Michael Manfredonia

Case record: Michael Manfredonia

Background

Michael Manfredonia was nineteen at the time of the murder. He had intermittent explosive disorder and low intelligence. His I.Q. was 78. He graduated from high school. He had no prior criminal record other than a disorderly persons theft offense. At trial, he was mentally retarded with an I.Q. of 78, and a psychiatrist testified that his brain appeared to be structurally abnormal and that he was unable to control his emotions and anger. His electroencephalogram suggested a possible structural abnormality in his brain.

The offence

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

Manfredonia got a knife from his car. He told the victim that he did not like being made fun of and threatened to kill himself. The victim told him to stop acting childish and expressed indifference to his suicide threat. He pushed the victim to the ground, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her twenty-six times in the chest and back.

Fifteen of the stab wounds did not penetrate deeply into the victim's body, suggesting that Manfredonia intended that the victim suffer. The medical examiner concluded that the victim died a slow, painful death twenty to ninety minutes after the stabbing.

Manfredonia dragged the victim’s body through the woods and left it in a ditch after covering the body with dirt, rocks, and sticks.

Investigation

Police discovered the victim’s body two days later. After learning that the victim’s body had been found, Manfredonia’s parents called the police.

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.

In the ambulance and again at the hospital, Manfredonia admitted assaulting and stabbing the victim.

Arrest

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

Police discovered Manfredonia at home when they arrived to arrest him. They found him in the bathroom with a razor blade trying to slit his wrists. Police thwarted his attempt after he ingested several pills and slitting his wrists.

Trial

Manfredonia waived his right to a jury trial at both the guilt and penalty phases. After a bench trial, the court convicted him of purposeful-or-knowing murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and a weapons offense.

A psychiatrist testified in the penalty phase 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 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.

In a separate description of the trial court’s findings, the judge 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 judge 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. In another description, 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 trial court concluded that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors.

Sentencing

The court sentenced Manfredonia to an aggregate term of life plus fifty years with a fifty-five-year parole disqualifier.

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 ran consecutively with the term of life imprisonment.

In another sentencing description, Manfredonia 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.

The sentencing occurred on August 8, 1986, when Manfredonia was sentenced to life in prison.

Outcome

Manfredonia was found guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose after waiving his right to a jury trial at the guilt and penalty phases.

Other details

Manfredonia had been watching the victim from a nearby gas station while she walked the three-mile distance between her high school and home after having missed the school bus.