In the Bergen County case, the court upheld the death-penalty conviction of John Martini, convicted of the murder of Irving Flax, whom Mr. Martini had kidnapped, in January 1989. Mr. Martini had sought to have the death penalty set aside on the legal point of proportionality, arguing that the death penalty was unfair in his case, compared with similar cases. There are two appeal routes in death-penalty cases, one involving facts and law, the other involving proportionality.