Chambers v. State
| Decision Date | 19 April 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 39464,39464 |
| Citation | 302 S.E.2d 86,250 Ga. 856 |
| Parties | Jimmy Lewis CHAMBERS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Philip Louis Ruppert, Jonesboro, for Jimmy Lewis Chambers, jr.
Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Russell Parker, Asst. Dist. Atty., Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Mary Beth Westmoreland, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for the State.
Jimmy Lewis Chambers, Jr., was tried and convicted of murder and kidnapping in Fulton County. Although a death sentence was sought, the jury recommended mercy and a life sentence was imposed for the murder, with a ten year consecutive sentence imposed for kidnapping. Chambers appeals.
Because there is no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we set out here a summary of the facts. On the evening of December 1, 1982, the victim, Angela Pitts Fuller, arranged with a friend, Yvonne Mitchell, to take her to retrieve her car from a friend who had borrowed it. Yvonne borrowed a 1978 Cadillac, picked up the victim, and the two women subsequently visited the victim's boyfriend at his place of work, where the boyfriend gave something to the victim; then they stopped by the apartment of a man named Gerald. The victim went in for about 15 minutes while Yvonne waited in the car.
The victim then called co-indictee Ronnie Redmond to see if they could come over to his apartment. They arrived about 10:30, and a woman who had been there left. After co-indictee Benny Green arrived and while Benny Green, Yvonne, and the victim watched television, Redmond called the defendant on the phone. The defendant arrived at about midnight with a machine gun slung over his shoulder and carrying what looked like a magnum handgun. At this point there was some talk about the victim having told Yvonne that while she, the victim, had been in the hospital for a recent operation some police officers had indicated to her that Redmond, whom the victim knew, and the defendant, whom she did not know, were being watched by the police. The victim was then accused of being a "snitch" and the defendant and Redmond tied her up, using her belt, a lamp cord and a coat hanger. Green then helped them put the victim, wrapped in a sheet, in the trunk of Yvonne's borrowed Cadillac, and Redmond and the defendant drove off in the car. The defendant had his "magnum" and Redmond a .38 he had obtained from a closet.
The victim's body was recovered from Camp Creek a few days later. She had been shot in the abdomen from a few feet away, and also had sustained a fatal contact wound to her head. Both shots were from a .38 pistol, later shown to be Redmond's. The victim was dressed in a red T-shirt and tight blue jeans; a 6"" to 8"" twig or stick was found inside her jeans. Her arms were still bound tightly behind her back with her blue belt and a coat hanger as when she was taken from the apartment, but her legs had apparently been untied and retied with first the sheet and then the lamp cord over the sheet, rather than with only the lamp cord as when she was abducted. Sperm were found in her vagina (which the expert said could have been present for up to 3 days before she died) and in her mouth (which, due to saliva action, the expert testified generally were not likely to remain in the mouth for more than 60 minutes). 1
The defendant was arrested on December 8, 1981, at which time he denied any knowledge of the murder. He later made two statements, which were reduced to writing. Both times he insisted that he had been forced by Redmond to participate, that he begged Redmond not to shoot the victim and had run away before he heard the two shots fired, that Redmond had then followed him in the car, and that he was forced to return to help dump the body into Camp Creek.
Redmond also made a statement which was brought out on cross-examination of the police officer who took the statement, saying that he had participated under duress, that the defendant had taken his gun from him, and that he was told to drive away and return. When he came back, the victim was dead and he helped throw her body off the bridge.
Blood spatters of a type matching that of the victim found on the defendant's left shoe indicate that his foot was near the victim's head when she was shot.
Both men then returned to Redmond's apartment at about 2:00 a.m., where Redmond told Yvonne that the victim "was through". She left in the Cadillac. The three men went to a nearby bar, where they threw a brown bag containing the victim's coat, purse and shoes into a dumpster.
A patron at the bar thought Green had perpetrated a recent bank robbery and called the police. The three were questioned at that time; Green was arrested when drugs were found in his car; Redmond was taken into custody on a parole violation; and the defendant was released, but a nine millimeter gun, about the size of a magnum, was seen in his car. Later, two pairs of bloodstained gloves were taken from his car in a search under a warrant.
A special jury found the defendant competent to stand trial even though a psychologist testified that the defendant had a low IQ for which he overcompensated and that there was some evidence of brain damage. A psychiatrist found him capable of understanding the proceedings and consequences of the charges against him.
After finding the defendant guilty of murder and kidnapping, the jury retired to consider imposing the death sentence under the aggravating circumstances that the murder occurred while in the commission of rape, and that the murder was "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, or an aggravated battery to the victim." OCGA § 17-10-30(b)(2), (b)(7) (Code Ann. § 27-2534.1). The jury recommended mercy without finding any aggravating circumstances, and a life sentence was imposed. The defendant appeals.
1. In enumeration 8, the defendant argues that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing a one day continuance of the specially set jury trial in order for him to undergo a brain scan at his expense. Trial was set for June 21, 1982, to be preceded by a jury trial on defendant's special plea of insanity filed on or before June 3. In early May, defendant had been taken to Grady Hospital where he suffered from a diabetic coma for several days. He was then evaluated by a court appointed psychiatrist who found him competent to stand trial. A psychologist also subjected him to extensive tests, finding that he had a low IQ, and discovered that a brain scan in 1977 had revealed evidence of some brain damage. At trial the defendant sought the continuance in order to have another brain scan at his own expense. The defendant offered no reason why he could not have arranged for the brain scan before the specially set trial date. We find no abuse of discretion by the trial court in refusing to grant a continuance. Leggett v. State, 244 Ga. 226(1), 259 S.E.2d 476 (1979).
In enumeration of error 9, the defendant argues that the verdict form sent out with the jury during the defendant's competency trial was prejudicial because it was captioned with the criminal case number and the charges for which the defendant had been indicted. The jury was informed during the proceedings of the charges pending against the defendant and was clearly charged on its duty on the special plea of insanity. Brown v. State, 215 Ga. 784, 787, 113 S.E.2d 618 (1960). We do not find that the issue of competency was confused with the question of guilt or innocence, by the evidence presented, the charge, or the verdict form. Crawford v. State, 240 Ga. 321, 326, 240 S.E.2d 824 (1977), relied on by the defendant, is inapplicable here. We find no error.
2. Enumerations of error 1, 2 and 6 center around the evidence admitted concerning rape and sodomy of the victim before her death. In enumeration of error 1, the defendant urges prejudicial error by the state in introducing evidence of sexual misconduct when the defendant was charged only with murder and kidnapping. He claims the only purpose of this evidence was to inflame the jury since it was not relevant to the crimes charged. 2
It is clear that the district attorney need not charge and convict on every crime committed during a criminal transaction. The defendant here seeks to take advantage of the district attorney's decision not to seek convictions for rape and sodomy. 3 The state is entitled to inform the jury of all the...
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