Ex parte Sneed
Decision Date | 30 June 2000 |
Citation | 783 So.2d 863 |
Parties | Ex parte Ulysses Charles SNEED. (In re Ulysses Charles Sneed v. State). |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Joseph W. Propst II, Decatur; and Michael K. Congiardo, Hartselle, for petitioner.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and Michael B. Billingsley, asst. atty. gen., for respondent.
Ulysses Charles Sneed was convicted of capital murder for the killing of Clarence Nugene Terry. The murder was made capital because it was committed during the course of a robbery in the first degree. See § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. Sneed was tried with a codefendant, John Milton Hardy; Hardy also was convicted of capital murder. See Hardy v. State, [Ms. CR-95-0589, March 26, 1999] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App.1999). (Hardy's case is pending before this Court on certiorari review (no. 1981646).) The jury, by a vote of 10-2, recommended that Sneed be sentenced to death by electrocution. The trial court, after independently weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors, concurred with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Sneed to death.1
The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Sneed's conviction and sentence. See Sneed v. State, 783 So.2d 841 (Ala.Crim. App.1999). This Court granted Sneed's petition for certiorari review. Because we find that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence an edited and redacted version of a statement that Sneed had made to police officers, we reverse and remand.
The record indicates the following facts.2 On August 29, 1993, Sneed and Chris Hines drove from Louisville, Kentucky, to Alabama. The two men came to Alabama to look for jobs. Sneed stayed with Hines and Hardy, who is Hines's cousin. In the early morning hours of September 7, 1993, Sneed and Hardy borrowed Hines's automobile and went to buy beer; Hardy was driving and Sneed was a passenger. Hardy drove to his house, where he picked up a rifle and put it in the car. He then drove to Bud's Convenience Store in Decatur. Hardy pulled his shirt sleeves from his shirt, and Hardy and Sneed tied the sleeves around their faces as masks. Sneed opened the door to the convenience store. Hardy stepped into the store and began firing his rifle at Terry, the store clerk. Hardy's first shot missed Terry, who tried to hide behind the counter. As Hardy fired at Terry, Sneed ran behind the counter toward the cash register. While Sneed attempted to open the cash register, Hardy leaned over the counter and shot Terry in the chest. Hardy then walked around the counter and shot Terry five times in the head and face. While Terry lay dying on the floor, Sneed and Hardy continued their attempt to open the cash register; they were unsuccessful. Sneed and Hardy unplugged the cash register and took it with them as they ran from the store. These events were recorded on the convenience store's surveillance video camera.
Later that morning, Sneed, Hardy, and Hines went to Hardy's father's house, where Sneed and Hardy had left the cash register. Using a sledgehammer, the three men tried to open the register. When the police recovered the cash register, they found Hines's fingerprint on it. The police showed the surveillance video to several people, including Hines. Four of those people, including Hines, identified Hardy as the shooter and Sneed as the unarmed man.
In his statement to police, Sneed admitted that he had participated in the robbery, but stated that he did not intend for anyone to get hurt. The indictment against Sneed alleged that he had committed the capital offense of murder during the course of a first-degree robbery, in violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. At his arraignment, Sneed pleaded not guilty.3 At trial, Sneed's defense was that, although he had participated in the robbery, he was not the gunman and he did not intend that anyone be killed.
In his petition for certiorari review, Sneed presents 14 issues for our review; however, we address only the issue whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence Sneed's edited and redacted statement. Because Sneed and Hardy were tried together, the prosecution did not introduce into evidence the complete statement Sneed gave to police officers, but instead, introduced his statement in an edited and redacted form. In the edited and redacted version of the statement, in places where Sneed had actually said "we" or "he," the prosecution had substituted "I," and in addition, it had eliminated all references to Hardy. The prosecution used the edited and redacted statement in an effort to avoid violating Hardy's confrontation right guaranteed by the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968).
In Bruton, the Supreme Court held that the admission of a non-testifying defendant's confession, implicating his codefendant in the crime, violated the codefendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. 391 U.S. at 126, 88 S.Ct. 1620. See, also, United States v. Lopez, 898 F.2d 1505, 1510 (11th Cir.1990). However, in Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 107 S.Ct. 1702, 95 L.Ed.2d 176 (1987), the Supreme Court limited its holding in Bruton, holding that the admission of a non-testifying defendant's confession does not violate the Confrontation Clause if the confession is redacted so as to eliminate the codefendant's name and any reference to his or her existence, and if the court gives the jury a proper limiting instruction. See Richardson, 481 U.S. at 208-09, 107 S.Ct. 1702.
As previously noted, the State chose to try Sneed and Hardy together. In order to have the benefit of Sneed's statement in the case against him without violating Hardy's rights, the State, over Sneed's objection, had the edited and redacted statement admitted into evidence. His statement, as edited and redacted, put him in the role of a sole actor in the events leading up to the murder. The statement Sneed gave to police officers states:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Sneed v. State
...from the Alabama Supreme Court PATTERSON, Retired Appellate Judge. Pursuant to the opinion of the Alabama Supreme Court in Ex parte Sneed, 783 So.2d 863 (Ala.2000), the judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for a new The foregoing opinion was prepared by Retire......