Opinion ID: 1960299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: bryan coyle

Text: In 1983, shortly after his release from prison after serving a term for murder, Coyle moved to Old Bridge. He soon became sexually involved with Rhonda Lemberg, his married next-door neighbor. Lemberg told Coyle that she was unhappy with her husband, who had beaten her and her children. She also disclosed her fear that her husband would one day use against her the gun that was in their house. On July 28, 1983, Lemberg and her husband had an argument, following which she went to Coyle's house. Coyle had taken mescaline, a narcotic, before her arrival. Shortly thereafter, the husband arrived and demanded that his wife return home. When no one answered, the husband broke the window, cutting his hand. Before opening the door, Coyle retrieved his nine-millimeter handgun, loaded it, and put it in his back pocket. The husband entered and, ignoring Coyle's efforts to placate him, moved towards his wife. When Coyle fired a warning shot, the husband fled and returned home to call the police. The husband, seeing his wife and Coyle enter Coyle's car, ran into the street and used a discarded garage door to block the car. Lemberg believed that her husband had a gun. She told Coyle that her husband would kill her. She fled from the car, but her husband caught her and they engaged in a heated verbal exchange. Her husband walked back to his home and Coyle walked down the block with Lemberg. Shortly thereafter, the husband stormed out of his house and hurried after Lemberg. Coyle chased the husband and fired his handgun. The first two shots missed. Coyle shot again, this time hitting the husband in the leg. The husband crawled across a lawn and hid behind a tree. Coyle followed him and fired three more shots, two of which hit the husband, one in the back of the head, killing him. At trial, both Lemberg and Coyle testified that the husband had been acting irrationally on the night of the murder. Coyle also claimed that he fired at the husband to save Lemberg, that he had intended not to kill her husband, but only to stop him from attacking her. The State alleged two aggravating factors: c(4)(a), prior murder conviction; and c(4)(c), depraved mind. Coyle asserted four mitigating factors: c(5)(a), extreme emotional disturbance; c(5)(d), intoxication; c(5)(b), victim participation; and c(5)(h), the catch-all factor. The jury found both aggravating factors and only the victim-participation factor, c(5)(b), as a mitigating factor. It sentenced Coyle to death. Coyle, supra, 119 N.J. at 201-08, 574 A. 2d 951. This Court reversed the death sentence because of various errors, including the absence of an instruction on the intent to cause death as opposed to serious bodily injury, and an improper charge on passion-provocation. Id. at 221, 574 A. 2d 951. On re-sentencing, Coyle received a life sentence.