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State v. Burns11/8/1999
ed a telephone call from Burns asking her to go with Spadafina to cash the $5,000 check. Burns told her he would lend her $3,500 of the check to pay on the motel's mortgage and instructed her to give the remaining $1,500 to Spadafina. The defendant admitted that she signed Burns's name to the check in question. While she admitted giving the $1,500 to Spadafina, the defendant denied that the $1,500 was a down payment on a contract for murder.
It is undisputed that later that night, Spadafina, Licari, and Burns went to dinner at the Five Star Restaurant in Camden. While driving Burns back to the motel , Spadafina signaled Licari who then started strangling Burns with a clothesline cord. When Licari was unsuccessful in killing Burns, Spadafina pulled the car over, walked around to the passenger side where Burns sat, and slit his throat with a knife, killing him. Spadafina and Licari then pulled the body from the car and dragged it some fifteen or twenty feet from the road where they left it face down on the ground. Before leaving, they rifled through Burns's pockets, taking his personal papers and his wallet, but leaving the key to his motel room.
The men then proceeded to a car wash where they washed the car's interior and exterior. They also cleaned the knife and threw it behind the car wash. Before they left the car wash, Licari tore and threw away the savings deposit receipt reflecting Burns's $2,000 deposit into his son's savings account earlier that day. According to Licari, they then drove to the Wismer Motel and asked to stay in Burns's room while the defendant washed their bloody clothing. While there, Licari said, they gave the defendant the savings account book they took from Burns's pocket. Because he realized that the book did not reflect the deposit made earlier that day, Licari returned to the car wash, retrieved the pieces of the savings deposit receipt, and taped them back together.
According to Licari, while he and Spadafina were at the motel , they agreed with the defendant that she would pay the men $800.00 a month on the last Friday of the month until the $10,000 fee was paid in full. The men also agreed that, if questioned by police about Burns's death, they would say they had dinner with Burns and that he had then walked home from the restaurant.
The defendant admitted seeing Spadafina and Licari at approximately 10:00 to 10:15 on the night in question and admitted that they had given her the savings account book. She testified that Burns told her he was opening an account for Michael, so she took the book and put it in a drawer. She denied either that she noticed anything unusual about Spadafina's or Licari's appearances or that she laundered their clothing that night. She reiterated her denial that she had ever made arrangements with Spadafina or Licari to pay them for the murder of Burns.
Burns's body was discovered two days later when school children spotted it from a bus. After police searched the body for identification and found the Wismer Motel key, they went to the Motel and informed the defendant of Burns's death. When they asked the defendant about Burns's associates, she gave them Spadafina and Licari's names.
The police picked up Spadafina and Licari separately and interviewed both men. Remaining faithful to the cover story, Licari told police that he and Spadafina ate dinner with Burns and that Burns walked home afterwards. Spadafina, on the other hand, claimed that Licari became uncontrollable and crazy, dragged Burns from his motel room, and drove away with him in the car. When Licari returned, the car was full of blood, and Licari told Spadafina he killed Burns. Police had Spadafina relate his version of the
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