Opinion ID: 2157140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: State v. Richard Chippero

Text: On July 23, 1991, twenty-three-year-old Richard Chippero entered the home of his neighbor, thirty-nine-year-old Ermina Tocci, and asked her to have sex with him. Tocci refused, and Chippero pulled out a pocket knife and chased her into the bedroom. He forced her to undress and raped her at knifepoint. Fearing that she could identify him, Chippero stabbed Tocci ten times. She died from the wounds. Chippero subsequently discarded the knife. It was never found. A partial sneaker print was found on the victim's back. That impression closely resembled the impression from a pair of sneakers found in Chippero's home. Also, vaginal swabs taken from the victim during the autopsy provided evidence of sexual activity, although DNA testing did not conclusively tie the sexual assault to Chippero. Eventually, Chippero confessed after he had been in police custody for several hours. Chippero committed the murder only twenty-five days after being paroled from a prison sentence for other serious offenses. He had been previously convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated arson, arson, burglary, and theft. Chippero's two stepfathers were imprisoned for abusing him. His first stepfather physically abused him and his mother. His second stepfather physically and sexually abused him. When he was seven-years-old, Chippero was diagnosed as being hyperkinetic, emotionally disturbed, and mentally retarded. After graduating from a school for emotionally disturbed students, Chippero was admitted to a psychiatric hospital on four occasions. He was diagnosed with a bi-polar affective disorder and manic behavior. The jury convicted Chippero of capital murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and a weapons offense. The jury found the c(4)(f) (escape detection) and the c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) aggravating factors and the c(5)(a) (extreme emotional disturbance), c(5)(c)(age), c(5)(d) (diminished capacity), and c(5)(h) (catch-all) mitigating factors. The jury found each of the aggravating and mitigating factors applied, but could not unanimously decide whether to impose the death penalty as a sentence. Chippero was sentenced to life imprisonment with a thirty-year parole disqualifier term on the murder conviction. The court sentenced him to a consecutive life sentence with a twenty-five-year parole disqualifier term for the aggravated sexual assault conviction. Finally, for the hindering apprehension or prosecution count, Chippero received a concurrent five-year term. The remaining convictions were merged for sentencing. On appeal, Chippero's conviction was set aside by this Court because his confession was the product of an illegal arrest. State v. Chippero, 164 N.J. 342, 753 A. 2d 701 (2000). The matter has been remanded for retrial.