State v. Fortin

In the retrial of defendant Steven Fortin for the capital murder of Melissa Padilla, the State intends to prove defendant’s guilt by showing that he committed the crime in such a distinctive way that it may be said to bear his “signature.” The State seeks to introduce as “other crimes” evidence pursuant to N.J.R.E. 404(b) defendant’s sexual assault of Maine State Trooper Vicki Gardner, whom he vaginally and anally penetrated, strangled, and bit on both the left breast and chin. The State argues that the peculiar bite marks to the left breast and chin found on Padilla’s battered body, combined…