Opinion ID: 1960299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: samuel erazo

Text: On July 20, 1986, Erazo stabbed his wife, Lucy, to death. The two had been married in 1982 while Erazo was in prison serving a sentence for the murder of a young girl. After Erazo was released, he moved into Lucy's apartment. The relationship between the two worsened. Erazo hit Lucy on many occasions. One of Lucy's daughters spoke to parole authorities about Erazo's living in an apartment with children, a violation of his parole. As a result, Erazo was imprisoned for several months. On the night of the murder, during a party in their apartment, Erazo and Lucy drank heavily. Tension increased throughout the evening, and Erazo became infuriated when Lucy danced the merenge with another man. When the party ended at 11:30 p.m., Erazo left to accompany his guests home. When he returned, Lucy was leaving the apartment. She returned after midnight. Shortly thereafter, neighbors heard glass breaking and Lucy screaming that Erazo was killing her. Erazo changed his clothes, left the apartment house, and told a friend to call an ambulance. Medical personnel found Lucy lying on the floor next to a bloodstained knife. She had sustained four knife wounds to her hands, arms, and chest, three slashes to the neck, and a single stab wound to the back that had killed her instantly. The State asserted that Erazo had killed her because after she purposely cut her hand, she had threatened to call the police, a call that could have led to the revocation of Erazo's parole. At the penalty phase, the State relied on two aggravating factors: c(4)(a), prior murder conviction; and c(4)(c), depraved mind. In mitigation, Erazo presented testimony from his brother and sister urging the jury to spare his life for them and for his mother, who was ill. Corrections officers at Rahway State Prison testified that during Erazo's imprisonment, he had been a model prisoner. Erazo also gave a statement of allocution. He offered this evidence in support of six mitigating factors: the c(5)(a) factor, extreme emotional disturbance; N.J.S.A. 3C:11-3c(5)(b) (the c(5)(b) factor), victim participation in conduct that led to her death; the c(5)(d) factor, intoxication; N.J.S.A. 11:3c(5)(e) (the c(5)(e) factor), unusual or substantial duress; the c(5)(c) factor, age; and the c(5)(h) catch-all factor. The jury found both aggravating factors and four of the mitigating factors: extreme emotional disturbance, victim participation, intoxication, and extreme duress. It rejected the age and catch-all factors, and sentenced Erazo to death. Erazo, supra, 126 N.J. at 127-31, 594 A. 2d 232. This Court reversed the conviction and remanded the case to the Law Division for a re-trial of the guilt phase because of an error in the jury charge on passion-provocation manslaughter and because of a Gerald error. Id. at 122, 594 A. 2d 172. At the time of the Martini Report, Erazo's guilt had not yet been determined.