STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. S.B. (14-03-0417, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED)

CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 27, 2018
DocketA-3705-15T4
StatusUnpublished

This text of STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. S.B. (14-03-0417, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. S.B. (14-03-0417, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. S.B. (14-03-0417, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED), (N.J. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

RECORD IMPOUNDED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court."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-3705-15T4

STATE OF NEW JERSEY,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

S.B.,

Defendant-Appellant. ___________________________

Submitted January 22, 2018 – Decided June 27, 2018

Before Judges O'Connor and Vernoia.

On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, Indictment No. 14-03-0417.

Miller, Meyerson & Corbo, attorneys for appellant (Gerald D. Miller, of counsel and on the briefs).

Esther Suarez, Hudson County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Erin M. Campbell, Assistant Prosecutor, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Defendant S.B. was charged in an indictment with first-degree

kidnapping, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1(b) (count one); third-degree criminal

restraint, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-2 (count two); third-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(2) (count four);

third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose,

N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(d) (count five); fourth-degree unlawful

possession of a weapon, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(d) (count six); third-

degree aggravated assault with an attempt to cause significant

bodily injury, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(7) (count fourteen); third-

degree terroristic threats, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) (count fifteen);

and eight counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault,

N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2(a) (counts three, seven, eight, nine, ten,

eleven, twelve, and thirteen).

Following a February 2015 jury trial, defendant was found not

guilty of count four and count fourteen. The jury could not reach

a verdict on the remaining charges, and defendant was retried in

September 2015.

The record of the re-trial shows that in August 2013, twenty-

six-year-old K.G. went to the Hudson County Social Services office

in Jersey City. She locked her keys in her car and encountered

defendant, who assisted her in gaining entry to her vehicle.

Defendant said he was a supervisor at Social Services and that he

had employment positions he needed to fill. In fact, defendant

worked in a nearby office's mailroom. K.G. gave defendant her

phone number.

2 A-3705-15T4 The next morning, defendant sent K.G. a text message

requesting her resume. K.G. then met defendant in the parking

garage where she encountered him the previous day, and gave him

her resume in an envelope. Defendant told K.G. he would attempt

to set up an interview for her the following day.

The next day, defendant sent a text message to K.G. advising

that he had "good news." Defendant spoke to K.G. over the phone,

said he scheduled her interview for the following week, and asked

if she would meet him at a bowling alley to talk about the position

and "hang out." K.G. agreed.

When K.G. later arrived at the bowling alley, defendant said

he did not have any cash and needed to return to his apartment.

K.G. agreed to accompany him, and they went to defendant's

apartment together.

Once inside of the apartment, K.G. observed that defendant

had a knife in his hand. According to K.G., defendant struck her

in the face, said "shut up, bitch," put the knife to her back, and

guided her to the bedroom. Defendant told K.G. that she and her

brother had robbed him, and directed that she remove her clothes

so that he could look for a tattoo. K.G. removed her clothes, and

defendant said she was not the person who had robbed him and told

her to put her clothes back on. Moments later, defendant told

3 A-3705-15T4 K.G. he did not like the way she looked at him, and ordered her

to remove her clothes again.

K.G. testified that defendant continued to threaten her with

the knife, forced her to perform fellatio, and tied her hands and

feet to the bed with belts. Over the course of the following six

hours, defendant struck and punched K.G., threatened her, and

repeatedly penetrated her vaginally and anally. K.G. also reported

defendant performed cunnilingus against her will.

When defendant fell asleep in the bed with the knife in his

hands, K.G. wriggled free from the restraints and stabbed defendant

in the neck and chest, believing it would slow him down if he

pursued her. Defendant awoke, and ran to the bathroom. K.G. fled

the apartment.

K.G. knocked on the door of a nearby apartment and screamed

for help. Defendant pursued K.G., and attempted to pull her back

into his apartment. Still armed with the knife, K.G. stabbed

defendant, who punched K.G. in the mouth. K.G. continued stabbing

defendant until the blade broke apart from the knife's handle.

K.G. ran to another apartment, where Lucius Williams answered

the door and called 9-1-1. Williams testified that K.G. was naked,

covered in blood, and appeared "hysterical" and "terrified." After

the police arrived, K.G. was transported to the hospital where a

4 A-3705-15T4 nurse photographed her injuries and conducted a sexual assault

rape kit examination.

Jersey City Police Officer Patrick Kenneth Egan testified he

was dispatched to the scene, and observed that K.G. had scrapes

and scratches on her body, a bruised face, a cut on her lip, a

bruised wrist and a laceration on her left arm. Egan found

defendant lying face-down in the hallway. Defendant was also

transported to the hospital.

During the subsequent investigation, the police recovered the

knife handle and blade from the scene, as well as gray and black

belts, a Viagra pill, two condom wrappers and two used condoms

from defendant's apartment. Investigators also recovered security

camera recordings from the parking garage where K.G. and defendant

first met and from the mailroom in which defendant was employed.

The recordings showed K.G. and defendant together in the garage.

Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Detective David Abromaitis

testified that the recordings, which were played for the jury,

also showed defendant holding the envelope in the garage and later

opening a manila envelope and placing the envelope on a table in

the mailroom. Abromaitis testified without objection that he

"believed" the envelope contained K.G.'s resume.

The trial evidence also showed the results of a forensic

analysis of swabs and samples recovered from the rape kit

5 A-3705-15T4 examination, and a buccal swab obtained from defendant. New Jersey

State Police Laboratory forensic scientist Linnea Schiffner was

qualified as an expert in the area of forensic DNA analysis.

Schiffner explained that the DNA tests and analysis she performed

established that defendant was the source of the blood found on

K.G.'s back and right leg, and that he was a possible DNA

contributor to what may have been saliva taken from K.G.'s vaginal

swabs. Schiffner's testified in detail concerning her report

describing the results of the DNA analysis, and the report was

admitted in evidence without objection.

The jury found defendant guilty of: count one, first-degree

kidnapping, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1(b); count two, third-degree criminal

restraint, N.J.S.A.

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STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. S.B. (14-03-0417, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-new-jersey-vs-sb-14-03-0417-hudson-county-and-statewide-njsuperctappdiv-2018.