Anthony Balaam was convicted in New Jersey of murdering four women in the Trenton area between 1994 and 1996. A jury found him guilty of four counts of murder, with other charges, and spared him the death penalty. On January 26, 2001, he was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment, each carrying 30 years of parole ineligibility.
The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey set out the core of the case in September 2012, when it rejected his last state-court challenge. He had confessed to the four murders, the court said, and his DNA was found on two of the victims. His convictions had already been affirmed on direct appeal in 2003, and the New Jersey Supreme Court had declined to hear the case that year.
The four women died in the Trenton area, in Mercer County, in killings that ran from 1994 into 1996. Their names, their ages and the dates of their deaths have not been reported.
Balaam was convicted under both subsections, (a)(1) and (a)(2), of New Jersey's murder statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3, on four counts, together with other charges.
Two details show how the case against him came together. His initial arrest was on a motor vehicle complaint. At trial his defense lawyer agreed that the jury could hear about that arrest, so that jurors would understand why Balaam was talking to the police in the first place. Separately, a confidential informant told police what Balaam had been wearing on the night of one of the murders.
Balaam confessed to the four killings. Before trial the court held a Miranda hearing on his statements. Years later he argued that his confession had been involuntary because it was the product of extensive questioning, and that his trial lawyer had failed him by making no argument at the end of the Miranda hearing.
The physical evidence came from DNA. According to the Appellate Division, his DNA was found on two of the four women. The court treated the confession and the DNA findings together as the heart of the evidence against him.
In the words of the Appellate Division, he was spared the death penalty by the jury. The date of the verdict has not been reported.
On January 26, 2001, Balaam was sentenced to four consecutive life terms. Each life term carried a 30 year period of parole ineligibility.
Balaam appealed his convictions. The Appellate Division affirmed them in an unpublished opinion on May 16, 2003. He then petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court for certification, and that court denied it in 2003, in an order reported at 177 N.J. 496.
New Jersey's court rules gave a defendant five years, under Rule 3:22-12(a), to file a petition for post-conviction relief. Balaam's petition was filed on November 29, 2006, ten months beyond that limit.
He explained the delay with two letters he had written to the Office of the Public Defender asking it to file a petition for him. The first was dated June 26, 2003. The second was dated August 12, 2005, and was notarized on August 22, 2005.
A judge in Mercer County heard the petition. He found that Balaam had not shown excusable neglect for the late filing and denied relief on that ground. He also went through each of Balaam's claims on the merits in a written decision, which the Appellate Division later called thorough, and rejected them. No evidentiary hearing was held.
Balaam's claims were framed as ineffective assistance by his trial and appellate lawyers. He argued:
that his confession was involuntary because it was the product of extensive questioning, and that his lawyer made no argument at the end of the Miranda hearing;
that the trial court allowed jurors to see him in handcuffs;
that his lawyer consented to the jury hearing that his initial arrest was on a motor vehicle complaint, and that no instruction limited how the jury could use that evidence;
that the State should have been required to disclose the identity of the confidential informant who described his clothing on the night of one of the murders.
He also argued that, taken together, these failures amounted to ineffective assistance even if no single one did.
Balaam appealed the denial. The Office of the Public Defender, headed by Joseph E. Krakora, represented him, with Steven M. Gilson as designated counsel. The Mercer County Prosecutor, Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr., represented the State, with Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Arteaga. Judges Koblitz and Lisa heard the appeal. It was submitted on September 12, 2012, and decided on September 24, 2012, in a per curiam opinion not approved for publication.
On the time bar, Balaam won his point. The panel agreed that he had shown excusable neglect for the ten month delay. He had not been personally told of the five year limit, as Rule 3:21-4(h) now requires, and his timely request to counsel to file a petition was documented by his letters. Citing State v. McQuaid and State v. Mitchell, the court held that the time bar should have been relaxed.
On the merits, he lost. Under the Strickland/Fritz test, the court said, a convicted defendant must show a reasonable likelihood of success, and Balaam had not done so. The judges pointed to the evidence: he had confessed to the four murders, and his DNA had been found on two of the victims. The handcuffs claim failed because the record did not support it. Because he had not made a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance, the court held, citing State v. Preciose, that no evidentiary hearing was needed. His cumulative error argument failed as well.
The panel affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief substantially for the reasons the Mercer County judge had given in his written decision.
The points Balaam himself disputed are the main contested matters in the case record. He said his confession was not voluntary and came after long questioning; the post-conviction judge and the Appellate Division found no reasonable likelihood that the claim would have changed the result. He said jurors saw him restrained; the Appellate Division found nothing in the record to support that. He said the informant's identity should have been disclosed; that claim failed with the others.
1994 to 1996: Four women are killed in the Trenton area; Balaam is later convicted of their murders.
Date not reported: Balaam is first arrested on a motor vehicle complaint and confesses to the four killings.
Before trial: A Miranda hearing is held on his statements.
Date not reported: A jury convicts him of four counts of murder, with other charges, and spares him the death penalty.
January 26, 2001: Sentenced to four consecutive life terms, each with 30 years of parole ineligibility.
May 16, 2003: The Appellate Division affirms his convictions (A-3688-00).
June 26, 2003: He writes to the Office of the Public Defender asking for a post-conviction petition to be filed.
2003: The New Jersey Supreme Court denies certification (177 N.J. 496).
August 12, 2005: He writes a second letter to the Public Defender, notarized August 22, 2005.
November 29, 2006: His petition for post-conviction relief is filed, ten months beyond the five year limit.
Date not reported: A Mercer County judge denies the petition in a written decision, without an evidentiary hearing.
September 12, 2012: The appeal is submitted to the Appellate Division.
September 24, 2012: The Appellate Division (Judges Koblitz and Lisa) affirms the denial of post-conviction relief, while holding that the time bar should have been relaxed.