Opinion ID: 1473632
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Did other errors taint the trial?

Text: Trial counsel failed to request the court to instruct the jury specifically that defendant's military service could be found as a mitigating factor. The court did agree that it should give that instruction but simply failed to do so. We do not believe that this had the clear capacity to bring about an unjust result. Nor do we agree with defendant that his cooperation with the State, by agreeing to a stipulation that made it unnecessary for Mr. Ellison's daughters to testify, required that the jury be charged that the stipulation be considered as relevant mitigation under c(5)(h), the catch-all factor. The court properly read the statutory language of c(5)(h) (any other factor relevant to the character of the defendant), adding that the jury should consider all the evidence and evaluate defendant's potential for rehabilitation. The court also characterized the stipulation as an agreement between counsel and the court. Defendant argues that the jury should have been instructed that it was defendant's decision to stipulate to the daughters' testimony, not counsels' decision. The defense contends that the mischaracterization of the stipulation rendered the jury unable to ascribe mitigating significance to the stipulation. The court's instruction to the jury that it could consider all the evidence presented undermines the defendant's position that the jury was unable to ascribe any significance to the stipulation. Additionally, because there is little evidence that defendant's agreement to the stipulation reflected a positive character trait, the stipulation was potentially irrelevant and excludable. The fact that defendant entered into a stipulation is not, in itself, relevant to his character such that it was error by the trial court not to have instructed the jury that such an action was potentially mitigating evidence. See Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed. 2d 973 (1978) (holding that courts may not exclude mitigating evidence relevant to defendant's character, record, or circumstances of offense). It is simply not clear what, if any, mitigating effect the stipulation could have had on the jury. Thus, the trial court's failure to instruct specifically the jury that it could find that the stipulation had a mitigating effect was not improper. Another issue is whether there was a rational basis for a passion/provocation manslaughter charge. State v. Crisantos (Arriagas), supra, 102 N.J. at 276, 508 A. 2d 167. The trial court refused to give such a charge. Passion/provocation should be charged when there is a rational basis in the evidence to conclude that: (1) there was adequate provocation for a reasonable person; (2) the reasonable defendant would not have had an opportunity to cool off between the provocation and the slaying; (3) the provocation actually impassioned the defendant; and (4) the defendant had not actually cooled off. State v. Mauricio, 117 N.J. 402, 411, 568 A. 2d 879 (1990). Defendant relies on a course of ill treatment theory. In State v. Guido, 40 N.J. 191, 211, 191 A. 2d 45 (1963), we acknowledge[d] the undoubted capacity of events to accumulate a detonating force   . Defendant argues that the long-standing course of his ill treatment  the loss of the money, the victim's refusal to discuss it with defendant, and his frustration in not receiving all of the money after holding the family captive  set the stage for defendant's final act of rage. In defendant's view, those facts establish a sufficient rational basis to have warranted a passion/provocation instruction. Although we acknowledge and embrace the trend away from `the usual practice of placing the various types of provocatory conduct into pigeon-holes,' State v. Mauricio, supra, 117 N.J. at 414, 568 A. 2d 879 (quoting 2 Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Jr., Substantive Criminal Law § 7.10, at 256 (1986)), we nonetheless fail to see any basis in the record that would indicate that a reasonable person could have been provoked to murder under these circumstances, or that the person would not have had time to cool off. Moreover, the typical course of ill treatment involves physical abuse. In State v. Guido, supra, 40 N.J. at 211, 191 A. 2d 45, it was the prolonged physical abuse of the defendant by her husband that required the issue of manslaughter to be sent to the jury. In State v. Mauricio, supra, 117 N.J. at 414-17, 568 A. 2d 879, when a bouncer and the defendant engaged in two physical confrontations within approximately twenty minutes, the subsequent shooting of the bouncer roughly a half hour later entitled the defendant to an instruction on passion/provocation manslaughter. Defendant is not entitled to a passion/provocation charge for anything that occurred as a result of his attempts to hold the victim and his family captive and recover money from them. He created the circumstance of his own passion or provocation and should not benefit from it. The trial court did not err in refusing to charge the jury on the lesser-included offense of passion/provocation manslaughter. Another issue is whether the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt aggravating factor c(4)(f), that is, whether defendant killed to escape detection for another offense. Recall the evidence. Defendant wore a hood that concealed his face and head. Ellison had not seen defendant for more than three years. Defendant blindfolded Ellison and left the hood behind when he departed. Defendant had spoken truthfully, the State's psychiatrist said, when he stated that he thought Ellison had not recognized him. We do not believe that the evidence clearly established that defendant thought a warning to the victims not to report the incident was sufficient to ensure against detection. The test, which views the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Reyes, 50 N.J. 454, 459, 236 A. 2d 385 (1967). We are satisfied there was sufficient proof for the jury to have found the factor set forth in c(4)(f). Finally, at oral argument defendant raised the issue of whether trial counsel was ineffective in not disclosing (at least in the penalty phase) that defendant had been accused of four other murders in Bergen County that had led police to his apartment. Presumably this would strengthen the mental-disease defenses. We decline to consider that issue in this appeal. We would not expect, however, that any post-conviction relief proceeding would find such a decision by trial counsel to have been a poor strategic choice.