Opinion ID: 2382857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: James Clausell

Text: We are familiar with this case, too, having heard the capital appeal. Clausell, supra, 121 N.J. 298, 580 A. 2d 221. Clausell appears to have an overall culpability greater than Robert Marshall because of the absolute inanity of the killing. Like DiFrisco, Clausell's motive for killing the victim was to receive $2,000 in cash and to develop a reputation as a hitman. The principal, a known drug dealer, hired Clausell to seek revenge on his neighbor who had filed a municipal-court complaint against him concerning his dog. Clausell and a cohort carried out the hit by firing two shots through the front door of the victim's house. One bullet fatally struck the victim in the chest, the other narrowly missed his daughter. A jury sentenced Clausell to death after finding the presence of c(4)(b) (grave risk) and c(4)(d) (pecuniary motive) aggravating factors. All that saved him from the imposition of the death penalty was some evidence that showed that he might have intended only to intimidate the victim and not to kill him, entitling him to a Gerald retrial. The contract principal in his case was given a life sentence, but again there was a residual doubt with respect to the mission on which he had dispatched Clausell.