Opinion ID: 2382857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Michael Rose

Text: Michael Rose brutally murdered Kathryn Cveticanin for the payment of $540 in cash. The principal, Zoran Cveticanin, hired Rose to kill his step-mother to prevent her from inheriting his father's estate. Rose, who also is mildly-mentally retarded, carried out that task in a vicious fashion  he stabbed his pregnant victim eighty-three times and beat her over the head with a blunt object approximately twenty times. When the victim became too weak to defend herself, Rose smoked a cigarette and then proceeded to beat her head and neck with a sump pump. A jury found aggravating factor c(4)(c) (torture, depravity of mind), and mitigating factors c(5)(e) (duress), c(5)(f) (no prior record), c(5)(g) (substantial assistance to the State), and c(5)(h) (any other relevant factor). Because the jury could not reach a decision on the weighing of the factors, Rose received a sentence of life imprisonment with thirty-years parole ineligibility. His case is close; the jury was hung. The factors of duress and assistance to the State distinguish it.