Commonwealth v. Spray

• Citation: 467 Mass. 456,5 N.E.3d 891
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Quillie Merle SPRAY, Second.
• Decision Date: 13 March 2014
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

467 Mass. 456

5 N.E.3d 891

COMMONWEALTH

v.Quillie Merle SPRAY, Second.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester.

Argued Nov. 8, 2013.

Decided March 13, 2014.

Kenneth I. Seiger for the defendant.

Donna–Marie Haran, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

Present: IRELAND, C.J., SPINA, CORDY, DUFFLY, & LENK, JJ.

LENK, J.

The defendant appeals from his conviction of murder in the first degree on a theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty, and from the denial of two motions for new trial. The defendant, his brother, his sister-in-law, and his cousin worked together in a tiling business based in Oklahoma. While working on a job at a restaurant in Clinton, the defendant stabbed and killed the general manager with no apparent provocation or motive. The defense at trial was based on a theory of actual innocence and that the defendant's sister-in-law was the true culprit.

The defendant argues error in the denial of a motion to suppress statements; improper joinder of charges for trial; admission of certain hearsay evidence; and the denial of his first motion for a new trial without an evidentiary hearing. The defendant also argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to pursue a defense of lack of criminal responsibility, based on evidence that the defendant may have been suffering from a spontaneous recurrence of methamphetamine-induced psychosis at the time of the stabbing.

We conclude that there was no error requiring reversal and, after a review of the entire record pursuant to our responsibility under G.L. c. 278, § 33E, that there is no reason to exercise our power to reduce the defendant's conviction to a lesser degree of guilt or to order a new trial. We affirm.

1. Background. a. Facts. Based on the evidence at trial, the jury could have found the following. In December, 2000, a fast-food restaurant was under construction in Clinton. The defendant, his brother Gary Spray, his sister-in-law Monica Spray, and his cousin Thomas Barron,¹ who lived in Oklahoma and all worked together on tiling jobs there, were hired to install tile in that restaurant. The defendant, Gary, Monica, and occasionally Thomas had worked in similar jobs across the country; Gary and Monica often worked as a team on such jobs, while the defendant worked by himself.

Gary, Monica, and Thomas initially were solely responsible for the December, 2000, job in Clinton. However, they were delayed in starting the 1,500–mile drive to Massachusetts, and the defendant decided to travel to Clinton as well. He drove to Massachusetts alone, arriving in Clinton in the early morning hours of Thursday, December 7, 2000. Gary, Monica, and Thomas arrived in a separate vehicle late that afternoon; their arrival was delayed by an unscheduled stop in St. Louis, where they had “a little drug party” involving mostly methamphetamines. While at the job site on Friday, the defendant and Gary spoke with the general contractor, who observed that they were already behind schedule.

The victim, Sherylann Miller, was also present at the construction site where the defendant and his relatives were working. Miller was the general manager of the future restaurant, and was in the process of accepting job applications and conducting interviews for employment there. Since the heating system had yet to be installed, the area was being kept warm by propane heaters. At one point, the defendant heard the victim say that she was cold, and suggested that she move closer to the heater; she also apologized to the defendant when she stepped on freshly laid tile. The two had no prior relationship and did not interact any further that day.

At approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 9, the defendant, Gary, Monica, and Thomas were working at the job site when the defendant walked out the door. The other three continued to install tile until they heard the victim “hollering,” “No, don't!” and “Stop, stop!” Monica turned around to see the defendant “wrestling” with the victim and “punching on her” while “dragging her backwards.” Thomas saw the defendant holding the victim “around the waist or kind of in a bear hug.”

Monica began “jumping up and down and hitting herself in the chest,” and said to Gary, “It's Merle, it's Merle.” ² Gary turned around to see the defendant “punching [the victim] in the back.” Gary ran to the defendant, pushed him against the wall, and asked, “What the fuck are you doing? What are you doing to this lady?” The defendant responded, “We'll tell them somebody else done it.” By that time, the victim had fallen to the floor and a large amount of blood had begun to flow from her body. Gary directed Monica and Thomas to telephone for help. Monica ran to a nearby gasoline station and the attendant there telephoned 911. The defendant walked to the front of the restaurant, saying, “Let's get this tile laid so we can get out of here and go to the house.”

Clinton police responded within two minutes of receiving the 911 call. They encountered the family in various states of shock outside the restaurant. Monica was “hysterical”; Thomas was pacing nervously and crying; and Gary was standing over the defendant, yelling repeatedly, “What the fuck did you do that for?” The defendant was sitting on the curb outside the restaurant, acting “very calm” and not seeming at all upset. Monica pointed to the defendant and said, “He stabbed her, he did it.” Thomas and Gary also indicated to police that the defendant had stabbed the victim. In response to questions regarding the whereabouts of the weapon, Gary stated that the defendant had had a knife, and that it had a green handle and a blade approximately five inches in length.

Police found the victim lying on the floor in the back of the restaurant with a large pool of blood around her head. The victim was transported to a local hospital, and then transferred via helicopter to a hospital in Worcester, where she was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of the following day.

Shortly after police arrived and his relatives identified him as the one who had stabbed the victim, the defendant was arrested, handcuffed, and placed in a police cruiser. Gary continued to yell at the defendant while he sat in the cruiser, “What are you doing, you didn't even know her.” Monica was permitted to change clothes and throw out the clothing she had been wearing, as she had soiled herself.

The defendant, Gary, Monica, and Thomas were transported in separate police cruisers to the Clinton police station. There, Gary, Monica, and Thomas each gave a written statement while sitting in separate rooms; police observed that none appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Gary again provided a description of the weapon used in the attack, and said that he had seen the defendantkneel down beside a bucket at the scene.³ Officers located the bucket, filled with dirty water and plaster or mud, and retrieved a green-handled knife with a serrated edge from it; a red-handled knife was also recovered from the scene. The green-handled knife was brought back to the police station, where Gary identified it as belonging to the defendant.⁴

While the defendant was booked ⁵ and fingerprinted, officers observed a cut on his left hand. A Clinton police officer and a State trooper interviewed the defendant after reading him the Miranda rights and presenting him with a card listing those rights, which he initialed. The defendant agreed to speak with police and to allow police to transcribe his statement. During the interview, the defendant denied having had anything to do with the stabbing; police described him as “calm, cool, collected, very cooperative,” and said that he did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Later that evening, the defendant's vehicle was towed; an inventory search produced an unlicensed firearm, ammunition, and spent shell casings.

At approximately 2 a.m. Sunday morning, police learned that the victim had died as a result of her injuries, and booked the defendant on the additional charge of murder. Later that afternoon, after advising him of the Miranda rights, and procuring a waiver of his right to a prompt arraignment pursuant to Commonwealth v. Rosario, 422 Mass. 48, 661 N.E.2d 71 (1996)( Rosario ), police again interviewed the defendant. He denied knowing anything about the source of the victim's injuries, but, in response to repeated questioning, eventually stated, “If I did do it, I didn't mean to kill her.”

An autopsy revealed that the victim died as a result of six stab wounds to the neck, and that her injuries were consistent with having been stabbed from behind. Two of the wounds severed her spinal cord. Forensic testing established that a sample from a blood stain on the defendant's shirt cuff matched the victim's blood.⁶ A hair matching the victim's was found on the green knife, as well as a piece of fabric that was consistent with the fabric of the jacket that the victim was wearing at the time of the attack.

b. Pretrial motions. The defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress all statements made by him to the police, as well as all evidence obtained as a result of the search of his vehicle. He argued that the statements made to the police should be suppressed as involuntary, and that items found in his vehicle should be suppressed because they were the result of an illegal warrantless search. Both the defendant and the Commonwealth filed motionsin limine regarding the admissibility of the statements made by the defendant's family members to the police.

After a hearing at which a number of local and State police officers testified, the motion judge allowed the defendant's motion in part and denied it in part. The judge held that, with regard to the police interviews of the defendant on December 9 and 10, 2000, the Commonwealth had met its burden of proving a valid waiver of Miranda rights beyond a reasonable doubt; the defendant had signed a written waiver...