Bryant v. State

• Citation: 951 So.2d 702
• Decision Date: 19 November 1999
• Docket Number: CR-98-0023.
• Parties: Jerry Devane BRYANT v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

951 So.2d 702

Jerry Devane BRYANT v. STATE.

CR-98-0023.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

November 19, 1999.

Rehearing Denied January 28, 2000.

Michael Crespi, Dothan; and Deanna S. Higginbotham, Dothan, and John E. Byrd, Jr., for appellant.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and Jeremy W. Armstrong, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

LONG, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Jerry Devane Bryant, was convicted of murder made capital because it was committed during a kidnapping in the first degree. See § 13A-5-40(a)(1), Ala.Code 1975. The jury, by a vote of 11-1, recommended that Bryant be sentenced to death. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Bryant to death by electrocution.

The State's evidence tended to show the following. On January 27, 1997, Donald Hollis and his cousin Bert Brantley drove from Newville to an Auto Zone automobile parts store in Dothan, where Brantley purchased transmission fluid sealer to repair his car. Brantley testified that he and Hollis left Newville in Hollis's car at approximately 7:00 p.m. After leaving Auto Zone, at about 8:00 p.m., Hollis and Brantley were driving down Wheat Street in Dothan when they heard someone whistle at them. Brantley testified that Hollis turned his car around and then stopped, and that Bryant and another man, Ricky Vickers, approached the car. Soon after, Vickers left, and Hollis, Brantley, and Bryant had a conversation. According to Brantley, Bryant asked him and Hollis if they had been drinking, and Hollis said that they had not, but that he would go buy some beer. Bryant told Hollis to get the beer and to come back and pick him up in 30 minutes. After buying the beer, Hollis returned and picked up Bryant, and the three men drove around while Brantley and Bryant drank beer.

Brantley testified that they drove to his house in Newville, where the three of them went inside, drank beer, and talked. Brantley said that Bryant mentioned doing some drugs, but that Hollis and Brantley told Bryant that they did not do drugs. The three men then left Brantley's house and drove back to Dothan. After driving around Dothan for a while, Hollis drove Bryant back to the house where they had picked him up. Brantley testified that when they reached the house, Bryant did not get out of the car and that Bryant said he had something he wanted to talk to Hollis about. Hollis asked Bryant what it was, but Bryant did not say anything. Brantley further testified that he said he would turn his head and look out the window while Bryant talked to Hollis. Brantley said that he then heard a gasp, and when he turned back around, Bryant, who was in the backseat, was holding a gun to Hollis's head. According to Brantley, Bryant said, "This is what it's all about." (R. 458.) Bryant told Brantley to get out of the car. Brantley initially refused, but when Bryant became angry and said to him, "Nigger, get out of the car," Brantley got out of the car and stood beside the passenger's door for several minutes. (R. 459.) Hollis then rolled down his window and told Brantley that he would be back in a few minutes. Hollis and Bryant drove off.

Brantley testified that he waited around 10 minutes for Hollis to return, but that he got scared and walked to a service station down the road. Brantley used the telephone at the service station to call his sister to come and pick him up. Brantley also tried to reach Hollis by calling him on Hollis's cellular telephone. Brantley testified that Bryant answered the telephone and told Brantley that Hollis was with Bryant's brother. Bryant wanted to know where Brantley was so that he could come and get him. Brantley called Hollis's cellular telephone several more times; each time he got Bryant. Brantley told Bryant that he was going to telephone the police, and Bryant said that he did not want any trouble. Brantley's sister then arrived to pick Brantley up, and they telephoned the police.

Ricky Vickers testified that on the evening of January 27, 1997, he saw Bryant leave with Hollis in Hollis's car. Vickers testified that later that same night Bryant returned to his house in Hollis's car, but that Bryant was alone. Vickers later went riding with Bryant in the car, and Bryant told Vickers that Hollis was with a friend of Bryant's. Bryant and Vickers went to "Mickey's," a nightclub. When Bryant and Vickers left the club, the police were standing around Hollis's car. Vickers walked off, and Bryant picked him up several blocks away from the club in Hollis's car. Vickers testified that Bryant had said he wanted him to help him do something. Vickers stated that Bryant told him that Bryant had done something, and that he "had to kill the victim." (R. 524.) Vickers testified that Bryant had a gun and told him that if he did not help him, he was "going to do Vickers." (R. 526.) The two men then went back to Vickers's house, where they each got a pair of gloves. Bryant then drove to where Hollis's body was located. Vickers testified that after Bryant put some clothes and towels in the trunk of Hollis's car, they put Hollis's body in the trunk.

Vickers testified that he and Bryant drove to Greenwood, Florida, to the home of Raymond Mathis. Mathis rode around with Bryant and Vickers in Hollis's car, and Bryant and Mathis discussed selling Hollis's cellular telephone. According to Vickers, Mathis said that he knew someone who would give them crack in exchange for the cellular telephone. After Bryant traded Hollis's cellular telephone for crack, the men returned to Mathis's house, and Bryant told Mathis that there was a body in the trunk. Bryant wanted to know where he could dump the body. Bryant, Vickers, and Mathis left Mathis's house, drove down a dirt road, and dumped Hollis's body. Bryant and Vickers then drove to Tallahassee, Florida, where they tried unsuccessfully to sell Hollis's car. Bryant and Vickers returned to Dothan, and abandoned Hollis's car, after cleaning the inside and wiping away any fingerprints. Vickers testified that they then looked for the "other guy" (Brantley) because Bryant believed that Brantley could identify him. According to Vickers, Bryant planned to kill Brantley. Raymond Mathis testified to essentially the same facts as did Vickers.

Lori Ann Andrews, Bryant's girlfriend, testified that on January 29, 1997, Bryant and Vickers arrived at her apartment in a black car that she had never seen before. Bryant asked her if she would pick him up at his mother's house in a few minutes. Bryant and Vickers left, and Andrews picked Bryant up as he had requested, and they went back to her apartment. Andrews further testified that the police came to her apartment to arrest Bryant that evening, and that when they knocked on the door, Bryant tried to give her a set of keys. The keys were later identified at trial as belonging to Hollis.

Testimony at trial further revealed that a bloodstain on Bryant's blue jeans was consistent with a mixture of Bryant's blood and Hollis's blood. Bloodstains found inside the trunk of Hollis's car and on the bumper and taillight of the car were consistent with Hollis's blood.

In his statement to police, Bryant initially denied any involvement in Hollis's murder. However, he eventually admitted to being with Hollis in Hollis's car, but he claimed that Hollis left with a "guy named Terry Johnson" and that he let Bryant use his car. Bryant said that he saw Johnson later that night and that Johnson had asked him to move Hollis's body. Bryant stated that he agreed to do it for a substantial amount of cocaine, and he got Vickers to help him dump the body in Florida. Bryant denied shooting Hollis, but said that he was with Johnson when Johnson shot Hollis. When giving his statement, Bryant was asked why it took so many shots (three shots to the head) to kill the victim. According to testimony from the police officer taking the statement, Bryant said "Man, I don't know, I think I need help. Sometimes I am just not Jerry." (R. 788.) According to the officer, Bryant then put his head down, covered his ears, and refused to talk anymore.

On appeal from his convictions, Bryant raises nine issues, some of which he did not raise by objection in the trial court. Because Bryant was sentenced to death, his failure to object at trial does not bar our review of these issues; however, it does weigh against Bryant as to any claim of prejudice he now makes on appeal. See Dill v. State, 600 So.2d 343 (Ala.Cr.App. 1991), aff'd, 600 So.2d 372 (Ala.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 924, 113 S.Ct. 1293, 122 L.Ed.2d 684 (1993); Kuenzel v. State, 577 So.2d 474 (Ala.Cr.App.1990), aff'd, 577 So.2d 531 (Ala.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 886, 112 S.Ct. 242, 116 L.Ed.2d 197 (1991).

Rule 45A, Ala.R.App.P., provides:

"In all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, the Court of Criminal Appeals shall notice any plain error or defect in the proceedings under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."

This court has recognized that "`the plain error exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule is to be "used sparingly, solely in those circumstances in which a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result." '" Burton v. State, 651 So.2d 641, 645 (Ala.Cr.App.1993), aff'd, 651 So.2d 659 (Ala.1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1115, 115 S.Ct. 1973, 131 L.Ed.2d 862 (1995), quoting United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985) (quoting United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1592, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982)). Accordingly, we will address the issues raised by Bryant on appeal.

I.

Bryant contends that the trial court erred in granting the State's challenge for cause as to prospective juror R.C. The record reveals that during the general voir dire examination of the jury venire, the...