Opinion ID: 2157140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: State v. James Koedatich (2)

Text: After a night out with friends, Deirdre O'Brien, a female college student, dropped her friends off and drove home at approximately 1:45 a.m. on December 5, 1982. At approximately 2:10 a.m., a park patrolman found O'Brien's car abandoned on the side of the road with its headlights and taillights on. The keys were in the ignition and a purse was left on the seat. The patrolman noticed a tire track in the front of the vehicle. The patrolman drove to the victim's residence and found that she had not arrived home. At 4:26 a.m., New Jersey State Troopers responded to a call from a truck driver at a nearby rest stop that a woman had been stabbed and needed immediate medical attention. A trucker was able to identify the car and the person sitting in the car that had arrived at the rest stop with the injured woman. She screamed and was able to exit the car. The truck driver went to help the victim, noticing that she was bleeding from the chest. Another truck driver made the call to the state troopers. The victim told one of the truck drivers, as well as the troopers that arrived on the scene, that she was forced off the road and was pulled from her car by her assailant. O'Brien died shortly after arriving at the hospital. She had been stabbed four times in the chest and semen had been found in her mouth and vagina. At 11:20 p.m. on January 16, 1983, authorities responded to Koedatich's call for medical assistance. When the police arrived at Koedatich's home, he saw Koedatich leaning against the kitchen table with his T-shirt rolled up. His mother was tending a wound on his back. Koedatich told police that he was driving when a car with a blue light pulled his car over. Koedatich claimed to have gotten out of the car, responded to the inquiries of the occupant of the other car, and as he was re-entering his car, he was stabbed in the back. Koedatich was taken to the hospital, and his car, which matched the description of the car that dropped O'Brien off at the rest stop, was taken to the police garage. Evidence linked Koedatich to the stabbing of O'Brien. A forensic chemist testified that paint particles found in Koedatich's car were found on the victim's clothing. An expert testified that the snow tires found on Koedatich's car matched the tire marks found at the scene of the kidnaping. Another witness testified that there was a correlation between the fibers found on Koedatich's seat cover and those found on the victim's clothing. Also, it was determined that Koedatich's stab was self-inflicted. Defendant was charged with murder, felony murder and kidnaping. A notice of aggravating factors was served: c(4)(a) (prior murder), c(4)(c) (extreme suffering), c(4)(f) (escaping detection), and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony). Defendant was found guilty on all counts. Koedatich had a long, violent criminal history dating back to his childhood. In 1971 he was convicted of murder by a Florida court. He was free for approximately four months when he killed O'Brien. Approximately a week before O'Brien's murder, he kidnaped an eighteen-year-old girl as she was leaving work. He sexually assaulted and murdered that girl. For that murder, he was sentenced to death. The conviction was upheld, but was remanded for a new sentencing proceeding. State v. Koedatich, 112 N.J. 225, 548 A. 2d 939 (1988). At the penalty trial for the murder of O'Brien, his sister-in-law testified that Koedatich was very respectful and close with his family. His girlfriend also testified favorably as to his disposition. In addition, a sociologist was permitted to testify about witnessing a death by lethal injection and about the pros and cons of the death penalty. The jury found that aggravating factors c(4)(f) and c(4)(g) applied. The jury also found that mitigating factor c(5)(h) (catch-all) applied. Koedatich was sentenced to life with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility on the murder count. He was also sentenced consecutively to thirty years with a fifteen-year period of parole ineligibility for the kidnaping count.