State v. Wheelerweaver
| Docket Number | A-1884-21 |
| Decision Date | 25 January 2024 |
| Parties | STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. KHALIL WHEELERWEAVER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
Argued December 6 2023
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division Essex County, Indictment No. 17-02-0547.
Stephen William Kirsch, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for appellant (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney Stephen William Kirsch, on the brief).
Frank J. Ducoat, Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for respondent (Theodore N. Stephens II, Acting Essex County Prosecutor, attorney; Frank J. Ducoat, of counsel and on the brief).
Before Judges Currier, Firko and Susswein.
Defendant Khalil Wheelerweaver[1] appeals his jury trial convictions for the murder of three women and the sexual assault and attempted murder of a fourth woman. He also was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, desecration of human remains, and aggravated arson, and was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 160 years.
On appeal, defendant contends the charges involving each victim should have been tried separately. He argues the judge improperly instructed the jury on how to consider the evidence of the multiple criminal episodes. He also argues police violated his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and the trial judge erred when he informed the jury on his ruling issued following the Miranda[2] hearing. Further defendant contends his sentence is manifestly excessive. Based upon our review of the record, the parties' arguments, and the applicable legal principles, we affirm.
We discern the following pertinent facts from the record. We summarize the crimes in the chronological order in which they were committed.
Victim R.W.[3] (deceased)
On August 31, 2016, R.W. was walking with Breniesha Patterson and another woman on a street known for prostitution in Newark. They planned to engage in sex work. Patterson testified a car drove up and the driver "wanted" R.W., who got into the vehicle. Patterson told the driver, "[b]e careful with my sister because I love her," and "I'm going to take your license plate." She recorded the license plate number. R.W. sent Patterson a Facebook message twenty minutes later. Patterson never heard from R.W. again. Patterson reported R.W. missing on September 2, 2016. She provided police with the license plate number of the car R.W. entered.
On September 1, 2016, firefighters responded to a fire at an abandoned house on Lakeside Avenue in Orange. It took several hours to get the fire under control. Investigators found badly burned human remains inside the house. Dental records confirmed the burned body was R.W. An expert testified the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. There was no soot in her airways, indicating R.W. was dead before the fire began. The investigation into the cause of the fire revealed there was no gas, electricity, or stove in the house. There was evidence of squatters, trespassing, and drug use.
On September 7, 2016, Detective Sergio Pereira of the Union Township Police Department was conducting the missing persons investigation. He determined the license plate number provided by Patterson was linked to defendant's car. Pereira went to defendant's residence and showed him a photograph of R.W. Defendant admitted he was with R.W. on August 31. Defendant explained he was driving in Newark and saw R.W. He said she wanted pizza, so he offered to drive her to a store. R.W. asked defendant if she could stay with him. He said no, but told her about an abandoned house in Orange where people stayed. He claimed he dropped her off at that location. Defendant volunteered to take the officers there. However, he took them to a different address than the house that was set on fire.
Defendant's phone records revealed he was near the location of the fire on August 31. His phone records also showed defendant searched the internet for missing persons in Union County, his home address, and "can text apps be traced."
Victim J.B. (deceased)
On October 22, 2016, J.B. and her long-time friend, Amina Nobles, were on Frelinghuysen and Evergreen Avenues in Newark near a fast-food restaurant. J.B. let another friend use her phone, and then left the area. J.B. later called Nobles from someone else's phone-which was later shown in phone records to be defendant's phone. Nobles testified J.B. seemed okay during the call. J.B. told Nobles she expected to be gone for an hour. She never returned. Later that day, Nobles received a call from the number J.B. used earlier. The caller did not speak. A missing persons report was filed a few days later.
On December 5, 2016, two construction workers went to an abandoned house on Highland Ave in Orange to write a contract for repairs. They discovered J.B.'s body inside. A jacket was wrapped around J.B.'s face and neck area. Her face was covered with duct tape from the nose down. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation.
Phone records indicate defendant called Nobles on October 22, 2016. Defendant also called J.B. four times that day. Defendant's phone records confirmed he was near the fast-food restaurant in Newark and then the abandoned house.
In the days leading up to J.B.'s disappearance, defendant conducted the following searches on the internet: "Walgreen needles," "what stores that sell syringes," "drug that put you to sleep instantly," "homemade poison," and "how do you make deadly poisons out of common household objects."
Victim T.T. (survived)
T.T. had been introduced to defendant by a former friend. In April 2016, defendant texted her and offered money for sex. T.T. went to defendant's home. He gave her the money upfront. She told defendant she had to go to her car to retrieve a condom but left and never returned.
In November 2016, T.T. was staying at a motel in Elizabeth. She was pregnant and no longer engaging in prostitution. She was, however, "conning" prospective "tricks," that is, "[s]omeone who gives money for sex."
On November 15, 2016, defendant reached out to T.T. She decided to try to con him and take his money. Defendant arrived at the motel wearing all black and what T.T. described as "half a mask thing." He was also wearing gloves and a hat with his hood over it. T.T. did not find this unusual because it was November.
T.T. and defendant did not have identification, which prevented them from getting a motel room. T.T. told him they might be able to get a room at a different motel without having to produce identification. She then went to her room to get the keys to her friend Arnold's car. T.T. left her phone in the room.
T.T. and defendant drove to a gas station and then to a motel in Linden. T.T. exited the car and asked motel staff about getting a room, but the cost was too high. Defendant waited in the car. As they pulled out of motel parking lot, defendant asked her to pull over to use the bathroom. She parked the car on a side street and defendant got out to relieve himself.
T.T. testified it was a "blur" after defendant got back to the car. She thinks he hit her over the head. She woke up in the back seat. T.T. said defendant was "raping [her] from behind and then choking [her] out at the same time." She passed out and woke up "about three times all together" because of the strangling. T.T. tried to scratch defendant's face. He then put her hands behind her back, handcuffed her, and duct-taped her nose and mouth.
At some point, defendant moved to the front seat and took off his mask. He asked T.T. if she remembered him. He reminded her she had previously taken his money. Because the duct tape loosened from her crying and sweating, she was able to speak. She told defendant she left her phone with his text messages in her room. Defendant replied, "[o]h, no, we got to go back and get that phone." She told him if he took her back to her room, she would have Arnold pay him if he let them go.
On the way back to the first motel, T.T. slipped out of one of the handcuffs. She testified defendant wanted her:
to go upstairs, grab the phone. He was going to follow at a distance behind me, have the old man [Arnold] come out, come downstairs, get in the car. He was going to follow and from there he was going to take us to [an] ATM and take us to a secluded area and then let us go.
T.T. kicked on the door. When Arnold opened it, she entered and locked the door behind her. After banging on the door, defendant ran off. Arnold called 9-1-1. T.T. told the operator she had been kidnapped. She told responding officers defendant kidnapped, choked, and duct taped her.
Phone location data showed defendant's phone was at the motel where T.T. was staying between 7:51 p.m. and 8:04 p.m. on November 15, was at the gas station between 8:07 p.m. and 8:11 p.m., was at the motel in Linden, and then returned to T.T.'s motel. T.T. made a positive in-court identification of defendant.
Victim S.B. (deceased)
On November 19, 2016, defendant texted S.B., "[d]o you want to make money?" and "[s]ex for money?" S.B. replied, "[h]ow much money?" She later texted, "[t]o f*** me, 500."
S.B.'s phone records revealed defendant agreed to pick her up in Jersey City, where she went to school, drive her to his house and bring her back after. S.B. asked if he would pay her first. He responded he would pay her at his house. She then texted, Defenda...
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