He is 73 now.
He suffers from hypertension, cannot hear very well, needs hernia surgery, has osteoarthritis and glaucoma.
And 28 years ago after the still infamous kidnapping scheme that led to the death of an Exxon executive in an affluent New Jersey suburb, a judge imposed the maximum sentence on Arthur Seale, promising him: “You will spend the rest of your life in prison. You will die in captivity.”
Now Seale — citing his age, his health issues, and a fear of dying from the coronavirus that has taken so many others around him in federal prison — is asking for compassionate release.
“I cannot change what I did,” he wrote in an application filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. “The past is unchangeable. But I hope I have demonstrated sincere remorse for my crime and a lasting attempt at atonement.”
Seale, a former Hillside police officer, and his wife, Irene, pleaded guilty in 1992 to charges in connection with the widely publicized abduction of Exxon executive Sidney Reso, 57, who died four days after being shot during a struggle outside his Morris Township home on the morning of April 29, 1992.
The botched crime sparked one of the largest kidnapping investigations in the nation’s history.
It began after the couple — living far beyond their means, desperately in debt, and living with his parents in Lebanon Township— sought a way out of their financial woes. Seale, who had worked for Exxon in Florham Pakr as a security manager after leaving his job as a cop, plotted with his wife to grab Reso as he left home for work and score big with a demand for $18.5 million in ransom. A directory of home addresses of Exxon executives was later found in Irene Seale’s car.
“Our rational was the company would never miss the money and no one would be hurt. What could go wrong,” he wrote to the court. “We never even seriously discussed the downside.”
The plan went bad from the start. After staking out Reso’s home, they knew that he always would stop at the end of his driveway to pick up the morning newspaper. Seale waited in a parked white rental van while his wife jogged past the executive’s home to watch for their victim, and then pulled up to the house as he got the signal that Reso was leaving.
Confronting the executive at gunpoint as he got out of his car, Seale shoved him into the van. In the struggle, Reso was shot in the left forearm before being forced into a coffin-like wooden box in the back.
Then as they sped away, Seale forgot to leave the ransom note.
With his mouth covered with duct tape and his wrists handcuffed, Reso remained in the box that was dropped off inside a Warren County self-storage locker, as the couple tried to regroup. But suffering from dehydration in the hot and airless locker, his gunshot wound left untreated, the Exxon executive died alone.
The Seales drove the body to the Pine Barrens where they buried Reso in a shallow grave. They then spent weeks posing as members of a radical environmental group in an effort to collect a ransom.
They were finally arrested by the FBI in the parking lot of a rental-car agency in Hackettstown. Irene Seale agreed to cooperate with authorities, leading them to the body.
Seale being brought into federal court in Trenton in June 1992.Star-Ledger file photo
In his letter to the court, Seale, who earned a doctorate in consulting psychology from Capella University while in prison, offered a resume of sorts with his name and title — Arthur D. Seale, PhD. He talked about his work experience behind bars. And about the financial and family pressures that he said led to a plan of desperation.
“Looking back, it was truly irrational, but at the time, through the lens of the pressure we experienced, it seemed to be the only way out. We knew it was wrong, but I justified it as being OK under the circumstances,” he wrote.
Over the years, much of it spent in a federal “supermax” prison Oak Parks Heights in Minnesota, he said he has worked with other inmates and taught hundreds. He said he has demonstrated he is not a threat to society.
“I have acted as a teacher, mentor, companion and friend to those in desperate need. I cannot undo my crime, but I have worked to change the course of my life,” he wrote.
In seeking compassionate release, he cited his age, his health issues and the spread of COVID-19 at Devens, a federal medical center in Massachusetts where he is currently incarcerated.
Seale is currently housed in the hospital unit at Devens, which holds both chronic and critical care patients. According to a brief filed by his federal public defender, Seale’s floor has been designated to house the quarantine rooms for inmates who have been exposed or are exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus.
“Mr. Seale passes the isolation cells on his way to mail call,” the brief noted. “Yesterday, in the computer room, Mr. Seale was seated next to an isolation inmate who was on his way to dialysis. New isolation inmates come in daily. One inmate from Mr. Seale’s floor was taken to the clinic yesterday with symptoms.”
Devens currently has nine positive cases of the coronavirus, with two inmate deaths and 43 others who recovered. His public defender said because of his age and health problems, Seale is at high risk of severe illness or death if he contracts COVID-19.
She added that Seale’s release from federal custody would not pose a danger to the community because he would not be released to the community.
“It would not free him,” wrote Alison Brill. “He still has a consecutive New Jersey state sentence to serve based on the same underlying conduct as the instant case,” she told the court, saying the granting of compassionate release would enable Seale to more effectively litigate for his release from New Jersey custody and also advocate for his pardon.
Former Morris County Prosecutor Michael Murphy, oversaw the state’s case against Seale, had no sympathy.
“He should stay in prison for the rest of his natural life. When he was sentenced, it was anticipated that he would never again see the light of day,” said Murphy. “I find no compassionate reason to release someone who engaged in the behavior that he did.”
Irene Seale was released from prison in 2010, after serving 17 years behind bars.
Federal prosecutors have until the end of the month to respond.
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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL.
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