PERTH AMBOY — The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected a Perth Amboy man’s argument that his conviction for killing a prostitute in the city in 2004 should be overturned because he was not permitted to call a psychiatrist to explain why he would confess to a crime he didn’t commit. In a unanimous opinion released today, the justices...
Graciano Martinez-Rosales, pictured in his 2004 arraignment, had a request for an overturn of a manslaughter conviction denied today by the state Supreme Court.PERTH AMBOY — The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected a Perth Amboy man’s argument that his conviction for killing a prostitute in the city in 2004 should be overturned because he was not permitted to call a psychiatrist to explain why he would confess to a crime he didn’t commit.
In a unanimous opinion released today, the justices affirmed Graciano Martinez-Rosales’ conviction for aggravated manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of Carolyn Arrington, 38.
Martinez-Rosales, now 26, tried to suppress his confession before his 2006 trial and called a psychiatrist, Robert Latimer, to buttress his argument that death threats made by investigators before he gave his statement caused him to confess to a crime he didn’t commit.
Latimer testified he interviewed Martinez-Rosales three times and said the man was suffering from anxiety and depression after being charged and put into prison. He said Martinez-Rosales told him he falsely confessed to killing Arrington because investigators threatened to bring in an electric chair and execute him if he didn’t cooperate.
But, Superior Court Judge Frederick De Vesa refused to suppress the confession, ruling Martinez-Rosales’ claims of death threats were not believable and then denied an effort by Martinez-Rosales during the trial to call Latimer.
"Simply stated, we find nothing exceptional about this case to require an expert to opine that defendant gave a false confession," the justices said in the 26-page opinion written by Justice John Wallace Jr.
"In short, Dr. Latimer’s proposed testimony did not contain more insight than an average juror would possess through his or her common knowledge when provided with the same facts to understand defendant’s position that threats of death led him to falsely confess to preserve his own life," Wallace wrote.
Martinez-Rosales also testified during his trial that he falsely confessed to stabbing Arrington during an argument after they had sex because the investigators threatened to kill him using the electric chair.
But, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Judson Hamlin called one witness who testified he was with Martinez-Rosales in the apartment with Arrington on July 27, 2004, when Martinez-Rosales stabbed her. Another witness, an inmate who served with him at the Middlesex County jail, testified Martinez-Rosales admitted to him that he killed Arrington and planned to use an insanity defense.
Arrington's body was found three days later, in the basement of an apartment building on Bertrand Avenue in Perth Amboy. She had been stabbed 42 times in the upper chest, face, neck and left arm.