Opinion ID: 1960299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: james koedatich

Text: On November 23, 1982, at approximately 9:30 p.m., eighteen-year-old Amie Hoffman left her part-time job in a shopping center. Two days later her body was found floating face down in a water-retention tank located in a secluded area. Koedatich had abducted her in the mall parking lot. When discovered, she was wearing the same clothing as on the day of her abduction. An autopsy revealed a long gash on the left side of her head, a wound to her right shoulder, and injuries at the base of her neck. Her left ear had been severed, leaving a deep wound that extended to the spinal chord. She also had sustained two severe chest wounds, one penetrating four-and-one-half inches and the other seven inches, through her lungs and to her back. The medical examiner theorized that the knife had been inserted once, causing the shallower wound, and then thrust in deeply, causing the seven-inch wound. The victim's hand revealed defensive wounds consistent with grabbing for the knife, and abrasions and bruises on her left thigh and lower arm, consistent with having been dragged over the retention-tank wall. Vaginal and rectal swabs revealed sperm, and the medical examiner estimated that intercourse had occurred within twenty-four hours of the victim's death. The State alleged the existence of four aggravating factors: a prior murder conviction, the c(4)(a) factor; depraved mind, the c(4)(c) factor; the murder was committed for the purpose of escaping detection for another crime, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(4)(f) (the c(4)(f) factor); and the murder was committed in the course of either a kidnapping or aggravated sexual assault, the c(4)(g) factor. Koedatich refused to allow his counsel to present any mitigating evidence concerning his childhood trauma. The trial court, nonetheless, submitted the catch-all factor, c(5)(h), and charged the jury that the decision on this factor must be unanimous. The jury found that Koedatich had committed a prior murder, that of Deirdre O'Brien, for which he had received a life sentence. It also found that he had a depraved mind, but it did not unanimously find the catch-all mitigating factor. The jury sentenced Koedatich to death. State v. Koedatich, 112 N.J. 225, 231-49, 548 A. 2d 939 (1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1017, 109 S.Ct. 813, 102 L.Ed. 2d 803 (1989). This Court affirmed the conviction, but reversed Koedatich's death sentence because of improper instructions regarding the catch-all factor. Id. at 325, 548 A. 2d 939. In the re-trial of the penalty phase, the jury found all four aggravating factors: prior murder conviction, depraved mind, murder to escape detection, and contemporaneous murder and felony. The jury also found the catch-all factor. Because the jury could not unanimously agree on the weighing of the aggravating and mitigating factors, Koedatich received a life sentence.