State v. Smullen

WILNER, Judge.

On Saturday morning, May 6, 2000, Bruno Smullen, wearing latex gloves in order to maintain a sure grip, snuck up behind his adoptive father, Warren, as Warren sat on the living room couch reading a newspaper and drinking his morning coffee, and killed him by stabbing and cutting him repeatedly with a butcher knife. The autopsy revealed six stab wounds and sixteen cut wounds inflicted on Warren’s head and chest. At least three of the stab wounds would have been independently fatal. Bruno then went after his adoptive sister, Portia, and *238his nieces, Erica and Ashley, who also…