Opinion ID: 1969802
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: alleged errors relating to the suicide tape and items seized from defendant's motel room

Text: Defendant has raised thirty claims concerning the admission into evidence of an audio tape defendant recorded during an apparent suicide attempt and related issues concerning the seizure of items from his motel room. The factual context for those claims has been set forth in a prior opinion of this Court, see Marshall I, supra, 123 N.J. at 39-41, 62-73, 586 A. 2d 85, and need be summarized only briefly here. We address the claims on their merits and determine that they should be dismissed without an evidentiary hearing. On September 27, 1984, approximately one week after police had confronted defendant with their knowledge of his connection to McKinnon, police were informed that defendant had checked into the Best Western Motel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Investigators immediately established surveillance at the motel. At 11:30 p.m., defendant left his room and went to the front office of the motel. Investigator Mohel followed defendant and observed him at the front desk. After defendant returned to his room, Mohel spoke to the clerk who said that defendant had deposited letters in the outgoing mail tray. Mohel testified that he looked into the tray and saw two letters there. One was addressed to Joseph Dougherty, Esq. On the outside of the envelope, Mohel observed the writing: To be opened only in the event of my death. Mohel immediately seized the letters and telephoned for assistance. When uniformed officers arrived, they entered defendant's room and found him there asleep. Mohel woke defendant and asked him if he had taken anything. Defendant said that he had put a lethal dose of a sleeping medicine in a cup of soda, but that he had fallen asleep before drinking it. Defendant said that it had been his intention to commit suicide at the exact time his wife had been murdered, but that he had overslept. The State obtained a search warrant to open the envelopes. Inside the envelope addressed to Dougherty, investigators found a letter, a contract to sell some real estate, and an audio tape. The tape was dictated by defendant, and we previously have set forth its substance. The tape discussed Marshall's relationship with Kraushaar, his intention to leave Maria within a month, his spiral of debt that accelerated to almost    two-hundred thousand dollar[s]    that I was determined to pay off, but just couldn't seem to climb out, and his reasons for hiring [McKinnon] to investigate Maria. On the tape Marshall acknowledged that he had sent McKinnon $5,500 in two installments and had given him an additional $800 at Harrah's the night of the homicide. Marshall instructed Dougherty on the tape with respect to how various business, financial, and personal matters should be handled. Marshall expressed his intention to take his own life because he expected to be indicted and convicted for his wife's murder, even though he was innocent. [ Id. at 40-41, 586 A. 2d 85 (first alteration in original.)]