Ellis v. State
| Decision Date | 11 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 176 |
| Parties | Philomena Delores ELLIS v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Marcus W. Reid, Anniston, for appellant.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Yvonne A. Henderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Philomena Delores Ellis was convicted of murder in violation of Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-6-2, and was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment. Ellis raises five issues on this appeal from that conviction.
The undisputed evidence shows that on the morning of October 21, 1987, the 31-year-old defendant killed her 14-month-old daughter by stabbing the infant in the back eight times with a kitchen knife, and then attempted to take her own life by stabbing herself three times in the abdomen and cutting her wrist. The state's evidence shows that at 7:40 that morning, the defendant dialed "911" and "calmly" requested that the police and an ambulance be sent to her residence, stating that she had cut herself and was bleeding to death.
Emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene within minutes of the defendant's call. Upon being asked by a firemedic if she "did it," the defendant "nodded" and, in response to the question "why," said something about her husband. At that time the defendant was described as "alert" in the sense that she was able to communicate and was breathing. The defendant was slow moving and slow talking--conditions compatible with a person's going into shock. She was "relatively calm" but appeared to be in pain. The infant was dead.
The defendant and her husband were specialists in the United States Army and were stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama. At 6:30 on the morning of the murder, Minerva Williamson, the "child care provider" who kept the defendant's daughter during the week and at other times on a regular basis, telephoned the defendant and asked her to bring some fresh doughnuts when she brought her daughter. Ms. Williamson did not notice anything unusual about the defendant's voice.
The day before the murder, on October 20, the defendant had brought her daughter to Ms. Williamson around 7:30 p.m. After playing bingo, the defendant returned around 9:00 and stayed about 15 minutes. Ms. Williamson did not notice anything unusual about the defendant.
Between 7:20 and 7:30 on the morning of the murder, the defendant telephoned Ms. Williamson and said, "Jessicake, Jessicake." This was how Ms. Williamson referred to the victim, Jessica. The defendant said, Ms. Williamson testified that the defendant seemed to be "a little upset" at this time.
Ms. Williamson had known the defendant for about a year. The defendant had never complained to her about headaches, blackouts, or other physical problems. Ms. Williamson, who testified in the state's case on rebuttal, stated that on the night of the 20th, the defendant appeared sane.
When the police and firemedics arrived, they found the following note, which had been written by the defendant:
Written in the margins of the paper were:
The defendant was released from the hospital on November 21, 1987, and was then imprisoned in the Calhoun County jail. She was examined at the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility in February 1988. She returned to active military duty in April 1988.
Shortly before the homicide, the defendant's husband had attempted to purchase an automobile and had discovered that his credit was bad. Unknown to Mr. Ellis at that time, the cause of this trouble was a $4000 judgment a bank had obtained against the defendant for a delinquent VISA bill which apparently had originated from the defendant's second marriage.
Mr. Ellis testified that the defendant suffered some fairly severe headaches immediately preceding the murder. He stated that these were caused by the medication previously prescribed by doctors for the defendant's headaches. Mr. Ellis testified that the defendant did not mention blackouts or memory lapses and that he had no indication that she was depressed. He stated that he "never saw Phil sad or depressed" and that "if she was depressed she wasn't to [him]."
The state presented no expert testimony on the defendant's mental condition at the time of the homicide.
Both the defendant and her mother, Daisey Mae Davis, testified for the defense. Their testimony revealed that the defendant was first married when she was 16 years old. She dropped out of high school and had a son, Jonathan, who was 16 years old at the time of the trial.
According to the defendant, in 1978, she was working as an assistant manager and eventually as a manager at a Church's fried chicken restaurant in Virginia. She began to experience terrible headaches. A doctor told her that she needed to work fewer hours and just take aspirin, but warned her that she could have a stroke if she continued under that kind of pressure. The doctor "mentioned about the hairline vein that [the defendant] had on the right temple," but did not describe the headaches as migraine.
In 1979, the defendant lost the manager's position, apparently through no fault of her own. She continued to work at Church's for about one week although she was "devastated" and very, very upset over the loss of the position. Then, one day after work, the defendant got in her car and "just drove." The next thing she remembered was waking up in a motel room in Maryland and not knowing how she got there. During this time, she considered suicide, and she expressed this to her mother.
After a divorce from her first husband, the defendant married Oscar Grant in 1981. Grant was very jealous and subjected the defendant to physical and mental abuse, including sexual assault and rape. During this marriage the defendant began having headaches again. The marriage ended in 1984 in a divorce, which was recommended by a marriage counselor. After that marriage, the defendant joined the United States Army. She married Mr. Ellis in 1985, and Jessica was born in August 1986. During her pregnancy with Jessica, the defendant had "blackouts" and began to get headaches. The doctors told her that the blackouts were a result of hyperventilation.
In September 1987, the defendant learned that her parents were having marital difficulties and that her father had been involved in a long-term extramarital affair which had resulted in three children. The defendant testified that she felt shocked, hurt, and betrayed.
Also in September 1987, Mr. Ellis needed a better automobile and the defendant suggested he buy one. The defendant handled all the finances in her family. Mr. Ellis was refused credit because of the delinquent VISA account. During this time, the credit card company was sending the defendant letters. The defendant was worried because the credit difficulties might affect her upcoming promotion to sergeant.
In October 1987, the defendant had pneumonia and had difficulty sleeping. She was taking several over-the-counter medications for her pneumonia. She began to experience headaches again. The defendant testified:
On the night before the murder, the defendant did not go to sleep. She was awake at 3:30 a.m. when her husband came in from working his shift and went to bed. Sometime after that the defendant began crying and did not know why. Her head began hurting and, although she was thirsty, she could not stand up straight to reach the water faucet. The next thing she remembered was a firemedic talking over her. At trial, the defendant said she did not remember the call from the babysitter at 6:30 that morning, although she had mentioned it to the doctors while in the hospital the night of the offense.
There was no evidence of any marital difficulties between the defendant and her husband. There were no arguments over the financial problems, and by all accounts, Mr. Ellis was generous to his wife. The only indication of discord involved Mr. Ellis's supervisor, a female noncommissioned officer. Mr. Ellis had been to her apartment on one occasion to assemble a stereo set and the defendant had discovered the officer with her husband in their apartment on two other occasions. Mr. Ellis denied being sexually involved with the female officer. The defendant told both the officer and her husband that she did not want the officer in her apartment because it just did not "look right."
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