State v. Davis

¶1dissenting in part and concurring in part.

¶2Defendant pled guilty to the savage murder of Barbara Blomberg, a twenty-three-year-old woman. The plea was taken *414before our decision in State v. Gerald, 113 N.J. 40 (1988), was published. Therefore, we must determine whether there is a sufficient factual basis in support of the plea to establish that defendant intentionally murdered Ms. Blomberg. In Part 2E of its opinion, the majority concludes that there is an insufficient factual basis to establish that defendant knowingly intended to cause her death. Ante at 374 (1989). Thus, it concludes that defendant is not death-eligible. Id. at 375. I disagree. I find that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that defendant killed deliberately.

¶3By pleading guilty to murder, defendant hoped to avoid the death penalty. In order to establish a sufficient factual basis for his murder plea, defendant urged and the trial court agreed to admit into evidence a signed, sworn confession that he gave to the police. After reviewing the confession and admitting it into evidence, the trial court accepted the murder plea, finding that defendant had sufficiently acknowledged facts constituting the essential elements of the crime to which he was pleading guilty, State v. Sainz, 107 N.J. 283, 293 (1987) — the murder of Barbara Blomberg.

¶4Defendant’s confession provides compelling evidence that defendant intended to kill. The following portion of defendant’s confession speaks for itself:

Q. What did you do when you got to Barbara’s house?

A. I drove up in my car and parked in her driveway in front of her car. I got out, rang the bell and nobody answered. I went into the pantry room. I tried breaking in with my knife but I couldnt get in so I went out to my car and got a screwdriver from my toolbox in the trunk of the car. With the screwdriver I pried open the molding on the door frame and it left a half inch gap and that gave me room to open the door with my knife.

Q. What does the knife look like?

A. It has a black handle, locking blade and the blade is 4 or 5 inches long.

Q. What did you do when you got inside?

A. I looked around the kitchen and found the cord.

Q. What did the cord look like or what color was it?

A. I dont remember. I had been drinking.

Q. After you got the cord what did you do?

*415A. I put it around my neek and I walked up the steps. When I got to the top of the steps and into the bedroom she asked "Who is it” a couple times. Then I jumped on the bed, didn’t say anything, I wrapped the cord around her neck. I choked her with the cord for at least a couple of minutes. Im not sure how long. Then I took the screwdriver and I stabbed her once in the back, Im not sure how many times. I then took my knife and stabbed her in the neck, throat, and in the back somewhere. In the side a couple times.

Q. Earlier you told us about a telephone in the room, what did you say about it?

A. When I got on the bed I wrapped the cord around her neck and she grabbed the phone and tried to call for help or hit me with it I dont remember. I cut the cord.

Q. When you went in the house what lights were on?

A. Some light in the kitchen.

Q. Did you turn on any lights in the house after you got in anywhere before you later left?

A. No.

Q. What did you do after you stabbed Barbara?

A. I think I had a towel in my hand that I took with me. Then I went down the steps into the kitchen, cut the phone cord and took the phone.

********

Q. What did you do after you left the house?

A. I got in my car, I put it in neutral and rolled it out of the driveway without starting it. I started it after I got it out in the street. I drove across the street from her house and went across the black top and into a field. Thats where I opened up the car door and threw away the rag and the phone. There is a dagger I took, I forgot. Its brass like letter opener or paperweight. I think I threw that there too.

Q. What did you do with the knife you stabbed Barbara with?

A. I washed it off in the kitchen and kept it. I think I threw it away in a field in Pennsylvania. [Emphasis added]

¶5The Court acknowledges that “there may be sufficient facts available to support a finding that the defendant knowingly and purposefully murdered.” Ante at 371. Nonetheless, relying exclusively on the following exchange at the plea hearing between the defense attorney and defendant, it concludes that there is an insufficient basis to find that defendant intended to kill his victim deliberately:

Q: Did you go into that apartment with the idea or intention to kill her?

A: No.

[Emphasis added]

¶6*416Plainly read, this brief exchange does not “contradict” the overwhelming evidence that defendant intended to kill Blomberg. It merely suggests that he did not plan to kill her before he entered her apartment. It bears no relevance to the important question of whether he formed such an intent after he broke into the apartment. In view of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it is difficult to understand the majority’s position that there is an insufficient factual basis to find that defendant killed Barbara Blomberg intentionally and deliberately. Defendant’s very decision to plead guilty to a crime for which he understood that he could be sentenced only to death or to a minimum thirty year term without parole under N.J.S.A. 2C:11~3 suggests otherwise.

¶7More importantly, defendant’s confession demonstrates clearly that he intended to kill. After entering the victim’s home, defendant immediately proceeded to the kitchen in search of an electrical appliance cord. He quickly found his weapon, the appliance cord from a coffee maker. With premeditated calm, he placed the cord around his neck as he walked up the stairs towards the victim’s bedroom. On reaching the top of the stairs, defendant pounced violently on Blomberg as she lay in bed. He wrapped the cord tightly around her neck and began strangling her. Defendant kept the cord pressed around her neck for several minutes. Struggling desperately to save her life, Blomberg attempted to grab the telephone. Defendant cut the telephone line. He then proceeded to stab her savagely in various parts of the body with a knife and a screwdriver.1

*417Blomberg’s mutilated and bloodied body was discovered two days later. An electrical appliance cord was found wrapped around her neck. One does not strangle someone for several minutes with an electrical appliance cord if one intends merely to injure.

¶8Today’s decision is especially incomprehensible in light of our recent decision in State v. Pitts, 116 N.J. 580 (1989). In Pittsa jury sentenced the defendant to death for the murder of Stacey Elizardo. Because the trial occurred before Gerald, supra,was decided, the jury was not instructed to consider whether the defendant purposely or knowingly caused death. Nevertheless, we determined that based on the evidence in the record, “it would be virtually inconceivable that a jury could have concluded that defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury to Elizardo, but not death.” Pitts, ante 116 N.J. 580, 620.

¶9Likewise, had defendant in the instant case been convicted of murder by a jury and sentenced to death, I have no doubt that we would find based on the evidence that it would be virtually “inconceivable” that the jury could have concluded that defendant intended merely to cause bodily harm. Similarly, I find it virtually “inconceivable” that based on the evidence in support of the plea the trial court in this case could have concluded that defendant intended merely to cause bodily harm to Barbara Blomberg. To reward defendant merely because he chose to plead guilty to murder rather than stand trial, as the Court does today, seems inconsistent and unwise. I respectfully dissent.