Nineteen-year-old Manfredonia saw the fourteen-year-old victim walking home from school. According to Manfredonia, he asked her out, and she rejected him. She then ridiculed him, making fun of the way he looked and dressed.

He got a knife from his car, told her that he did not like being made fun of, and threatened to kill himself. She told him to stop acting childish, and expressed indifference to his suicide threat.

He pushed her to the ground, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her twenty-six times in the chest and back. He dragged her body through the woods and left it in a ditch after covering the body with dirt, rocks, and sticks.

Police discovered her body two days later. The medical examiner concluded that fifteen of the stab wounds did not penetrate deeply into the victim's body, suggesting that Manfredonia intended that the victim suffer. He also concluded that the victim died a slow, painful death twenty to ninety minutes after the stabbing.

After learning that the victim's body had been found, Manfredonia's parents called the police. Defendant escaped through the bathroom window before the police officers arrived. Defendant returned home the next day, and his parents called police again.

Manfredonia attempted suicide by ingesting several pills and slitting his wrists. Police thwarted the attempt and arrested him. While having his stomach pumped, Manfredonia claimed that he merely found the victim's body and hid it because he was afraid. The following day, he confessed to the crimes and said he did not know why he killed the victim.

Manfredonia had intermittent explosive disorder and low intelligence. His I.Q. was 78, he graduated from high school, and had no prior criminal record other than a disorderly persons theft offense. After a bench trial, the court convicted him of purposeful-or-knowing murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and a weapons offense.

The court found present the c(4)(c) (torture or depravity), c(4)(f) (escape apprehension), and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) aggravating factors. The court also found the c(5)(a) (emotional disturbance), c(5)(c) (age), and c(5)(f) (no significant prior record) mitigating factors. The court concluded that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors and sentenced the defendant to an aggregate term of life plus fifty years with a fifty-five-year parole disqualifier.

Michael Manfredonia, then age nineteen, sexually assaulted and murdered his fourteen-year-old victim after she allegedly refused to go out with him, criticized his clothing and appearance, and generally ridiculed him.

The victim's body had twenty-six stab wounds and was found buried in a ditch and covered with dirt, rocks, and sticks. Police apprehended Manfredonia at home after he attempted suicide by ingesting pills and trying to slit his wrists with a razor blade.

In his capital trial defendant waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

In the penalty phase, a psychiatrist testified that defendant was mentally retarded with an I.Q. of 78, that his brain appeared to be structurally abnormal, and that he was unable to control his emotions and anger. The trial court found the c(4)(f) (escaping detection) and c(4)(g) (commission of a felony) aggravating factors but treated them as a single factor. The court also found the c(5)(a) (extreme emotional disturbance), c(5)(c) (age), and c(5)(f) (no prior criminal history) mitigating factors, and concluded that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors.

Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with thirty years' parole ineligibility for murder, plus consecutive terms of thirty years' imprisonment with fifteen years' parole ineligibility for kidnapping, and twenty years' imprisonment with ten years' parole ineligibility for aggravated sexual assault.

Michael Manfredonia

Michael Manfredonia's fourteen-year-old victim was walking the three-mile distance between her high school and home after having missed the school bus. Unbeknownst to the victim, Manfredonia was watching her from a nearby gas station. As the victim passed, Manfredonia pushed her down on the ground, sexually assaulted her and stabbed her twenty-six times in the chest and back area. Fifteen of the twenty-six stab wounds did not penetrate deeply into the victim's body and were apparently inflicted to cause pain in a torture-like fashion. Manfredonia then dragged the victim's body through the woods, dropped her in a ditch and covered her body with a pile of dirt, rocks and sticks.

Two days after the murder, when the police arrived at Manfredonia's home to arrest him, they discovered Manfredonia in the bathroom with a razor blade trying to slit his wrists. Manfredonia told the police he also had taken some pills. In the ambulance and again at the hospital, Manfredonia admitted assaulting and stabbing the victim.

A psychiatrist testified that, according to Manfredonia, he had been talking to the victim and asked her to go out with him. The victim refused and began yelling at Manfredonia and making fun of the way he looked and dressed. Manfredonia told the victim to wait while he retrieved a knife from his car. When he returned, he told the victim he didn't like being made fun of and threatened to kill himself. The victim replied that he was acting like a little kid and that she did not care what he did. Manfredonia remembered pushing the victim down, but he did not remember killing her. The psychiatrist also testified that Manfredonia's electroencephalogram suggested a possible structural abnormality in his brain.

Manfredonia, who was nineteen at the time of the murder, is mentally retarded with an I.Q. of 78. He had no prior criminal record.

Manfredonia waived his right to a jury trial at both the guilt and penalty phases. The trial court convicted Manfredonia of murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The judge found the c(4)(c) (extreme suffering), c(4)(f) (escaping apprehension), and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) aggravating factors, but treated c(4)(f) and c(4)(g) as a single factor, finding them to be intertwined factors with overlapping motives. The judge found the c(5)(a) (emotional disturbance), c(5)(c) (age of defendant) and c(5)(f) (no significant prior criminal record), as mitigating factors. The judge found that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors. For the murder, the court sentenced Manfredonia to life imprisonment with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility. The felony murder was merged with the murder count for purposes of sentencing.

On the remaining counts, the court sentenced Manfredonia to thirty years' imprisonment with a fifteen-year parole ineligibility period for the kidnapping, and twenty years' imprisonment with a ten-year period of parole ineligibility for the aggravated sexual assault, both sentences to run consecutively with the term of life imprisonment.

Michael J. Manfredonia