Convicted killer Steven Fortin lost his bid for a third trial in the 1994 murder of Melissa Padilla in Woodbridge.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Convicted killer Steven Fortin lost his bid Tuesday for a third trial in the 1994 murder of Melissa Padilla in Woodbridge.
A three-judge appellate panel rejected Fortin's arguments that his 2007 conviction for the rape and murder of the 25-year-old mother of four young children should be overturned.
The judges also dismissed the Carteret handyman's arguments that if they upheld his conviction, his 2010 sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole was unconstitutional.
Fortin argued that several witnesses in his 2007 retrial, including his ex-girlfriend and several expert witnesses, should not have been permitted to testify because their testimony was not relevant, but the judges disagreed.
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"We reject these contentions and affirm," the appellate panel said.
The ex-girlfriend was necessary to establish motive, the experts were necessary to explain the forensic evidence, including the evidence of bite marks on Padilla and how they matched Fortin's dental records, the judges said.
The judges also discussed the lengthy legal history of the case that included several trips to the New Jersey Supreme Court including the reversal of Fortin's first conviction in 2001 at which time he was also sentenced to death.
Padilla was walking home with groceries along Route 1 to a motel where she was staying with her children when she encountered Fortin the night of Aug. 11, 1994.
During his two trials, prosecutors said Fortin, angry over an argument with his girlfriend, crossed paths with Padilla and attacked her, dragging her into a concrete drain pipe alongside Routes 1&9 in the Avenel section of Woodbridge.
Police had no suspect until Fortin was arrested eight months later in Maine on an unrelated drunken-driving charge, prosecutors said. During the arrest, Fortin struggled with a female state trooper and bit her on the chin and breast, prosecutors said. The bite marks from the Maine incident and dental impressions from Fortin matched the marks from on Padilla.
Fortin's first conviction and death sentence were overturned by the state Supreme Court, which said the trial judge had not thoroughly questioned the jurors on whether the evidence of Fortin's attack on the Maine trooper would unfairly prejudice them.
In December 2007, Fortin was convicted again for Padilla's murder, but the sentencing portion of his trial was not scheduled to begin until January 2008. In between the two, the legislature abolished the death penalty and replaced it with a term of life in prison without parole.
Superior Court Judge James Mulvihill, who presided over the second trial, ruled Fortin couldn't face the new penalty because it wasn't law when Fortin killed Padilla. He was upheld by an appeals court, but the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office took the case to the state Supreme Court which sided with the prosecutor's office in 2009.
Fortin's sentencing hearing was held in 2010 when a jury found no mitigating factors and he received life in prison without parole.
Padilla's daughter, Desiree, then 17, confronted her mother's killer, at his sentencing in 2010.
A toddler when her mother was murdered, Desiree Padilla told Fortin, "I was never able to kiss her goodbye. I have no memories of my mother, but I have a place in my heart for her. May you live with the guilt of killing my mother for the rest of your miserable life."
Desiree Padilla could not be reached for comment Tuesday about the appellate decision.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.