Court Opinion

ID: 9859380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 21:23:07.349677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:44:54.270561
License: Public Domain

HANDLER, J.,
dissenting.
Defendant John Chew was charged with and convicted of the purposeful-or-knowing murder of Theresa Bowman. He was sentenced to death because he was found to have killed Bowman in the expectation of the receipt of something of pecuniary value. The basis for that determination was that he was named as the beneficiary of a life-insurance policy held by Bowman. Individual jurors found each of the ten mitigating circumstances establishing the existence of the so-called catch-all mitigating factor. Nevertheless, the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt *89found that the single aggravating factor outweighed all of the mitigating factors, and sentenced defendant to death.
In sustaining this death sentence, the Court engages in puzzling reasoning — it first gives the sole aggravating factor a patently over-broad and vague interpretation, and then, even though it determines that limitations must be imposed on its interpretation in order to validate application of the aggravating factor, it does not limit that application in this case. Moreover, the Court ignores the fact that the jury was not instructed about the factor in accordance with the Court’s own definition. Under the Court’s analysis, the jury instructions were clearly erroneous, and the jury’s misguided findings cannot possibly support the death sentence that was imposed. I dissent from the Court’s conclusion in that regard.
I dissent as well from other determinations relied on by the Court to sustain defendant’s murder conviction and death sentence. The jury determined that defendant was death-eligible in that he killed Bowman by his own conduct. I believe that the death sentence must be vacated because the trial court failed to provide an accomplice instruction as part of the charge that explained the own-conduct requirement. Furthermore, I find reversible error in the admission of the prior consistent statements of two important witnesses.
I
The State relied on a single aggravating factor to obtain a death sentence in this case — that “[t]he defendant committed the murder as consideration for the receipt, or in expectation of the receipt of anything of pecuniary value----” N.J.S.A 2C:11-3 c(4)(d). It also relied on a single fact to establish that aggravating factor — that defendant was the beneficiary of an insurance policy on the victim’s life. The issue thus raised is whether that statutory factor applies to a defendant who commits murder for insurance proceeds. Related to that issue is whether the jury was *90properly instructed in its consideration and application of the factor.
A.
The statutory language that defines the relevant aggravating factor makes a person death-eligible under two circumstances. It does so first if he commits a murder as “consideration for the receipt ... of anything of pecuniary value____” Ibid. Clearly, that language read sensibly and accurately expresses a meaning that the mere receipt of an item of pecuniary value is not sufficient. Rather, the language imports the requirement that the murder be in “consideration” of that receipt. Consideration is a term that comes with an established and well-understood meaning. It is a contract term that denotes “[t]he inducement to a contract.” Black’s Law Dictionary 277 (5th ed. rev.1979). Consideration can be the “cause, motive, price, or impelling influence which induces a contracting party to enter into a contract.” Ibid. Consideration, however, cannot be equated solely with the motive or purpose of an actor; it is more than simply the reason that one acts. Rather, consideration entails a mutual understanding between two persons; in contract parlance, it requires a meeting of the minds between the promisee and the promisor. See E. Allan Farns-worth, Contracts, § 1.6 (1982) (noting that the concept of consideration developed from a quid, pro quo exchange); Richard A. Lord, Williston on Contracts, § 7.2 (4th ed.1992) (defining consideration as a bargained-for exchange); Joseph M. Perillo & Helen H. Bender, Corbin on Contracts, § 5.1 (rev. ed.1995) (refusing to define consideration but noting that it entails a type of mutuality of exchange). Thus, for a murder to be undertaken “as consideration for the receipt ... of anything of pecuniary value,” the murderer must have a mutual understanding and a meeting of the minds with another person. In other words, the murderer must be hired by another for the purpose of committing the offense. See Stale v. Clausell, 121 N.J. 298, 344, 580 A.2d 221 (1990) (“The essence of c(4)(d) is that the murder was committed in exchange *91for something of value.”) (emphasis added); cf. State v. DiFrisco, 137 N.J. 434, 645 A.2d 734 (1994) (DiFrisco II) (upholding death sentence under c(4)(d) factor where murderer, pursuant to an agreement, was paid to kill victim), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 116 S.Ct. 949, 133 L.Ed.2d 873 (1996).
The statutory factor also makes a person death-eligible if a murder is committed “in expectation of the receipt of anything of pecuniary value____” N.J.S.A 2C:11-3 c(4)(d). The expectation of receipt similarly requires a meeting of the minds between two persons. The basis for that interpretation of the statutory factor is that “consideration” modifies both an actual receipt as well as an anticipated or expected future receipt of anything of value. Thus, the central meaning of this aggravating factor is that it requires a contractual arrangement, including an agreement and a mutual understanding, between the murderer — the “contract killer” — and the principal. Reflecting that essential meaning, the statute accommodates both a past (or present) receipt and a future or prospective receipt of something of pecuniary value.
This Court’s own decisions confirm that understanding. In ClauseU, supra, we made clear that the aggravating factor encompasses both the arranged completed receipt and the expectation of the receipt of payment. 121 N.J. at 344, 580 A.2d 221 (“On remand, if necessary, the court should expand that statement [of the c(4)(d) factor] by telling the jury that it must specifically find that defendant either received payment, or expected to receive payment, for having killed____”).
The majority refuses to read “consideration” as modifying anything but the first clause of the statutory factor. To reach that result, it finds “[t]he two clauses [to be] distinct.” Ante at 54, 695 A.2d at 1313. The first clause, according to the majority, requires “consideration and therefore involves a contractual arrangement between the murderer and another acting in concert,” but the second clause, the majority insists, dispenses with “consideration” and allows a death-eligible murder to be committed by the mur*92derer acting alone with only the “expectation” of obtaining something of value. Ibid.
The difficulty with the Court’s interpretation of the second clause is that it would wholly encompass the scope of the first clause, thus rendering the first clause nugatory. That is because one’s “expectation of receipt” could include both a future, present, or past expectation. It also could involve an “expectation” based on a contractual arrangement. More troublesome is that under the Court’s interpretation, all robbery or burglary murders and any murder where the defendant had obtained, planned to obtain, or thought he might obtain any financial benefit, no matter how slight or immaterial to the defendant’s actions, would become death-eligible. Recognizing that such an expansion would be virtually limitless, the majority then endeavors to limit the factor of “expectation.” Nevertheless, under its initial and basic interpretation, those types of cases on their face would be death-eligible. Its limiting of the factor comes not from the statutory language or the legislative history but from its own apprehension of constitutional constraints that, under the Court’s interpretation, clearly would invalidate the statutory factor on overbreadth grounds.
The Court’s interpretative route is tortuous and begs the obvious issue of whether the plain language of the statute, based on common understanding, engenders an interpretation that is both reasonable and constitutional. The sensible and appropriate interpretation of the second clause is one that makes death-eligible a defendant who “committed the murder as consideration for” either the past or current receipt of something of value or for the “expectation of the receipt of anything of pecuniary value,” that is, of the future receipt of anything of pecuniary value. In other words, the statutory language, in accordance with its sensible, if not plain, meaning denotes that it covers those killings in which two persons corruptly have agreed for money or its equivalent to have a murder committed, the payoff occurring either before or after the murder.
*93Viewing the c(4)(d) aggravating factor in its statutory context, particularly in relation to other aggravating factors, further underscores the flaws in the Court’s interpretation. First, every other aggravating factor contains only one core element that renders a murder conviction death-eligible. The majority’s conclusion that the two clauses of the c(4)(d) factor are “distinct” means that this statutory aggravating factor, unlike any other, is in reality two factors containing two separate triggering mechanisms with dual standards.
Further, the c(4)(d) factor read in conjunction with the c(4)(e) aggravating factor highlights the deficiency of the Court’s construction. The c(4)(e) factor makes death-eligible those defendants who “procured the commission of the offense by payment or promise of payment of anything of pecuniary value----” N.J.S.A 2C:11-3 c(4)(e). Thus, the c(4)(d) factor encompasses the person hired to kill — the actual killer — while the c(4)(e) factor encompasses the person who hires the killer — the principal. Cf. State v. Marshall, 123 N.J. 1, 586 A.2d 85 (1991) (upholding death sentence of hirer under the c(4)(e) factor) (Marshall I), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 929, 113 S.Ct. 1306, 122 L.Ed.2d 694 (1993). And, like the receipt of pecuniary value expressed in c(4)(d), the delivery or payment of pecuniary value provided in c(4)(e) can be either past or future — occurring before or after the murder. Further, like the requirement of “consideration” included in c(4)(d), the exchange contemplated in c(4)(e) entails an agreed-upon, arranged “consideration” covering either a payment already made before the murder or one to be made after the murder. The statutory scheme is thus clear and straightforward. Together the two factors include each party to the murder contract. The killer can be paid by his principal before or after the killing; the principal who hires the killer likewise can arrange for payment before or after the killing. Common to both is the “hire.” The obvious symmetry of that structure is destroyed by the Court’s expansive interpretation of the c(4)(d) factor.
*94In addition, the meaning of this aggravating factor is elucidated by the basic definition of what constitutes a death-eligible murder. Subsection “c” defines a capital murder as one committed by a purposeful-or-knowing murderer “who committed the homicidal act by his [or her] own conduct,” which clearly includes a murderer who is hired to kill the victim and who does so as contemplated by the aggravating c(4)(d). Subsection “c” also renders death-eligible a murder committed by one “who as an accomplice procured the commission of the offense by payment or promise of payment of anything of pecuniary value.” N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3 c. The “payment or promise of payment of anything of pecuniary value” parallels the c(4)(e) aggravating factor for a murder committed by one who hires — procures—the murder and arranges to pay for the murder either before or after it occurs. The statutory definitions of a death-eligible murder thus replicate the definitions of the murders that are aggravated because they are contract murders. This statutory scheme reinforces the understanding that the second part of the statutory c(4)(d) requirement of “consideration,” which imports the “expectation” of something of pecuniary value, entails the “promise of [its] payment.”
The legislative history of both the statutory factor and the death-penalty act further supports the conclusion that murders that are distinctive because they are based on financial gain or reward must be essentially contractual in nature in order to be death-eligible. The history of the specific language of the act, L. 1982, c. 111, is quite sparse. See John J. Farmer, Jr., The Evolution of Death-Eligibility in New Jersey, 26 Seton Hall L.Rev. 1548, 1569 (1996) (noting that the debate in the Legislature focused largely on whether to adopt capital punishment, not on either the structure or the interpretation of the act). Despite the absence of an extensive history, however, all of the relevant background contradicts the Court’s interpretation. For example, in the only public hearing on the bill, the sponsor, Senator Russo, noted that the c(4)(d) factor “is the murder for hire” factor. Public Hearing Before Senate Judiciary Committee on Senate 112 (Death Penalty), at 14 (Feb. 26, 1982) (‘Hearings on S. 112 ”). *95Edward H. Stier, the lawyer at the Attorney General’s office who helped draft the bill, agreed. Ibid. Although the Court labels that reference to the factor as a mere “verbal shorthand,” ante at 55, 695 A.2d at 1314, the exchange nevertheless is a significant clue in determining legislative intent.
Furthermore, the act’s legislative history in general demonstrates that the drafters intended it to be very narrow in its implications. Senator Russo made that abundantly clear:
Basically, the bill is drafted in accordance with the United States Supreme Court guidelines that render capital punishment constitutional in the Supreme Court case [Gregg ] that so declared. It follows somewhat the form of legislation that has been passed reinstating the death penalty in some 35 states. However, it is probably stricter in a number of instances that I will point out as we go along— It is stricter in the sense that it is not as broad as the legislation in many states. It does not cover as many people as some of the other legislation does.
[Hearings on S. 112, supra, at 1.]
... My purpose as sponsor is that this bill apply only to two categories, not that it couldn’t perhaps be justified to more, but I want to limit it to two categories and always have____ I don’t make the argument by that that others should not be subjected to the death penalty. I just don’t want to go that far at this time. You know, you can really make an argument to extend to many people— I, as sponsor, do not want to go any further than that at this time.
[Id. at 17.]
If some people escape the death penalty under this legislation, that doesn’t bother me. What I am worried about is if somebody gets it that perhaps shouldn’t.
[Id. at 18.]
Thus, Senator Russo made clear that the New Jersey statute was meant to be narrow in scope. The Court’s initial interpretation of the c(4)(d) factor — that it applies to all persons who kill for monetary gain — is sharply discordant with that intent, because most murderers kill for some kind of monetary gain, but clearly the death penalty was not intended to apply to most murders. Rather, the death penalty was to be reserved only for the most culpable and blameworthy. The limits that the majority engrafts on the factor serve to narrow its application in some respects, but those limits do not coincide with the limits clearly expressed in the statutory language and strongly implied in the legislative history. Rather, they are fashioned solely to salvage the factor from *96constitutional vulnerability, which, in turn, exists only because of the Court’s awkward and incorrect initial interpretation.
Besides Senator Russo’s statements about the limited scope of death-eligibility under the act, we also know that the Legislature rejected a broad pecuniary-gain aggravating factor. New Jersey’s death-penalty statute, like those of most states, was based on the broad framework laid out by the 1962 Model Penal Code. The proposed Model Penal Code, however, contains a broader suggested aggravating factor: “The murder was committed for pecuniary gain.” See Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 194 n. 44, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2935 n. 44, 49 L.Ed.2d 859, 886 n. 44 (1976) (quoting ALI, Model Penal Code § 210.6(3)(g) (Proposed Official Draft 1962)). The drafters of our statute flatly rejected that language, presumably in order to narrow the scope of the statute. Nevertheless, the Court today reads the broad language right back into the statute. See ante at 55, 695 A.2d at 1313 (terming c(4)(d) “the ‘pecuniary gain’ factor”).
The Court asserts that the drafters of our statute “were presumably aware of interpretations that Florida gave to a similar factor, as well as the interpretations Arizona gave to its factor.” Ante at 55, 695 A.2d at 1314. That presumption, however, ignores the fact that the language of the c(4)(d) factor was included in versions of New Jersey’s death-penalty bill well before those states gave any interpretation to their own factors.14 See, e.g., S. 880 (1979); S. 119 (1976); S. 46 (1976); S. 1286 (1974); S. 799 *97(1973). The Court’s citation to Florida’s statute, ante at 53, 695 A.2d at 1312, is unpersuasive. In Florida, any murder that is “committed for pecuniary gain” is death-eligible. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 921.141(5)(f). Thus, the statute is clearly broader on its face than our statute. Cf. People v. Bigelow, 37 Cal.3d 731, 209 Cal.Rptr. 328, 339-40, 691 P.2d 994, 1005-06 (1984) (narrowly interpreting a broad statute so that it applies only when the victim’s death is in consideration for the receipt of financial gain); Commonwealth v. Burgos, 530 Pa. 473, 610 A.2d 11, 15 (1992) (refusing to interpret factor as applying to killing for insurance proceeds because, “[t]he plain language of the statute is limited to instances when a person pays or is paid to kill or contracts to kill another person based upon being paid or making payments”).
With little support for its interpretation of the factor in the statute’s plain language or legislative history, the Court attempts to bolster its position by citing prior case law.15 The Court argues that its construction of the statute comports with “the consistent interpretation of the factor.” Ante at 57, 695 A.2d at 1315. In support of that assertion, the Court cites Marshall, a case dealing with a defendant who hired someone to kill his wife, and the cases cited therein. In that case, however, the defendant obviously entered into a contractual arrangement for the murder of his wife. He acted as the principal in hiring the killer. His anticipation of the receipt of insurance proceeds as the beneficiary of an insurance policy on his wife’s life constituted his motive or purpose to arrange for her murder — it did not constitute the “consideration” for the murder and formed neither the basis for death-eligibility *98nor the circumstance that satisfied the contract-killing aggravating factor.
Firm principles of statutory construction militate against interpreting the statute as the Court does today. We recently recognized that “[w]e are ... enjoined to construe penal statutes strictly and to construe ambiguous language against the State.” State v. Galloway, 133 N.J. 631, 658-59, 628 A.2d 735 (1993) (citing State v. Valentin, 105 N.J. 14, 17, 519 A.2d 322 (1987), and State v. Carbone, 38 N.J. 19, 23-24, 183 A.2d 1 (1962)). That rule of strict construction “means that a statute shall not be extended by tenuous interpretation beyond the fair meaning of its terms lest it be applied to persons or conduct beyond the contemplation of the Legislature.” State v. Provenzano, 34 N.J. 318, 322, 169 A.2d 135 (1961). Thus, “[w]here more than one reasonable interpretation may be made, or where the language is ambiguous — and the ambiguity is not manufactured by the defendant — the construction must be drawn against the state.” Valentin, supra, 105 N.J. at 18, 519 A.2d 322. The majority flatly disregards that rule and its underlying purposes. Ante at 57, 695 A.2d at 1314 (observing rhetorically that “[h]ad anyone cared to mold conduct to avoid the imposition of a death penalty, the actor could easily have learned that other jurisdictions had already considered and rejected the argument____”). The rule of strict construction, however, is meant to give force to legislative intent, as well as to encourage legislators to be clear and precise in the drafting of criminal statutes. See Moskal v. United States, 498 U.S. 103, 107-08, 111 S.Ct. 461, 465, 112 L.Ed.2d 449, 458 (1990). Where, as here, the legislators clearly did not contemplate the situation that has arisen and, by their statements and their adoption of a narrow statute, may not have wanted it applied to the situation, the basic rule of strict construction dictates that we permit the Legislature to decide the scope of the statute.
Instead of crediting the Legislature with writing a narrowly tailored statute, the majority broadly interprets the scope of the factor and then virtually berates the drafters for configuring such *99a broad — and unconstitutional — factor. In the guise of redeeming the unconstitutionally broad factor, the majority is forced to disregard its own rendition of the statutory language and “adopt a limiting construction of the pecuniary gain factor.” Ante at 56, 695 A.2d at 1314. To find guidance for its “limited” interpretation, the Court looks to the language that a different capital defendant used in a different case and in a different context some three years ago. Ante at 56 & n. 4, 695 A.2d at 1314 & n. 4. The Court holds that for the factor to apply, “it must be found that the killing is the essential prerequisite to the receipt of the gain,” or a “fatal precondition” for the murder. Ante at 56, 695 A.2d at 1314. That construction — itself vague and imprecise — defies the plain meaning of the factor, ignores the legislative history of the factor and the statute, and disregards basic rules of statutory construction.
There is no escape from the conclusion that the c(4)(d) factor encompasses only the murder committed by a defendant who was hired to kill and would be paid before or after the killing. The factor does not apply to those who murder to obtain the fruits of a robbery, to acquire the property of a victim, to inherit the victim’s estate, or to collect on the victim’s insurance. Those murders, to be sure, are reprehensible and despicable. The Legislature, however, has not reserved the death penally for their commission.
B.
Even assuming the validity of the Court’s interpretation of the c(4)(d) factor, the trial court failed to instruct the jury in accordance with that interpretation. The court did not instruct the jurors that they must unanimously find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that “the killing [was] the essential prerequisite to the receipt of the gain,” nor did the court instruct the jurors that they must find that the killing was a “fatal precondition” to the receipt of the insurance proceeds. The court instead told the jury only that, in order to find the existence of the c(4)(d) factor, it “must unanimously find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that, at least, one of *100the purposes John Chew had, for murdering Theresa Bowman, was to obtain the insurance proceeds.” The court’s only additional explanation of that factor provided little further guidance:
[Although the receipt of the insurance proceeds does not have to be the defendant’s exclusive purpose for killing Theresa Bowman, the receipt of such proceeds must be much more than just an incidental benefit to the defendant, because of Theresa Bowman’s death. That is, the expectation of pecuniary gain must be the cause of the murder, or one of the causes of the murder, and not a result of it.
The trial court’s repeated pronouncements that the receipt of the insurance benefits could merely be one of the reasons for the killing is plainly inconsistent with the Court’s ruling today, which requires a much more substantial causal connection.
That omission cannot be treated dismissively, nor its potential for serious prejudice discounted. First, the c(4)(d) factor was the sole aggravating factor. Second, it cannot be overemphasized that the jury, by varying votes, determined the existence of the catchall mitigating factor. Most of the jurors found that that factor was established by ten mitigating circumstances, viz: (1) defendant was emotionally and culturally deprived by his parents; (2) defendant suffered from a serious mental and emotional disturbance as a youth; (3) defendant was raised in a violent home by irresponsible parents; (4) defendant was often abandoned by his parents; (5) defendant’s parents raised him to believe that he was worthless, which led him to substance abuse later in life; (6) defendant’s parents engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior in front of their children; (7) defendant’s parents failed to protect him from harm, including sexual and physical abuse by relatives; (8) defendant’s family moved frequently, ignoring the educational needs of the children; (9) defendant continues to play an important role in his eleven-year-old daughter’s life; and (10) any other mitigating circumstance not listed. The jury, in determining that those circumstances were outweighed by the sole aggravating factor, did so with an understanding of that factor that was incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading.
Proper jury instructions are essential in any criminal case and are absolutely vital in a capital case. State v. Bey, 112 N.J. 123, *101162, 548 A.2d 887 (1988) (Bey II), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1164, 115 S.Ct. 1131, 130 L.Ed.2d 1093 (1995). The instructions delivered here were inadequate in guiding the jury. Because those instructions undermine an accurate evaluation of the sole basis for imposing the death sentence, their prejudicial impact cannot be ignored, and defendant’s death sentence must be vacated.
II
Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his request for a definition of the term “accomplice” during the court’s charge on the element of “own conduct,” a basic requirement for determining whether the murder was death-eligible. I agree and would vacate his death sentence on that ground alone.
A person convicted of murder is eligible for the death penalty only if he or she murdered by his or her own conduct, procured the murder by payment or promise of payment of anything of pecuniary value, or, as the leader of a narcotics trafficking network, commanded or by threat or promise solicited the commission of the murder. N.J.S.A 2C:11-3 c. The jury’s determination of whether a death-eligibility “trigger” is present occurs subsequent to a determination of whether a defendant is guilty of purposeful-or-knowing murder; it ‘Is simply irrelevant to the question of whether defendant is guilty of purposeful or knowing murder.” State v. Gerald, 113 N.J. 40, 100, 549 A.2d 792 (1988).
During guilt-phase proceedings, the jury first must determine whether defendant should be convicted of murder, considering, where appropriate, principles of vicarious liability under N.J.S.A. 2C:2-6. Only after it has unanimously found defendant guilty of purposeful and knowing murder should the jury turn to the question of whether defendant committed the homicidal act by his or her own conduct.
[Ibid, (emphasis added).]
See also State v. Brown, 138 N.J. 481, 510, 651 A.2d 19 (1994) (reiterating same point made in Gerald); State v. Moore, 113 N.J. 239, 300, 550 A.2d 117 (1988) (same).
The “own conduct” requirement, thus, “is not an element of the offense of murder. [Rather, i]t is merely a triggering device for *102the death penalty phase of the trial.” Gerald, supra, 113 N.J. at 99, 549 A.2d 792 (citation and quotations omitted). An accomplice or a vicariously liable coconspirator, consequently, may be convicted of murder, but is not death-eligible.
With the sole exception of murder for hire, see N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c, a defendant whose conviction is based on a theory of vicarious liability cannot be subjected to death-penalty proceedings. Only those murderers whose conviction[s] rest[] on their status as principals — those who have committed the homicidal act by their own conduct — or on the feet that they have hired another to commit the crime may face the death penalty.
[Id. at 100, 549 A.2d 792.]
In sum, “defendant must have ‘actively and directly participated in the homicidal act, i.e., in the infliction of the injuries from which the victim died.'” State v. McDougald, 120 N.J. 523, 561, 577 A.2d 419 (1990) (quoting Gerald, supra, 113 N.J. at 97, 549 A.2d 792).
Further, the rational-basis threshold for submission of an accomplice charge is low, requiring only “minimally adequate” evidence supporting an accomplice theory. State v. Pennington, 119 N.J. 547, 561, 575 A.2d 816 (1990). In Gerald supra, this Court held that the “remote[]” possibility that the jury could have believed that defendant was merely an accomplice rendered the omission of the accomplice charge an error with “the capacity to visit substantial prejudice on a defendant.” 113 N.J. at 100, 549 A.2d 792; see also State v. Long, 119 N.J. 439, 462, 575 A.2d 435 (1990) (comparing the failure to provide serious-bodily-injury and accomplice charges to failure to charge lesser included offense and citing standard for provision of charge as whether “there is any evidence ‘that would have afforded the jury a rational basis’ for convicting the defendant of the lesser offense”) (quoting Moore, supra, 113 N.J. at 290, 550 A.2d 117). Moreover, a defendant’s theory at trial need not incorporate or be consistent with the accomplice charge. State v. Brent, 137 N.J. 107, 118, 644 A.2d 583 (1994); Long, supra, 119 N.J. at 464-65, 575 A.2d 435.
In this case, although defendant’s trial counsel did not argue that defendant may have worked with another as an accomplice, the record provides a basis for a jury to conclude as much. The *103testimony and evidence inculpating defendant was meager and contradictory. Crystal Charette, for example, first provided a false alibi for her brother, and then, after learning of potential murder charges pending against her, altered her story approximately six times, with facts that she recalled, for the most part, when she was “high.” Further, certain aspects of Charette’s testimony were strongly refuted, such as her belief that she heard the victim scream as defendant exited the car, when even the police believed that that was impossible because of the manner in which the victim’s throat was cut. Other statements made by Charette were exculpatory of defendant, such as her explanation of events to her daughter that defendant approached her car from the hotel rather than the Corvette.
The credibility of other witnesses also was questionable: Helen Bowman, who had sexual relations with defendant on one occasion, was implicated in the murder by Charette and faced a potential murder charge resulting from the incident; Robert Chew, who had a strained relationship with defendant, may have been motivated to lie so that he could gamer early release from prison, and may have lied about his deal with the State; George Tilton was fired by defendant without receiving the money that defendant owed him and testified inconsistently with Robert Chew about the nature of their contact prior to telephoning the police about the murder; Randy Findeis was Bowman’s lover; David Charette, who testified that defendant vaguely informed Charette about an upcoming “scam,” also admitted a prior history of strained relations with defendant; and Officer Seabasty only saw the back of someone’s head and did not file a supplemental report based on his conclusion. Moreover, defendant accurately points out that there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder.
The record does contain evidence supporting the theory of a failed drug deal resulting in murder. That evidence is based on defendant’s confession, the beeper number belonging to a man named Joe from Newark (which was belatedly investigated); testimony by defendant’s son, Robert Chew, that defendant showed *104him a kilo of cocaine that defendant intended to sell in New Jersey and his testimony that a kilo of cocaine was worth approximately $28,000; testimony by Randy Findeis that Bowman told him that she and defendant were going to pick up a “settlement check” worth $28,000 on the night of her murder; testimony that, while at Charette’s home prior to leaving for Woodbridge, Bowman criticized defendant for offering to trade some cocaine for Helen Borden’s marijuana, because defendant had more than enough cocaine to share; and the cocaine found in Bowman's nose, blood stream, and bagged in her socks.
Defendant additionally argues that “since there was evidence presented that the defendant attempted to hire others to kill Bowman, there is [also] a possibility that he was involved in the planning of the murder, but not the actual killing.” The evidence to which defendant refers is the testimony of George Tilton and defendant’s son that defendant repeatedly solicited them to kill Bowman for a share of the insurance proceeds. Both men testified that they had refused the invitations. Nonetheless, the evidence permits the inference that defendant may have tried to hire a third person, especially given the eyewitness who stated that it was not defendant whom he saw in the Corvette the night of the murder.
There was minimally adequate evidence warranting the submission of the accomplice charge on either one of two theories. There was strong evidence put forth by the State and key to its case that defendant repeatedly had attempted to hire individuals to kill Bowman. All of the evidence that defendant wanted Bowman dead so that he could collect the insurance proceeds also supported the theory that defendant had hired someone to kill her in exchange for a portion of the insurance proceeds. The fact that Bowman was murdered in a manner nearly identical to that proposed by defendant when seeking to hire Tilton lends additional support. Most important, though, is the testimony of Mecalco that the person he saw in the Corvette the night of the murder was someone other than defendant. Taken together, there emerg*105es from the evidence at trial a rational alternative explanation of the murder.
The omission could not have been harmless based on defendant’s theoretical death-eligibility for having agreed to pay someone to commit the murder. The request for the accomplice charge would not have placed defendant in additional jeopardy of the death penalty based on his having paid money to have Bowman killed because defendant was indicted only on the basis of murder by his own conduct. Every murder indictment must specify the triggering element. R. 3:7-3(b) (“Every indictment for murder shall specify whether the act is murder as defined by N.J.S.A 2C:11-3(a)(1), (2) or (3) and whether the defendant is alleged: (1) to have committed the act by his or her own conduct or (2) to have procured the commission of the offense by payment or promise of payment, of anything of pecuniary value----”) (emphasis added). Because the State did not choose to present the hire-for-murder theory to the grand jury and because the grand jury did not indict defendant on that theory, the State could not ask the guilt-phase jury to find that death-penalty trigger. As observed by the majority, “[e]ven if the jury believed that Chew did not kill Theresa but, rather, hired the Kenny Rogers look-alike, it could not find, without the defendant’s consent, the procuring factor without an indictment charging it.” Ante at 73, 695 A.2d at 1323. Thus, at the time the case was submitted to the guilt-phase jury, defendant was death-eligible only on a theory that he personally had murdered Bowman (la, murder by his own conduct). If the jury had found that defendant hired someone else to kill the victim, defendant clearly could have been convicted of murder, but the case would not have advanced to the penalty phase for a determination of death-worthiness.
Because the evidence was minimally adequate to support a theory of accomplice liability and because it justified an explanation of that theory, the error cannot be considered harmless. In Brown, supra, 138 N.J. 481, 651 A.2d 19, the trial court omitted the accomplice charge in a recharge to the jury. The Court noted *106that the omission had created “the potential for prejudice.” Id. at 580, 651 A.2d 19. That potential was real, viz:
The omission prevented the jury from adequately considering the alternatives to the own-conduct theory, namely, accomplice or co-conspirator liability, and thus in effect subtly encouraged the jury to choose the only remaining theory, which rendered defendant death eligible____ Similarly, the failure adequately to instruct that the jury could convict defendant of murder under a conspiracy or accomplice theory indirectly encouraged a finding of own conduct.
[Id. at 569, 651 A.2d 19 (Handler, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).]
The error in this case, in a sense, is even more egregious than that in Brown. The failure to provide an accomplice charge when the evidence could have supported such a finding mandates reversal of the death sentence. Because a finding of accomplice liability would not have affected a determination of defendant’s guilt for murder, however, his conviction for non-death-eligible purposeful- or-knowing murder can stand.
Ill
A serious issue is posed by the admission at trial of the out-of-court statements of Helen Borden and Crystal Charette inculpating defendant in the murder. The majority determines that those extremely damaging statements were properly introduced into evidence and rejects defendant’s contention that the statements should not have been admitted as substantive evidence of the offense. Ante at 81-82, 695 A.2d at 1328.
Prior to the commencement of the State’s direct examination of Helen Borden, the prosecutor advised the trial court of his intention to introduce, on redirect examination, Borden’s and Charette’s prior consistent statements obtained on January 23,1993, the day of defendant’s arrest. Although Borden’s and Charette’s first statements to the police made on the night of January 14 exculpated defendant, on January 23, they both provided statements, largely consistent with their trial testimony, that inculpated defendant. The prosecutor anticipated “a strong attack” on Borden’s and Charette’s credibility, and, on that basis, he intended to offer on redirect examination the prior consistent statements. Further*107more, the prosecutor indicated that the witnesses did not have an “improper motive” when giving their statements. Defense counsel objected to the introduction of the prior consistent statements, stressing that if the motive to falsify existed at the time the statements were given as well as at the time the testimony was presented, the original statements would have no additional probative value warranting their admission.
The court refused to rule on the issue prior to the cross-examination of Borden. Later, in the course of the testimony, the trial court ruled the prior consistent statement admissible because of defense counsel’s attack on Borden’s credibility. Specifically, the court pointed to defense counsel’s argument “of the police feeding Helen Borden information that would be the reason why she would change her testimony.” Indeed, the trial court felt that defense counsel had made a “very good showing” that Borden had changed her statement.
Regarding Crystal Charette, during her direct examination, the prosecutor elicited testimony that on January 23, she had made a prior statement consistent with her testimony at trial. Charette testified that she had decided to tell the truth to the police on January 23, “ ‘cause I couldn’t take it no more.” She denied being threatened by the police and stated that it had been because of her conscience and because she could not sleep that she had decided to tell the truth. The prosecutor then elicited information about Charette’s plea agreement.
On cross examination, defense counsel suggested that Charette had been influenced to provide her January 23 statement because of the threat of a thirfy-year prison term. Charette continued to deny that she had been influenced to change her statement, but she did admit that she had been “easily influenced by being told by the police that [she] could go to jail for thirty years.” Defense counsel also elicited information about the plea agreement and the fact that Charette had been promised a noncustodial sentence in exchange for her testimony. Moreover, Charette admitted to having been high on marijuana when she gave her statement on *108January 23. After the cross examination of Charette, the prosecutor expressed his intention to play the tape recording of Charette’s prior consistent statement made on January 23. Defense counsel renewed his previous objections, but the trial court permitted the prosecutor to play the statement to the jury.
The Court acknowledges that when they gave those statements, both Borden, who was then charged with theft, and Charette understood that they coxdd be charged with murder and obstruction of justice and subject to long prison terms. The Court, however, rejects those critical facts as bearing on the witnesses’ motives to lie, observing simply that “cross-examination tested whether the witnesses were further motivated by their plea agreements and whether the police had fed them with the details of their stories.” Ante at 80, 695 A.2d at 1327.
New Jersey’s rule on the admissibility of prior consistent statements was previously contained in Evidence Rule 20, which stated that “[a] prior consistent statement shall not be admitted to support the credibility of a witness except to rebut an express or implied charge against him of recent fabrication —” That rule was interpreted as not containing a temporal requirement “that a party seeking admission of a prior consistent statement show that the prior statement was made before any alleged motive to falsify existed on the part of the declarant.” State v. Johnson, 235 N.J.Super. 547, 556, 563 A.2d 851 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 118 N.J. 214, 570 A.2d 971 (1989).
Effective July 1,1993, Evidence Rule 20 was replaced by a new rule that mirrored federal Rule 803(a). The current rule provides, in pertinent part, that:
The following statements are not excluded by the hearsay rule:
(a) ... A statement previously made by a person who is a witness at a trial or hearing, provided it would have been admissible if made by the declarant while testifying and the statement:
********
(2) is consistent with the witness’ testimony and is offered to rebut an express or implied charge against the witness of recent fabrication or improper influence or motive____
*109[N.J.R.E. 803(a)(2).]
Commentary accompanying the evidence rules explains:
N.J.R.E. 803(a)(2) follows Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(1)(B) and has no analogue in prior New Jersey rules governing hearsay exceptions, although it is related to the common law exception for “fresh complaint,” discussed at N.J.R.E. 803(c). It was adopted in order to allow the use as substantive evidence of those prior statements of a witness which would be admissible also under N.J.R.E. 607 purely on the issue of credibility, that is, to rehabilitate a witness if his or her credibility was attacked.
[Biunno, New Jersey Rules of Evidence, at 776 (1996).]
Although federal courts were split over whether the federal rule contained a temporal requirement, in 1995, the United States Supreme Court provided a definitive answer. In Tome v. United States, the Supreme Court unequivocally held that only prior consistent statements made before the alleged motive to fabricate arose are admissible under the federal rules. 513 U.S. 150, 165-67, 115 S.Ct. 696, 705, 130 L.Ed.2d 574, 582-83 (1995).
The Tome majority’s holding is persuasive. As the Court explains: “[T]o be logically relevant to rebut a charge of testifying while under an improper influence or motive, a prior consistent statement must have been made before the point at which the story was fabricated or the improper motive or influence arose. Otherwise, the prior statement does nothing to rebut the charge.” Ante at 80-81, 695 A.2d at 1327-1328; see United States v. Forrester, 60 F.3d 52, 64 (2d Cir.1995) (following Tome and excluding a prior statement made to the police because the witness’s “motive to shade the truth existed before she drafted the contested statement”). In addition, most foreign jurisdictions appear to have followed the Tome rationale. See, e.g., People v. Bobiek, 271 Ill.App.3d 239, 207 Ill.Dec. 704, 707-08, 648 N.E.2d 160, 163-64, appeal denied, 162 Ill.2d 571, 209 Ill.Dec. 804, 652 N.E.2d 344 (1995); Fields v. Commonwealth, 905 S.W.2d 510, 512 (Ky.App.1995); State v. Haslam, 663 A.2d 902, 908 (R.I.1995).
The Court concludes that the prior consistent statements by Borden and Charette were admissible. It explains that “[t]his is not the case in which to plumb the nuances between the substantive and supportive uses of prior consistent statements. Given the *110relationship among the several statements, the court did not err in admitting the January 23 statements.” Ante at 81, 695 A.2d at 1328. I disagree.
As the United States Supreme Court recognized, “in some cases it may be difficult to ascertain when a particular fabrication, influence, or motive arose.” Tome, supra, 513 U.S. at 165-66, 115 S.Ct. at 705, 130 L.Ed.2d at 587. The State implausibly argues that Borden’s and Charette’s motivations to lie did not arise until they actually entered into the plea agreements. The evidence demonstrates, however, that on January 23, both Borden and Charette were well aware that they were potentially facing murder and obstruction charges. Borden also had a pending theft charge. It is uncontested that immediately prior to the statements, both women were told that they faced thirty years of incarceration. The declarants’ motivation to lie arose with their realization that they were facing criminal charges and jail time and that the only way out of their predicament was to alter their stories. That realization occurred prior to the January 23 statements.
Moreover, the error in admitting those statements was not harmless. The credibility of Borden and Charette was crucial in the case. In fact, had the jury not believed their stories, defendant would not have been convicted. Indeed, their credibility was a hotly contested issue. Both Borden and Charette initially had provided statements that exculpated defendant. The prosecutor received an enormous advantage by having their inculpating version of events repeated numerous times. The sinister influence of repeated testimony on a jury’s perception of the facts is well-understood:
The role permitting extra-judicial, consistent statements of a witness is an unusual one; it should be applied with caution____ Otherwise a witnesses] credibility will “depend more upon the number of times he has repeated the same story than upon the truth of the story itself.”
[State v. Griffin, 19 N.J.Super. 581, 587-88, 89 A.2d 67 (App.Div.1952) (quoting 58 Am.Jur., “Witnesses,” § 819).]
*111The prior consistent statements insidiously augmented the prosecution’s evidence. The prejudicial impact of those statements must be gauged against the weakness of the case against defendant, the importance of Borden’s and Charette’s in-court statements, and the general lack of credibility of the witnesses. Admission of the prior statements could reasonably have had an effect on the jurors. Thus, the admission of the January 23 statements was not harmless and requires reversal of defendant’s murder conviction.
IV
Strong reasons warrant the reversal of defendant’s murder conviction and death sentence. I dissent.
Justice STEIN joins in Part IA of this opinion.
For affirmance — Chief Justice PORITZ, and Justices POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and COLEMAN — 5.
For reversal — Justice HANDLER — 1.
For affirmance in part; for reversal in part— Justice STEIN — 1.

 The Arizona Supreme Court, in the very case cited by the majority, ante at 53, 695 A.2d at 1312, limited this factor to a hire for murder, that is, actually read that state’s statute as ”requir[ing] that the murder must have been committed for the consideration of financial gain." State v. Madsen, 125 Ariz. 346, 609 P.2d 1046, 1053 (emphasis added), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 873, 101 S.Ct. 213, 66 L.Ed.2d 93 (1980). Although that court then erred in interpreting "consideration" as any sort of "financial motivation on defendant's part for the murder,” ibid., the court’s parsing of the Arizona statute was correct. Cf. State v. Clark, 126 Ariz. 428, 616 P.2d 888, 897 (Gordon, J., specially concurring) (arguing that Arizona's legislature "intended only to include the situation where defendant is a hired killer" in its statute), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1067, 101 S.Ct. 796, 66 L.Ed.2d 612 (1980).

 The Court also points to a bill that the Assembly rejected. Noting that "[a]n Assembly version of the Act would have included the expectation of the elimination of pecuniary loss as a potential aggravating factor,” the Court opines that that language demonstrates "that the legislators believed that the factor was not limited to the case of the hired gun.” Ante at 55, 695 A.2d at 1313. Rejected legislation is not informative in interpreting different passed legislation. It is as plausible to conclude that the failure of the bill to become law attests to the Legislature's rejection of the expansive reading that the Court now embraces.