State v. Moore
| Decision Date | 26 October 1988 |
| Citation | 550 A.2d 117,113 N.J. 239 |
| Parties | STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Marie MOORE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Arnold I. Budin, Union, and Roy B. Greenman, Designated Counsel, for defendant-appellant (Alfred A. Slocum, Public Defender, attorney).
Gary H. Schlyen, Acting Sr. Asst. Prosecutor, for plaintiff-respondent (John P. Goceljak, Acting Passaic County Prosecutor, attorney).
Lisa Sarnoff Gochman, Deputy Atty. Gen., for amicus curiae, Atty. Gen. New Jersey (W. Cary Edwards, Atty. Gen., attorney; Arthur S. Safir, Deputy Atty. Gen., of counsel and on the briefs).
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
In November 1984, a Passaic County jury convicted Marie Moore of the capital murder of Theresa Feury and sentenced her to death. She appeals directly to this Court as of right. See R. 2:2-1(a)(3). We reverse both defendant's murder conviction and sentence of death. We reverse defendant's capital murder conviction because the trial court failed to charge the jury regarding diminished capacity and the lesser-included offenses of manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter. We reverse the sentence of death because (1) the trial court failed to instruct the jury properly regarding the weighing of mitigating and aggravating factors in accordance with our decision in State v. Biegenwald, 106 N.J. 13, 62, 524 A.2d 130 (1987); and (2) the evidence does not support the jury's finding that defendant committed the homicidal act "by her own conduct" as required by N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c. We remand the matter to the Law Division for a new trial.
On December 22, 1983, the police searched an apartment that the defendant formerly occupied, and discovered in a crawl space behind the bedroom wall the partially mummified body of Theresa Feury. The investigation into the young girl's death revealed the bizarre pattern of conduct that occurred in defendant's household for a period of time commencing in September 1981 and ending in December 1983. Defendant's conduct during this two-year period formed the basis for the thirty-three count indictment that charged defendant with the murder of Theresa Feury, as well as numerous crimes committed against other victims. To simplify this complex factual scenario, we will subdivide our recitation of the facts into three distinct time periods. Each time period corresponds to the presence in the Moore household of different persons who were victimized at the defendant's direction.
In September 1981, the Moore household was located at 1031 Madison Avenue, Paterson, New Jersey. Living in the household at that time were (1) the defendant, Marie Moore (Marie), age thirty-five; (2) Tammy Moore, defendant's daughter, age twelve; (3) Harriet Bayne, a friend's daughter left in defendant's care, age twelve; and (4) Mary Gardullo, defendant's friend of several years, age fifty. Sometime in July or August 1981, three other children began to visit the Moore household on a regular basis. These other children were Ricky Flores, age fourteen, Theresa Feury, the murder victim, age twelve, and Luis Mantalvo, age thirteen. The summer of 1981 was a funfilled one for the children. Defendant Moore took them to beaches, amusement parks, and bowling alleys. The children enjoyed spending time in the Moore household, and developed great affection for defendant during the course of the summer. Such was their affection for defendant that they began to call her "Ma."
On or about September 13, 1981, changes began to occur in the Moore household. At that time, defendant informed the children that her ex-husband was the famous singer and songwriter, Billy Joel. This, of course, was untrue. Moore in fact never had been married. Nevertheless, Moore told the children that Billy Joel had returned to establish some order in the household and for his daughter Tammy's engagement to Ricky Flores, who had been Tammy's boyfriend throughout the summer. Defendant told the children that things had gotten too wild in the house, and that Billy would see to it that matters were straightened out. Naturally, the children were puzzled by defendant's story. Moments later, defendant answered the phone in the living room, and asked the children to gather there. She then informed Tammy, who was convinced that Billy Joel was her father, and Mary Gardullo that Billy wanted them to stay out of the living room.
Once assembled in the living room, Marie began to relate to the children the instructions that she was allegedly receiving from Billy Joel over the phone. She described to them that Billy Joel was a member of the mafia, that he would be assigning household chores to each child, and that he would have a bomb go off in the house if the children were to disobey his orders or tell anyone outside the household what was going on at 1031 Madison Avenue. Marie also told the children that Billy Joel or other members of the mafia would harm the children's family members if they disobeyed. According to Marie, Billy wanted to put Ricky Flores in charge of the household in order to see if he could be an effective head of household once he married Tammy. Marie then instructed the children to return to the house on a daily basis.
Throughout this first time period, Marie would give the children a list of rules and chores that she said she received from Billy over the phone. Their chores would change on a weekly basis on orders from Billy. After school, the children arrived at the Moore household as requested. Shortly thereafter, the phone rang. It was Billy. While ostensibly speaking to Billy, Marie instructed the children to recite the list of rules she had given them earlier that morning. If one of the children did not recite the rules correctly, Marie informed Ricky that Billy wanted him to discipline that child so that the child would remember the rules in the future. Thus began the cycle of punishments in the Moore household.
After enduring their punishments, the three children then performed their assigned chores. At a pre-arranged time, Marie made a call to Billy. Marie told Ricky that Billy wanted him to inspect the children's work. Ricky conducted his inspection and reported to Marie that the others had done an adequate job. Marie replied that Billy said that the cleaning was not done properly because he knew that there was dirt under the kitchen table. Ricky then found dirt under the table and told Marie that Billy was right. Marie then related Billy's instruction that the children be beaten with the bat again. Ricky would beat the children for these "failures," and Marie would direct Ricky while talking on the phone with Billy.
All of the children and Mary Gardullo believed that Billy existed and that Marie was speaking with him on the phone. Defendant provided proof of his existence in a number of ways. First, she received phone calls, instead of just making them to Billy, thus showing that he was in touch with her. The children did not know that Moore could make these phone calls herself, using techniques that she learned when working for the phone company as a telephone operator. Second, Mary Gardullo had been exposed to the Billy character in 1978 when she accompanied Moore to California, and because of the experience she had in California, and because she trusted and liked Moore, she believed in Billy's existence and feared him. When she heard about the first phone call, she became very upset, and her reactions helped to further convince the others that Billy existed. Third, the phone inspections showed that Billy knew what was going on in the household. These instances reinforced the children's belief that Billy existed, and thus their fear that as a member of the mafia he could hurt them and their families if they did not keep coming back to the Moore household.
Harriet, who finally escaped the household in late November, bore the brunt of the "punishments" during the first time period because she lived in Moore's apartment. Luis Montalvo, who left at the end of October, endured physical abuse for less than two months. His punishments, however, took a heavy physical toll on him. Mary Gardullo was not beaten at the start, but punishments did start in October because she was butting in and being "nosey." Theresa, who came to the household every morning and afternoon, was beaten regularly during this first time period.
Luis visited the household only during the first time period. The beatings and torture that he had to endure were lessened somewhat because his family lived close by and he had to meet his parents' curfew. At the end of October, Marie, fearful that Luis' family would intrude, summoned Luis into the living room where she and Ricky were sitting. Moore told Luis that Billy had said that he could go home and would not have to return to the Moore household. Moore then told Luis that Ricky would "give him something to remind him not to say anything." Ricky took Luis to Mary Gardullo's room, where he instructed Luis to raise his hands over his head. Ricky then beat him with his fists, bloodying his nose. After this beating, Luis left the Moore household for good.
Shortly before Luis left the household, on or about October 25, 1981, two important events occurred: Ricky Flores became a permanent resident, and Billy began to speak and issue instructions through the body of Marie Moore. Because defendant now "became" Billy, the phone calls ceased. The first time that Moore "became" Billy occurred soon after Flores moved in as a permanent resident. Moore came back to the apartment and told Mary, Harriet, Theresa, Tammy, Luis, and Flores that Billy's men pulled her over and gave her an injection that would allow Billy to come into her body and speak through her. Moore asked them to keep giving her coffee because of the drug that had been injected. They were sitting in...
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