GoFundMe page. "Glass flew everywhere, and blood poured down my face. I managed to call 911, but my vision was obscured by the blood. I feared he would return to finish what he started."
Heinz is due back in court March 13..
Heinz's Internet Movie Database page shows he has had minor roles in movies and TV shows such as “J. Edgar” and “The Sopranos.” He is also known for providing face models in two “Resident Evil” video games.
