State v. Bocharski

22 P.3d 43 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Bocharski (D) moved to Arizona with Frank Sukis. They stayed near the town of Congress. D moved to a campsite on Ghost Town Road. Sukis gave D a Kabar knife as a gift. Eventually, Sukis moved to a location near D. An eighty-four-year-old woman named Brown established a campsite between D and Sukis. She had a trailer, a truck, a dog, and numerous cats. Brown hired D to drive her around and do errands because she had poor eyesight and arthritis. D often helped Brown, and the two of them appeared to have a good relationship. D robbed and killed Brown. He confessed the killing to Towell and asked Towell to provide an alibi for him, but the latter refused. Brown’s body was eventually discovered. She had been killed by sixteen stab wounds to the head. Based on statements made by Sukis and Towell, officers searched around a mine and a nearby cemetery in hopes of finding D's Kabar knife. The knife was never located. Tests showed that the blood found on D's belongings was his own. Two of his fingerprints were found on the door of the deceased's trailer, but could not be dated. D was arrested and tried. The trial court allowed six photographs into evidence over D's objection that they were gruesome, highly inflammatory, and unduly prejudicial. Exhibits 42-45 showed the body after the murder. Exhibits 46-47 showed the head with her skull opened. D did not testify at his trial and was convicted of first-degree felony murder and first-degree burglary.