Com. v. Housman

• Citation: 986 A.2d 822
• Decision Date: 29 December 2009
• Docket Number: No. 452 CAP,452 CAP
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. William HOUSMAN, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

986 A.2d 822

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. William HOUSMAN, Appellant.

No. 452 CAP

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued December 2, 2004.

Re-Submitted February 25, 2008.

Decided December 29, 2009.

David J. Foster, Costopoulos, Foster & Fields, Lemoyne, for William Housman.

Jaime M. Keating, District Attorney's Office of Cumberland County, Amy Zapp, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, JJ.

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

This is a direct appeal from a death sentence imposed on appellant for the first degree murder¹ of Leslie White, and the related crimes of kidnapping, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, unlawful restraint, abuse of corpse, and criminal conspiracy.² We affirm.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Leslie White, the victim, met appellant when she began working at the Wal-Mart photo shop in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County. They began a romantic relationship; however, appellant was already involved in a romantic relationship with co-defendant Beth Ann Markman, and had been living with her for nearly two years.

Markman discovered e-mails between White and appellant, revealing their affair. Markman told appellant to end his relationship with White, and told several friends and co-workers she intended to "`kick [White's] ass.'" Commonwealth v. Markman, 591 Pa. 249, 916 A.2d 586, 593 (2007). Markman's co-workers noticed bruising around her eyes and neck, which she attributed to fights with appellant over the e-mails. On one occasion, Markman called Wal-Mart to speak with White, which left White scared and crying. Markman also visited the store once, looking for White, but left without incident. Markman told a friend "if she ever got her hands on [White], she was going to kill her." N.T. Trial, 10/25/01, Vol. I, at 82. She told her probation officer,³ Nicole Gutshall, she caught appellant cheating on her, and if she caught him cheating again, she would kill the girl.

Appellant did not terminate his relationship with White. Appellant and Markman made plans to move to Virginia for a fresh start. However, Markman became suspicious that appellant had not ended his relationship with White. Markman drove appellant in her car to a local Sheetz store, where appellant used a pay phone to call White at Wal-Mart. He falsely told White his father died, and asked her to come to console him. He told her Markman was out of town. Various Wal-Mart employees testified White received this call from appellant, and she told her co-workers appellant's father died and she was leaving work early to console him.

When White arrived at the trailer where appellant and Markman lived, appellant talked with her in the living room, while Markman hid in the bedroom until, according to her subsequent confession and trial testimony, she heard a thump and White cried out because appellant hit her hand with a hammer. Then appellant and Markman subdued White and tied her hands and feet with speaker wire, shoved a large piece of red cloth in her mouth, and used another piece of cloth to tie a tight gag around her mouth. With White bound, Markman and appellant stepped outside to smoke cigarettes and discuss their next move. Upon reentering the trailer, Markman held White down while appellant strangled her with speaker wire and the crook of his arm, killing her. During the struggle, White scratched Markman's neck. White died of asphyxiation caused by strangulation and the rag stuffed into her mouth.

After White died, Markman wrapped White's body in a tent and placed it in the back of White's Jeep. The couple then fled to Virginia. Markman drove her car and appellant drove White's Jeep—carrying White's body. In Virginia, they drove to a remote piece of land owned by appellant's mother, then placed White's body in the trunk of an abandoned car. They discarded White's personal effects, except for her camera, which they intended to sell.

Appellant and Markman remained in Virginia for several days, staying with friends and appellant's father. Appellant continued to drive White's Jeep, which he held out as his own. While staying with Larry Overstreet and Kimberly Stultz, Markman corroborated appellant's story that they bought the Jeep from Markman's friend in Pennsylvania. At the Overstreet residence, Markman retrieved White's camera from the Jeep and they all took pictures of each other—Markman stated she bought the camera from the same woman who sold them the Jeep. Overstreet and Stultz recalled seeing scratches on Markman's neck, which Markman explained were from a dog. Stultz gave Markman the phone number of a pawn shop, and the shop owner testified he gave Markman $90 and a pawn ticket for the camera. Markman asked Stultz for cleaning supplies because "the Jeep smelled bad, like somebody had a dead animal in [it]." N.T. Trial, 10/29/01, Vol. III, at 501. Markman also told Stultz that appellant had been seeing another woman, and if she ever met this other woman, she would "whoop her ass." Id., at 494. Another friend, Nina Jo Fields, testified that during the couple's visit to her home, Markman told her appellant had been cheating on her, but that she "[didn't] have to worry about the damn bitch anymore, [because she] took care of it." N.T. Trial, 10/26/01, Vol. II, at 322, 351.

After White's parents filed a missing persons report, the authorities tracked her Jeep to appellant's location in Virginia. Deputy Brian Vaughan of the Franklin County Sheriff's office in Virginia went to the house to question appellant and Markman about the Jeep and White's whereabouts. When he saw the Jeep in the driveway, he ran the license plate number, which traced back to the Toyota Leasing Corporation.

Markman and appellant came to the door to greet Deputy Vaughan. Deputy Vaughan questioned them separately in his patrol car about the Jeep. Appellant, who was questioned first, told Deputy Vaughan he called White to ask her to console him about his dog, which had just died. Appellant said White never arrived at the trailer, and he subsequently left with Markman for Virginia. He claimed a friend loaned him the Jeep.

Subsequently, Markman voluntarily entered the patrol car and explained to Deputy Vaughan she had only seen White once, but had had several phone conversations with her. She denied knowledge of White's whereabouts, but indicated White had a bad relationship with her parents, suggesting she had run away. Markman denied knowing how appellant acquired the Jeep, and admitted driving separate cars to Virginia. When Deputy Vaughan asked Markman if she was afraid of appellant, she said she was not; rather, she admitted she had a violent temper, and appellant often had to restrain her from attacking him. She said she provoked appellant in the past and had thrown things at him, but appellant never assaulted or threatened her.

Following the police visit, appellant and Markman drove back to the property where they left White's body; there they abandoned the Jeep. Despite the couple's efforts to conceal the evidence, the police soon discovered the Jeep, as well as White's partially-decomposed body in the trunk of the abandoned car—the body was still bound, gagged, and wrapped in the canvas tent. Appellant's fingerprints were found on the car's trunk lid and license plate, a compact disc recovered from the Jeep, the Jeep's hatch, and other evidence recovered from the scene. Markman's fingerprints were found on a potato chip bag retrieved from the Jeep, and the Jeep's passenger door and rear hatch. Subsequent analysis revealed Markman's DNA under White's fingernails.

The Pennsylvania State Police obtained a search warrant for Markman's trailer and executed it; they found blood on a pillow and urine on the carpet in the place White was likely strangled. Police also discovered two lengths of speaker wire, red fibers on the floor, a piece of red cloth, a steak knife, red fibers on the knife, a tent storage bag, a hammer, and a stethoscope. Police arrested appellant and Markman on October 11, 2000, exactly one week after the murder. Police retrieved White's camera from the pawn shop and developed the film. The pictures taken at the Overstreet residence were admitted into evidence at trial; in one photograph— taken just days after appellant and Markman strangled White to death—Markman is laughing while appellant pretends to strangle her.

Following their arrest, and after receiving Miranda⁴ warnings, Markman and appellant waived their rights and agreed to be interviewed, providing tape-recorded statements. Each independently confessed to participating in White's murder. Appellant admitted to killing White by strangling her, but claimed Markman instigated the murder to eliminate the source of one of their relationship problems and enable them to start their relationship anew. He maintained Markman directed him to tie White up and strangle her, and Markman forced compliance by hitting him with a hammer and then spinning the hammer in a threatening manner. After White died, Markman listened with a stethoscope to verify her death before wrapping the body in the tent.

In her police statement, Markman admitted she bound and gagged White and held her down while appellant strangled her. She insisted, however, appellant devised the plan to murder White in order to steal her Jeep, and he coerced her assistance by threatening to kill her with a hunting knife if she did not obey him. Markman also asserted appellant wore down her resistance by terrorizing her the night before the murder by holding a knife to her throat and forcing her to remain naked in the trailer. Markman said she only realized White was dead when White lost control of her bladder.

Appellant moved to sever his trial from Markman's because introduction of Markman's confession to police, which was admissible against Markman, would violate his Sixth Amendment right to confront a witness against him. The trial...