Opinion ID: 1309317
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Crimes at the Victims' Residence

Text: About 1:30 p.m. on the day of the murders, the Margulies' next door neighbor discovered a young man with a black briefcase hiding in the bushes outside of the Margulies' residence. The man told the neighbor that he was hiding from some people who were after him, but the neighbor did not see anyone around. The neighbor told him to leave the area and the man walked around the corner and out of view. At trial, the neighbor identified defendant as the person he had seen outside of the Margulies' home that day. The day in question was a Saturday, and, as was his custom, Harry worked in his store in the morning and returned to his home in the early afternoon. His son testified that he telephoned his father at home between 3 and 4 p.m. and that nothing during their conversation suggested that anything unusual had occurred or was occurring at the house. Both the Margulies' home and their stereo store had burglar alarm systems which had been installed and were monitored by Pacific Alarm. Sometime after 4 p.m., the burglar alarm at the Margulies' residence went off; the alarm was set to sound both in the house and at Pacific Alarm's offices. Shortly thereafter, the Margulies' daughter, who worked at her father's store, received a call from the alarm company informing her that the alarm at the house had been triggered. After telephoning the residence but receiving no answer, she drove to the home. She found the front door ajar, and, as she started to enter the house, saw her mother's dead body on the floor. She ran to a neighbor's home and called the police. On their arrival, the police found the dead bodies of Avone and Harry in the front hallway. The eyes and mouths of both victims had been covered with adhesive tape, and both had had their hands secured behind their backs  Avone with cord and Harry with a pair of handcuffs. Harry's body was found fully dressed but Avone's was nude. Each victim had died from a single gunshot wound to the chest area fired from a .45 caliber handgun. Later laboratory tests found semen in Avone's vagina. The police found a number of items in the house that other family members testified had not been there before the commission of the crimes: a black briefcase with a box of ammunition on the kitchen floor, and a bicycle cable and lock in one of the bedrooms. Neither Avone's purse nor Harry's wallet had been stolen during the incident. One of the investigating officers testified, however, that he could not recall whether any money had been found in Harry's wallet at that time. Family members reported that a set of Harry's keys  which included all of the keys to his stereo store  had apparently been taken because they were not in their usual location on the top of a buffet in the dining room.