State v. Dreher

• Decision Date: 04 October 1991
• Citation: 598 A.2d 216,251 N.J.Super. 300
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. John W. DREHER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 300

251 N.J.Super. 300

598 A.2d 216

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. John W. DREHER, Defendant-Appellant.

Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.

Argued April 23, 1991.

Decided Oct. 4, 1991.

Robert L. Weinberg, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellant on A-4754-88T5 (Williams & Connolly, Washington, D.C., and Orloff, Lowenbach, Stifelman & Siegel, Roseland, attorneys; Robert L. Weinberg, Paul Mogin and Allen P. Waxman, Washington, D.C., and Laurence B. Orloff and Bruce N. Stratvert, Roseland, of counsel and on the brief).

Herbert J. Stern, Roseland, for defendant-appellant on A-556-90T5; Williams & Connolly, Washington, D.C., and Stern & Greenberg, attorneys; Herbert J. Stern, Jeffrey Speiser, Roseland, Robert L. Weinberg, Paul Mogin and Allen P. Waxman, Washington, D.C., of counsel and on the brief).

Joseph Connor, Jr., Asst. Prosecutor, for plaintiff-respondent (W. Michael Murphy, Jr., Morris County Prosecutor, attorney; Joseph Connor, Jr., on the brief).

Before Judges ANTELL, O'BRIEN and KEEFE.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

ANTELL, P.J.A.D.

After a trial by jury, defendant was convicted of the purposeful and knowing murder of his wife, Gail B. Dreher, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a(1) and (2). He was also convicted of possession of a knife under circumstances not manifestly appropriate for such lawful uses as it may have, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5d, possession of a knife with the purpose to use it unlawfully against another, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4d, and conspiracy to commit murder, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a and 2C:5-2. The latter convictions were merged into the murder conviction and the court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment with a 30-year period of parole ineligibility. Defendant was also ordered to pay a $1000 penalty to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board. He now appeals from that judgment of conviction, dated April 17, 1989. He also appeals from orders dated August 2 and August 8, 1990, denying his motions for a new trial and for a jury recall. Defendant's motions were based upon claims of irregularities during the jury's deliberations. We now consolidate on our own initiative both appeals for purposes of review.

At 3:32 p.m. on the afternoon of January 2, 1986, the Chatham Township police department received a telephone call from defendant, who had just returned home from work, reporting that his house had been burglarized. Five minutes later, in a second telephone call, he requested that the police hurry, stating that "I think my wife is dead." When the police arrived at defendant's home he led them to the basement where they found decedent's lifeless body. The lower part of her form was in a prone position, and her head was suspended by a ligature which passed about her neck and around a "Lally" column at a height of 15 or 16 inches above the floor. The ligature also circled decedent's right arm at three places and around her left wrist so that her hands were tied behind her. The body had sustained a number of bruises and twelve stab wounds, some of which penetrated the pleural spaces and the jugular vein. The face was battered and decedent's lips were deeply cyanotic, as were her ears and nail beds. Death was found to have been caused by strangulation. The deep furrows around her neck above the larynx suggested that the ligature was the instrumentality of death.

A detective observed that defendant's knuckles were red and swollen, that he had nicks on his hand and a cut on the small finger of his right hand. Defendant said that he might have hurt himself playing squash early that morning. His playing partner, however, testified that defendant did not fall, run into a wall or injure himself in any way.

Signs of intrusion were evident in the second floor master bedroom. Jewelry and jewelry boxes were on the floor, night stand drawers and an armoire drawer had been pulled out and their contents scattered. The bed was in disarray. No other rooms upstairs had been disturbed. No signs of a forced entry were noted.

The State's case against defendant was crucially dependent upon the testimony of Nancy Seifrit, which was given under a grant of use immunity pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:81-17.3. Seifrit, who was named but not indicted as a co-conspirator to the killing, and defendant first met in late 1984 or early 1985 in a bar in El Paso, Texas. Defendant occasionally visited El Paso on business and the two developed an intimate relationship which continued through April 1987.

In March 1985, Seifrit was transferred by her company to Chicago. She stayed in telephone contact with defendant on a daily basis and they met whenever defendant was in Chicago. In October 1985--approximately three months before the homicide--Seifrit moved to the east coast, first staying in Pennsylvania with her mother and then moving to Chatham, New Jersey, where defendant resided with his family. She stated that she made the move at defendant's behest, that she was in love with defendant and that she wanted to be near him. They then began seeing each other on a regular basis, with defendant visiting Seifrit's apartment on weekday mornings at about 5:00 or 5:30 a.m.

Seifrit testified that early in the relationship defendant asked her what she would think if he were to kill his wife. She stated that she dismissed the suggestion by calling defendant an "asshole," without any further response. At another time defendant asked about a gun that he knew Seifrit kept and asked her to bring it to him in New Jersey. Although Seifrit flew from Chicago to New Jersey with the gun, their plan was aborted. Defendant had given her a map showing where she should meet him with the weapon at the bottom of his street in Chatham, but at the time designated for the delivery defendant drove by, not even acknowledging her as he passed. Seifrit testified that defendant later explained he had been unable to stop because his father was in the car with him. Defendant and his father lived on the same street and it was their regular practice to drive together to work at the leather company which the two operated in Newark. No further attempt was made to transfer the gun to defendant.

According to Seifrit, defendant told her that he was "unhappy" in his marriage, that "things ... were happening at the house that he didn't like when he was out of town" and that the "problems in the marriage" worsened during holiday times.

At approximately 4:30 a.m. on January 2, 1986, defendant came to Seifrit's apartment. He appeared to be "upset." He had had a New Year's "that was not what he had planned. Christmas--he talked about Christmas was not happy, there was fighting." She testified that defendant "wanted to settle things that day, he was just tired of what was going on. He asked me if I would come over to the house and let him introduce me as the other woman. He felt--he told me that it would help him out."

Seifrit reluctantly agreed to defendant's request. He told her to be at his house at 7:30 a.m. and to dress to "look good."

At the prearranged time, Seifrit drove to defendant's house which she entered through the door in the garage. Stepping in, she saw defendant in the doorway leading downstairs to the basement. He was saying "move, just move" while another voice (the decedent's) was "just saying, 'please,' begging, 'do what you want, I don't care, please.' "

After composing herself in the bathroom Seifrit heard defendant summon her downstairs, and as she started down she saw the soles of Gail's bare feet. She "saw what was going on" and went back upstairs. As she did, defendant again called her, saying "I need help. I need something sharp, a knife, scissors, something." Seifrit then returned to the basement and threw defendant a knife she had taken from the kitchen. She saw that Gail, whose face was then blue, seemed to be kneeling before a pole in the cellar and that defendant "was behind the pole pulling on the string." Letting go of the string with one hand he picked up the knife which Seifrit had thrown to him, "brought his arm around and stabbed his wife in the throat."

At that point, Seifrit stated that she "choked, I was just upset." Again, she visited the bathroom and then entered the kitchen where she waited for about five minutes for defendant to come back upstairs. When he returned he went to the hall closet and handed Seifrit a fur coat, and at his instructions she put it in her car. Thereafter, the two went up to the master bedroom where they emptied the contents of a jewelry box into a pillow case, and then busied themselves to give the bedroom and the den downstairs the appearance of having been ransacked by a burglar. Defendant told Seifrit that he had to leave because he could not be late picking up his father for work. Before leaving, he said that she should take certain jewelry from the pool table in the basement and to make sure "everything was done."

After defendant left, Seifrit returned to the basement and struck Gail over the head with a metal cobbler's last which she found on the pool table. The blows left three crescent-shaped wounds which penetrated the skin to expose the underlying skull bone. She also stabbed Gail's body several times with the kitchen knife which she then put in the pillow case with the jewelry and left the basement.

Seifrit drove back to her apartment and after discarding the pillow case and its contents she telephoned defendant at his office. When defendant asked if "everything was done" she told him that she had gotten rid of the jewelry, and that she had hit and stabbed Gail's body. Defendant then asked her if she had taken the earrings off the pool table. When Seifrit said that she never saw any earrings, defendant replied: "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."

Seifrit's phone bill showed that the call to defendant's office was made at 8:49 a.m. and that it lasted for 10 minutes. At 9:30 a.m. that morning defendant...