STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS MELANIE McGUIRE A-6576-06T4
Defendant's conviction and life sentence are affirmed on charges including murdering her husband and desecrating his body. Among the issues discussed in the opinion are: (1) admissibility of expert testimony, including tool mark analysis, that matched garbage bags in which sections of the body were found with ones used by defendant in her apartment; (2) exclusion of testimony about a statement the victim allegedly made several months before his death, proffered by the defense under the hearsay exceptions for state of mind and statements against penal interest, N.J.R.E. 803(c)(3) and 803(c)(25); (3) alleged prosecutorial misconduct in summation, in which the prosecutor commented about the excluded defense evidence and also speculated about some facts without adequate support in the circumstantial evidence; and (4) jurors' knowledge of an internet Court TV message board and of blogs discussing the jurors. 3-16-11
