State v. Timmendequas

• Decision Date: 11 August 1999
• Citation: 161 N.J. 515,737 A.2d 55
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jesse TIMMENDEQUAS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

737 A.2d 55

161 N.J. 515

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jesse TIMMENDEQUAS, Defendant-Appellant.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued December 1, 1998.

Decided August 11, 1999.

William R. Smith and Jay L. Wilensky, Assistant Deputy Public Defenders, for defendant-appellant (Ivelisse Torres, Public Defender, attorney).

Catherine A. Foddai, Deputy Attorney General, for plaintiff-respondent (Peter Verniero, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney). The opinion of the Court was delivered by GARIBALDI, J.

In May 1997, a jury convicted defendant Jesse Timmendequas of the capital murder of Megan Kanka, committed in the course of a kidnapping and sexual assault. Following a penalty-phase proceeding on the capital-murder conviction, the court sentenced defendant to death. He appeals directly to this Court as of right. See R. 2:2-1(a)(3). We affirm defendant's conviction for murder and his sentence of death.

I. Procedural History

On October 19, 1994, Jesse Timmendequas was charged with: knowing or purposeful murder of Megan Kanka by his own conduct, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a(1) or (2) (count one); felony murder, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a(3) (counts two and four); first degree kidnapping, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1b (count three); and first degree aggravated assault, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2a(1) (counts five, six, seven and eight).

On November 18, 1994, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office filed a Notice of Aggravating Factors. The aggravating factors were: (1) the murder was committed to escape detection, apprehension, trial, punishment or confinement for the aggravated sexual assault and/or kidnapping of the victim, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(4)(f); and (2) the murder was committed in the course of the commission of an aggravated sexual assault and/or kidnapping of the victim, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(4)(g). On June 29, 1995, defendant moved to change the trial venue from Mercer County. On October 20, 1995, the trial court granted the motion, setting venue in Camden County. On December 15, 1995, the State moved for reconsideration, asking the court either to empanel a foreign jury or change the venue to a county contiguous to Mercer. On December 21, 1995, the court granted the State's motion, holding that a foreign jury would be empaneled from Camden County. The court then invited the parties to submit briefs on the option of empaneling a foreign jury from a contiguous county. On January 29, 1996, the court chose Hunterdon County as the source of the foreign jury.

Pre-trial hearings also were held on various evidentiary issues. Defendant's motion to employ a struck jury system and to permit attorney participation in voir dire was granted. The court ruled that all of defendant's statements to police were admissible. The court also dismissed defendant's motions: to suppress evidence obtained during a consent search and a search authorized by warrant; to dismiss the indictment due to prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury; to select a fourteen-person jury; and to consolidate all murder offenses.

The court further denied defendant's motion to exclude from the jury pool all jurors with knowledge of "Megan's Law," holding that the court would advise prospective jurors of defendant's prior record. That record included convictions for the aggravated sexual assault of a young girl in 1982, sexual assault and attempted aggravated assault in 1982, and theft of a vehicle in 1980. Defendant sought interlocutory relief from the Appellate Division. The Appellate Division declined to intervene, but directed the trial court not to advise jurors of defendant's prior convictions. It also ordered the court to prepare in writing the questions it intended to ask potential jury members. A subsequent application for interlocutory relief based on the trial court's prepared questions was denied by the Appellate Division. Defendant's motion with this Court for leave to appeal also was denied.

Jury selection for the trial began in Hunterdon County on January 13, 1997. On April 15, 1997, defendant moved for reconsideration of the change of venue decision and requested that jury selection be moved to Camden County. That motion was denied. A jury was selected on April 21, 1997, following individual interviews of 331 prospective jurors. Defendant subsequently renewed his change of venue motion; again, it was denied.

The guilt phase was held from May 5 to May 30, 1997. Defendant was convicted on all counts. The penalty phase was held from June 9 to June 20, 1997. Defendant alleged as mitigating factors: that he was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(5)(a); that his capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was significantly impaired as a result of mental disease or defect, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(5)(d); and twenty-two circumstances of his upbringing under the "catch-all" mitigating factor, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(5)(h).

The jury concluded that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors. "By virtue of the verdict," the court sentenced defendant to death. On July 30, 1997, defendant was sentenced on the noncapital counts of the indictment. The felony murder convictions, counts two and four, were merged into murder (count one). Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment on that count, in the event that his death sentence was vacated. Counts five through eight, the aggravated sexual assault convictions, were merged with the kidnapping conviction (count three). Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge, with 25 years of parole ineligibility, to run consecutive to count one. Defendant was also required to pay a Violent Crimes Compensation Board penalty of $100. Defendant filed a Notice of Appeal.

II. The Trial

A. Guilt Phase

The victim, Megan Kanka, lived at 32 Barbara Lee Drive in Hamilton Township with her parents, Maureen and Richard Kanka, and her two siblings. Defendant lived diagonally across the street at 27 Barbara Lee Drive with Brian Jenin, Joseph Cifelli and Cifelli's mother.

Megan's mother was the first witness for the State. She testified about the events on July 29, 1994, the night of Megan's disappearance. Mrs. Kanka testified that she laid down to relax at approximately 6:30 p.m. While she was resting, Megan went down the street to visit a friend. When Mrs. Kanka got up, she could not find Megan. The Kankas asked neighbors if they had seen Megan. A number of the neighbors, including defendant, told Mrs. Kanka that they had seen Megan in the neighborhood earlier that day. Defendant also told the Kankas he had seen Megan before dinner when she and her friend Courtney stopped to talk to him about his new boat, which was on the street in front of his house.

Shortly after Megan's disappearance, Mrs. Kanka called the police. When they arrived at Barbara Lee Drive, she gave them a photograph of her daughter and a description of the clothing Megan was wearing. She also gave the police a pair of shorts resembling those that Megan was wearing when she disappeared.

Hamilton Township Patrol Officer Paul Seitz testified that he and Officer Mike Smith arrived at the Kanka's residence at 8:49 p.m. After searching the Kanka's house and property, and questioning some of the Kankas' neighbors, Seitz spoke with defendant. Defendant told the officer that he had seen Megan riding her bicycle at 2:30 p.m. that day. When asked if he had seen Megan at any other time (because his statement conflicted with what other neighbors had said and what he had said earlier), defendant stated that he had seen Megan riding her bicycle in front of her house between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Defendant also told Seitz that his roommates, Cifelli and Jenin, were out shopping between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and would not have seen Megan.

Officer Nelson then testified that at approximately 10 p.m., he and three other officers approached 27 Barbara Lee Lane to obtain consent to search the house. Mr. Cifelli, the owner, agreed to let them search the house, yard and boat for Megan. They did not find her. During the course of the search, Officer Nelson noticed heavy brown blankets being washed in the washing machine. Although he found it to be unusual, none of the residents at 27 Barbara Lee Lane was a suspect at the time of this first search.

At approximately 12:30 a.m., Detectives O'Dwyer and Kieffer and Detective Sergeant Stanley obtained a signed consent from owner Cifelli to search the home again. Jenin, Cifelli and defendant also were questioned individually at that time.

During the search, O'Dwyer found "what appeared to be four pairs of women's underwear," one having a teddy-bear pattern, under the bed in Cifelli's room. The officer read Cifelli his Miranda rights and Cifelli waived his rights. Cifelli explained that the underwear belonged to an ex-girlfriend. O'Dwyer soon realized that the underwear was adult-sized and did not believe it was connected to Megan's disappearance. Cifelli gave officers an alibi and receipts proving he and Jenin were not at home at the time of Megan's disappearance.

The officers then interviewed Brian Jenin. They did not administer Miranda rights since, according to O'Dwyer, the search of Jenin's room disclosed nothing suspicious and the police were just trying to obtain information. Jenin's account was consistent with Cifelli's.

After questioning Cifelli and Jenin, the officers then called defendant into the room. They did not read defendant his Miranda rights because nothing suspicious had been found in his room and the police were just seeking information. Defendant related that he had gone out that day with Jenin and Cifelli to purchase a boat, and then washed it in front of his home. He spoke to Megan, who he knew as a "neighborhood child," and her friend Courtney between 5:00-5:30 that day while he was washing the...