State v. Mondaine

LOWENSTEIN, Judge.

Appellant John L. Mondaine was convicted in a jury-tried case of murder in the second degree, § 565.004, RSMo.1978,1 and sentenced to thirty years imprisonment.

On May 15, 1979, the body of Orethia Haney was found in a wooded area of the “inner city” section of Kansas City, Missouri. Her feet were tied together by an electrical cord and she was wrapped in a plastic Jones Store bag and a bed sheet. The body was partially decomposed but the coroner was able to determine that the victim had died by asphyxiation. This determination was made by way of a process of elimination…