State v. Royster

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

Jacobs, J.

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to death. He appealed to this Court as of right. B. 2:2-1 (a) (3).

Mrs. Carmella Eapolla owned and operated a grocery store on Main Street in Matawan. She lived, with her twelve-year-*478old daughter Marie and her seven-year-old son Joseph, in the rear and above the store. Her other son Daniel lived awny from home at college. On the afternoon of January 10, 1968 Marie and Joseph returned home from school. They saw their mother and went into the living quarters. Marie went…