State of New Jersey v. James R. Skinner

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided January 10, 2025·No. A-3309-21·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-3309-21

STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v.

JAMES R. SKINNER, a/k/a JAMES SKINNER,

Defendant-Appellant.

Argued October 29, 2024 – Decided January 10, 2025 Before Judges Sumners and Bergman.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Monmouth County, Indictment No. 16-05-

0800.

Scott M. Welfel, Assistant Deputy Public Defender argued the cause for appellant (Jennifer Nicole Sellitti, Public Defender, attorney; Scott M. Welfel, of counsel and on the briefs).

Monica do Outeiro, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for respondent (Raymond S. Santiago, Monmouth County Prosecutor, attorney; Monica do Outeiro, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM Defendant appeals from convictions of third-degree burglary, N.J.S.A.

2C:18-2, and third-degree theft of movable property, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3(a), after a jury trial. Defendant challenges his in-court identification, a detective's alleged improper trial testimony, the jury charge given related to identification, cumulative error, and the sentence imposed by the court. After our review of the record and applicable legal principles, we conclude defendant's challenges are unpersuasive and affirm.

I.

The facts which follow were developed at the trial held in September 2021. Defendant worked part-time at Kelly's Restaurant and Tavern (Tavern) in Neptune City for ten years prior to the charges which are the subject of this appeal. As an employee, his responsibilities included locking the day's cash earnings in a wooden box in a downstairs office at closing time. Tavern owner Kevin Kelly, Sr.1 fired defendant in September 2015.

On February 1, 2016 at approximately 3:30 a.m., Kevin Dunn, who worked for the Tavern's beer distributor, arrived at the Tavern to service its draft

1 Because the facts involve a father and son with the same name, we refer to them as Kevin Sr. and Kevin Jr., respectively. We intend no disrespect.

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beer lines. While Dunn cleaned the lines connected to the upstairs bar, a man walked into the Tavern at approximately 3:37 a.m. After exchanging greetings with the man, he walked away, and Dunn continued working. He saw the man again at approximately 3:45 a.m., also a third time at 3:51 a.m., at the downstairs bar. This time, they had a brief conversation and Dunn "g[o]t a clear look" at the man's face. Dunn saw him a final time when he left the Tavern at 4:30 a.m. As the man left the Tavern, he passed Tavern chef Jeffrey LaPoint. LaPoint did not "get a good look at" the man's face but believed he was with "the guy who cleans the beer lines."

When Dunn denied the man was with him, LaPoint became concerned why the man was in the Tavern during non-operating hours and called the police. When police arrived, Dunn told them the man had a beard but did not specify his hair color. He also told police the man "appeared to know his way around the area," but did not offer reasons for this statement. Dunn then left the Tavern to attend to his next job.

The police called Kevin, Sr.'s son, Kevin Kelly, Jr., one of the Tavern's managers and told him the Tavern may have been robbed. Upon reaching the Tavern, Kevin Jr. found someone had "disturbed" the "cash drawers" and "change boxes" in the downstairs office, which were locked. Accompanied by

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police, Kevin Jr. accessed the Tavern's security camera footage from that morning. The footage showed the man "walk[ing] to the downstairs office area and stand[ing] at the door" before "walk[ing] back upstairs to the main bar to "remove[] the downstairs office door key lanyard" from behind the bar. The video then showed the man entered and left the office.

Based on the man's "walk, his mannerisms, his height, just everything about him" in the footage, Kevin Jr. testified that he recognized him as defendant. Shortly afterwards, Kevin Sr. also arrived and watched the footage with his son. He agreed the footage depicted defendant based on defendant's "distinctive walk, . . . height, and knowledge of the building. Kevin Sr. also determined "the entire weekend's cash earnings," totaling $12,443.56, were missing.

Neptune City Police detective Michael Vollbrecht arrived at the Tavern to investigate the incident. He spoke simultaneously with both Kellys and Tavern manager Christopher Lynch, who all recognized defendant as the man in the footage. When Vollbrecht documented this conversation two-and-a-half hours later, he stated he had also "felt the subject [of the footage] resembled James Skinner," as he was "familiar with Skinner" from growing up with him in Neptune City.

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Dunn later returned to the Tavern around 10:30 a.m. at the request of one of the Kellys. With police present, Dunn told the Kellys the man had red hair and a chest tattoo and that he believed the man used to work at the Tavern. Dunn then accompanied the police to the police station, where Vollbrecht took his statement.

In his statement, Dunn described the man as bearded with red hair who walked "funny, like he may have been drunk" or "had something in his" buttocks. Dunn "thought he was an employee" at the Tavern "because [he] saw him on about three separate occasions while [he] was cleaning out the [beer] lines" in the past. Dunn added the man said something to him that morning that he had also said during one of their previous encounters. He said he did not know the man's name.

Meanwhile, the footage was shown to LaPoint, who recognized the man as defendant based on his appearance. LaPoint shared this belief with Lynch, who agreed with him. Later that day, Kevin Jr. also showed the footage to Tavern manager Timothy Hendricksen, who recognized the man as defendant after watching the footage for a "[f]ew minutes." He told Kevin Jr., who agreed with him.

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Defendant was arrested and a Monmouth County grand jury indicted him for third-degree burglary and third-degree theft of movable property. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress any in-court or out-of-court identification by Dunn, arguing Dunn identified him "under suggestive circumstances" because Dunn gave "more detail" in his formal statement to the police than in his initial "general description" earlier in the day. The court denied the motion. Relying on State v. Chen, 208 N.J. 307, 327 (2011), the judge determined there was no suggestiveness related to Dunn's identification of defendant, finding he identified defendant from their past in-person interactions.

The case was tried before a jury over six days. During the State's direct examination, Dunn described the man he saw as tall with red facial hair. When the prosecutor asked Dunn if he would "recognize him if [Dunn] saw him today?" and whether Dunn saw him "in the courtroom," Dunn responded "[y]es" both times and pointed to defendant who was seated at defense table. Defendant did not object to Dunn's in-court identification.

The State also played clips and showed stills from the surveillance footage to LaPoint, Kevin Jr., and Hendricksen, who each testified on direct examination that they recognized the man as defendant based on his appearance and manner of walking. LaPoint testified Lynch did not say who he thought the man was

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