Butler v. State

• Citation: 292 Ga. 400,738 S.E.2d 74
• Decision Date: 04 February 2013
• Docket Number: No. S12A2049.,S12A2049.
• Parties: BUTLER v. The STATE.
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

292 Ga. 400

738 S.E.2d 74

BUTLER

v.The STATE.

No. S12A2049.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Feb. 4, 2013.

Jami Lewis Brice, Billy M. Grantham, Office Of the Public Defender, Bainbridge, for appellant.

Joseph Kenneth Mulholland, Dist. Atty., Office Of the District Attorney, Paula Khristian Smith, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Samuel S. Olens, Atty. Gen., Kenneth Wesley Mishoe, Asst. Atty. Gen., Department Of Law, for appellee.

BLACKWELL, Justice.

Roddicus Butler was tried by a Decatur County jury and convicted of the murder of Jamira Washington, a two-year-old child. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Butler appeals, contending that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction, that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress certain statements that he gave to law enforcement, and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial. Upon our review of the briefs and record, we find no error, and we affirm.¹

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that Butler lived with Doretha Washington and her three young children—one of whom was Jamira—in a house in Bainbridge.² On the morning of November 19, 2003, Doretha went to work and left the children in the care of Butler. At that time, Jamira had no apparent injuries and seemed to be in no distress. In the early afternoon, emergency personnel responded to a location down the road from the house, where they found Jamira, who was unresponsive, and Butler. Jamira was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Later that afternoon, James Earl Spooner, Jr., an investigator with the Bainbridge Police Department, interviewed Butler at the house Butler shared with Doretha and the children. In that interview, Butler explained that he had slept until early afternoon, that he awoke and found Jamira unresponsive, that he attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and that he then carried Jamira down the road in search of help.³ Oddly enough, Butler added that he had cleaned the kitchen after finding Jamira unresponsive, but before setting out in search of help.

The medical examiner subsequently determined that Jamira had died as a result of blunt-force trauma to her abdomen, and he ruled out the possibility that Jamira might have choked or died as a result of improperly administered CPR measures. Besides the abdominal trauma, the medical examiner also noted that Jamira had suffered a number of other significant injuries, including a puncture wound to the back of her head, a fractured arm, bruises on her back, defensive wounds on her hands, and internal head injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma to the head. In light of the findings of the medical examiner, Investigator Spooner arranged to interview Butler again, this time at the police station.

At the second interview, Butler stuck at first to his original story. ⁴ But when Investigator Spooner disputed that story and confronted Butler with the findings of the medical examiner, Butler asked to take a break, a request to which Investigator Spooner agreed. Following the break, Butler admitted—in both oral and written statements—that he struck Jamira in the abdomen “three or four times,” ostensibly as discipline for her having soiled her pants. Butler also admitted that he inflicted other injuries upon Jamira and might have caused the injuries to her head, arm, and hands. At trial, Butler testified that he had only intended to spank Jamira and that the fatal blows to her abdomen were accidental.

On appeal, Butler contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted with malice, which is required, of course, to sustain a conviction for felony murder predicated on cruelty to children in the first degree. See OCGA § 16–5–70(b) (“Any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when such person maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.”). In support of this contention, Butler points to his own testimony at trial that he was merely attempting to discipline Jamira for soiling her pants and that the blows to her abdomen were accidental. Butler reasons that the State failed to rebut his testimony and that an effort to discipline a child does not show malice. We are unpersuaded.

It is true that a parent—or someone acting in loco parentis—may apply some force to a child as a disciplinary measure without violating the law. But the application of such force must be reasonable, and if it is not, it may go beyond mere discipline and instead amount to malicious infliction of “cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.” Tabb v. State, 313 Ga.App. 852, 857(2), 723 S.E.2d 295 (2012) (“[A]pplied force is legally justified [to discipline a child] only when a parent's conduct in disciplining a child is reasonable.”) (citation and punctuation omitted). See also OCGA § 16–3–20(3) (“The defense of justification can be claimed ... [w]hen the person's conduct is the reasonable discipline of a minor by his parent or a person in loco parentis [.]”). Here, the evidence concerning the severity and scope of the injuries that Jamira sustained would permit an inference that whoever struck Jamira did so maliciously and that the injuries were not the result of reasonable disciplinary measures. Moreover, Butler offered inconsistent accounts of the events that led to Jamira's death, suggesting a consciousness of guilt, and he eventually admitted that he was responsible for the injuries that Jamira sustained only after he was confronted by Investigator Spooner with the findings of the medical examiner. Although Butler testified at trial that he only intended to discipline Jamira, it is for the jury, not appellate judges, to “resolve conflicts in the evidence and to determine the credibility of witnesses, and the resolution of such conflicts adversely to the defendant does not render the evidence insufficient.” Nicely v. State, 291 Ga. 788, 790(1), 733 S.E.2d 715 (2012) (citation and punctuation omitted). See also Sears v. State, 290 Ga. 1, 2(2), 717 S.E.2d 453 (2011). The evidence in this case was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Butler striking Jamira did not amount to reasonable discipline of the child, that he acted with the requisite malice, and that he was guilty of felony murder. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319(III)(B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See also Nicely, 291 Ga. at 789–790(1), 733 S.E.2d 715;Bowie v. State, 286 Ga. 880, 881(1), 692 S.E.2d 371 (2010); Bostic v. State, 284 Ga. 864, 865(1), 672 S.E.2d 630 (2009); Smith v. State, 283 Ga. 237, 238(1), 657 S.E.2d 523 (2008); Tabb, 313 Ga.App. at 857(2), 723 S.E.2d 295.

2. We next consider the contention that the trial court erred when it denied a motion to suppress the oral and written statements that Butler gave to Investigator Spooner at the second interview. The record shows that Investigator Spooner attempted to make an audio and video recording of the interview, but the recording stopped before the interview was complete. Investigator Spooner realized at some point that the recording had stopped, and at that point, he replaced the tape on which the interview was being recorded and attempted to restart the recording. Images of Butler writing out a statement appear on the second tape, but the audio recording equipment apparently malfunctioned and failed to record the sounds of the remainder of the interview on the second tape. Evidently, neither tape recorded Butler waiving his Miranda⁵ rights.

At a Jackson–Denno⁶ hearing, Investigator Spooner testified about the problems with the recording, as well as his recollection of the interview, including that he advised Butler of his Miranda rights, that Butler appeared to understand his rights, and that Butler waived his rights and voluntarily agreed to proceed with the interview. The State also offered a written waiver form, signed and initialed by Butler, and the second tape of the interview as additional proof that Butler gave his statements freely and voluntarily. In light of this evidence, and notwithstanding the absence of a complete recording of the interview, the trial court found that appropriate Miranda warnings were given in connection with the interview, that Butler fully understood and waived his rights, that Butler gave his statements without hope of benefit or reward, and that those statements were not a product of duress, compulsion, fear, threat, or undue influence. As we have explained before,

[i]n ruling on the admissibility of an in-custody statement, a trial court must determine whether, based upon the totality of the circumstances, a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the statement was made freely and voluntarily. Unless clearly erroneous, a trial court's findings as to factual determinations and credibility relating to the admissibility of the defendant's statement at a Jackson v. Denno hearing will be upheld on appeal.

Humphreys v. State, 287 Ga. 63, 73(6), 694 S.E.2d 316 (2010) (citation omitted).

In this case, we cannot say that the trial court clearly erred when it credited the testimony of Investigator Spooner, and we cannot say that it erred when it concluded that the statements given by Butler were voluntary and, therefore, admissible.⁷ Although recording an interview of a suspect may be the better practice, see Humphreys, 287 Ga. at 74(6), 694 S.E.2d 316, it is not our job to grade the work of law enforcement, and we have held before that the law does not require that the voluntariness of a statement be proved by a recording of the interview. See, e.g., Monsalve v. State, 271 Ga. 523, 524–525(2), 519 S.E.2d 915 (1999) (affirming admission of confession, notwithstandingthat video recording equipment malfunctioned and failed to record waiver of rights); Daniel v. State, 268 Ga. 9, 10(2), 485 S.E.2d 734 (1997) (“[T]he State was not...