Jesse Timmendequas Trial: 1997

During the penalty phase of the trial Timmendequas presented two witnesses: a forensic social worker and a clinical and forensic psychologist, both Convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas is flanked by his lawyers at his trial for the sexual assault and murder of Megan Kanka. (APWide World Photos) of whom testified to mitigating factors. Each described Timmendequas's childhood as extremely disfunctional. His mother was a promiscuous alcoholic who had had 10 children by seven different men. Several of the children had been placed in foster care or adopted. Timmendequas's brother testified that he arid Jesse had both been repeatedly molested by their father, Skip, and that they had both witnessed Skip rape a seven-year-old girl when Jesse was eight or nine.

The psychologist also testified, on the basis of trial testimony, that Timmendequas was under "extreme emotional disturbance" when he killed Megan, that he was "unraveling psychologically," and that his ability to understand the nature of his actions "was very much impaired." Finally, he asserted that the defendant's intent to commit sexual assault did not mean that he intended to murder Megan. He testified that the defendant had killed Megan as a reflexive response to the panic he felt when she attempted to flee. Thus the murder, according to the psychologist, was not premeditated.

The prosecution had consistently argued that Timmendequas had "wanted to kill, meant to kill" Megan from the time he abducted her. It relied on evidence introduced in the guilt phase to support its argument that sufficient aggravating factors existed to warrant the death penalty. The prosecution's expert argued that there was no evidence either of extreme emotional disturbance, or of mental disease or defect that might have been mitigating. The prosecution challenged the defense's portrayal of the defendant's childhood, pointing out that there were no witnesses outside the family who could substantiate the stories of abuse and neglect, and in fact that some witnesses disputed the portrayal of Timmendequas's mother as a drunken slattern. In the end the jury found that the prosecution had proven both aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt and sentenced Jesse Timmendequas to death.

After Timmendequas's conviction his attorney appealed the decision, alleging several procedural errors. Among them were the trial court's failure to change the venue for the convenience of the victim's family and its decision to empanel a jury from another county instead of moving the trial, and the jurors' prior knowledge, or suspicion, of the defendant's criminal history. The defense also claimed prosecutorial misconduct, citing the prosecutor's repeated references to the defendant's sexual perversion, lack of emotion, and lack of remorse after the crime, and the prosecutor's overly emotional summation in the guilt phase of the trial. But the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed both the conviction and the death sentence.

As a result of Megan's death, her mother, Maureen Kanka, began a campaign for laws requiring notification of the presence of sex offenders in communities. "Megan's Law" gained both state and national acceptance, and in 1996 President Clinton signed a bill encouraging states to adopt such notification legislation.