Fitzgerald v. Com.

• Decision Date: 03 March 1995
• Docket Number: Nos. 941426,941586,s. 941426
• Citation: 249 Va. 299,455 S.E.2d 506
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Ronald Lee FITZGERALD v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record

Page 506

455 S.E.2d 506

249 Va. 299

Ronald Lee FITZGERALD v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record Nos. 941426, 941586.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

March 3, 1995.

[249 Va. 300] Sam Garrison, Roanoke (Richard Lee Lawrence, on brief), for appellant.

Thomas D. Bagwell, Asst. Atty. Gen. (James S. Gilmore, III, Atty. Gen., Robert B. Beasley, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

HASSELL, Justice.

In these appeals, we review the capital murder convictions, sentences of death, and related convictions imposed upon Ronald Lee Fitzgerald.

I. PROCEEDINGS

On April 19, 1993, Fitzgerald was indicted for the following offenses: the capital murder of Coy M. White during the commission of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon in violation of Code § 18.2-31; robbery of Coy White by presenting a firearm in violation of Code § 18.2-58; breaking and entering the dwelling house of Coy White while armed with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit rape and robbery in violation of Code § 18.2-90; capital murder of Hugh Edward Morrison in the commission of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon in violation of Code § 18.2-31; robbery of Hugh Edward Morrison by presenting a firearm in violation of Code § 18.2-58; seizure, transport, and detention of Claudia Denise White with the intent to defile her in violation of Code § 18.2-48; rape of Claudia White in violation of Code § 18.2-61; seizure, transport, and detention of Tiffany Lovelace with the intent to defile her in violation of Code § 18.2-48; and rape of Tiffany Lovelace in violation of Code § 18.2-61.

Fitzgerald was tried before a jury and found guilty of the charged offenses. The jury fixed Fitzgerald's punishment at life imprisonment for the robbery of Coy White, 30 years' imprisonment for breaking and entering the dwelling of Coy White while armed with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit rape or robbery, life imprisonment for the abduction of Claudia White, life imprisonment In the penalty phase of the bifurcated capital murder trial, the jury fixed Fitzgerald's punishment at death for the capital murder of Coy White premised upon a finding of the future dangerousness predicate, Code § 19.2-264.2, and fixed Fitzgerald's punishment at death for the capital murder of Hugh Morrison premised upon a finding of the vileness "and/or" future dangerousness predicates. Id. After considering a report prepared by a probation officer pursuant to Code § 19.2-264.5, the trial court sentenced Fitzgerald in accord with the jury verdicts.

for the rape of Claudia White, 40 years' imprisonment for the abduction of Tiffany Lovelace, 40 years' imprisonment for the rape of Tiffany Lovelace, and life imprisonment for the robbery of Hugh Morrison.

We have consolidated the automatic review of Fitzgerald's death sentences with his appeal of the capital murder convictions. Code § 17-110.1(F). Fitzgerald's appeal of his non-capital conviction was certified from the Court of Appeals, Code § 17-116.06, and consolidated with his capital murder appeal and given priority on our docket.

II. THE CRIMES

On January 29, 1993, about 6:00 a.m., Claudia White, 13 years old, was awakened in her home, located in Chatham, by a noise that sounded like a door "slam." Claudia was in bed when she heard this noise. She looked up and saw a man wearing a mask over his face. The man stood in the doorway and pointed a "silver looking" gun at her.

The man continued pointing the gun at Claudia and told her to take off her clothes and be quiet. The man removed Claudia's underpants and shirt. When the man took off his mask, Claudia immediately recognized her assailant as Fitzgerald. Claudia had seen Fitzgerald on numerous occasions because he had dated her cousin, Amanda White.

Fitzgerald took Claudia to another room and began to rub her chest. Fitzgerald knew that Claudia's father, Coy White, had taken Claudia's older sister to work and that he would soon return to the home. Fitzgerald asked Claudia which door her father would enter upon his return. Fitzgerald and Claudia saw White drive his car into the driveway. Fitzgerald told Claudia to be quiet and instructed her not to say anything.

As White entered the front door, he saw Claudia and then he saw Fitzgerald. After White said, "what are you doing with my daughter?", Fitzgerald told him to get on the floor. As White was getting on the floor, Fitzgerald shot him in the neck. The bullet severed White's spinal cord, killing him.

Claudia asked Fitzgerald why he killed her father. Then, Fitzgerald pointed the gun at her and told her to get her father's money and car keys. Claudia removed her father's wallet and car keys from his body and gave them to Fitzgerald.

After Fitzgerald permitted Claudia to put on some clothes, he took her outside, and they got into her father's car. She started the car at his direction. He pushed her to the front passenger seat, drove to a wooded area some distance from her home, removed her clothes, and raped her inside the car. After he raped her, he gave her his shirt and coat and locked her in the trunk of the car. Eventually, Claudia was able to free herself by using a hammer she had found in the trunk.

Later, about 7:45 a.m. the same morning, Hugh Morrison, a taxicab driver in Chatham who knew Fitzgerald, picked up Kathryn Davis to take her to her place of employment. En route, Morrison and Davis saw Fitzgerald standing near a stop sign at the intersection of State Business Route 29 and State Route 629. Fitzgerald "flagged [Morrison] down" and asked him for a ride to Gretna. Fitzgerald got in the taxicab. When Davis arrived at her destination, she left the taxicab, and Morrison drove off with Fitzgerald.

About 10:00 a.m. that morning, Douglas Shelton stopped his truck on the side of State Route 637 and saw Morrison's body lying in a nearby creek. Morrison had been shot three times. One bullet caused a "graze" wound to his head. Another bullet entered his neck and lacerated his spinal cord. The final bullet Later that same morning, Tiffany Lovelace heard a car horn outside her house, looked out of a window, and saw a taxicab. She did not respond to the horn because she thought that a taxicab driver had come to pick up her sister who, as it happened, had already left the house. About 15 minutes later, Lovelace heard a knock on her window. She looked out the window and did not see anyone. She looked out a door and saw Fitzgerald.

entered his chest and was found in his abdomen. Both the neck and chest wounds were fatal.

She opened the door, and Fitzgerald walked in. Lovelace was acquainted with Fitzgerald. Lovelace's boyfriend, Girard L. Younger, was Fitzgerald's friend. Initially, Fitzgerald told Lovelace that he had come to her home to meet Younger.

Later, Fitzgerald told Lovelace to go into one of the bedrooms in her home. Fitzgerald followed her into the bedroom, removed a pistol that he had concealed, and told her, "I don't want to have to hurt you, but um, I will." He directed her to take her clothes off, and she refused. He told her again that he did not want to hurt her, and then he shot the gun, and a bullet entered the floor by her feet. In response to Lovelace's question, "why [are you] doing this?", Fitzgerald responded that Lovelace's boyfriend, Younger, had raped Amanda White, who was Fitzgerald's girlfriend.

Lovelace removed her clothes and sat on the bed. Then, Fitzgerald told her "come on," permitted her to put on some of her clothing, and forced her out of the house and into the taxicab. She told Fitzgerald that she needed to get her children, and he initially responded, "no." He changed his mind and permitted her to bring her children.

Fitzgerald took Lovelace and her children to a motel in the town of Altavista in Campbell County. They arrived at the motel about 9:00 a.m., and Fitzgerald rented a room. When Fitzgerald, Lovelace, and the children entered the room, Fitzgerald ordered Lovelace to place the children on the bed, and he took her into a bathroom and raped her.

After Fitzgerald had raped Lovelace, he put his clothes on. Upon leaving the motel, Fitzgerald saw Sonya Myers Covington and John Covington, who were guests at the motel. Fitzgerald asked Sonya if she and John would give Fitzgerald, Lovelace, and the children a ride because his car "had broken down."

The Covingtons took Fitzgerald, Lovelace, and her children to Lovelace's home in Chatham. After Lovelace and her children got out of the car, Fitzgerald told the Covingtons that he wanted to go to the courthouse because he "had got into some trouble." En route to the courthouse, Fitzgerald asked if he could throw something out of the car window. Sonya observed Fitzgerald as he threw some keys out of the window. Fitzgerald also gave the Covingtons a sum of money.

When Fitzgerald and the Covingtons had arrived at the courthouse and John had parked the car, Sonya "heard a click." She turned around and saw Fitzgerald in the back seat with a gun in his mouth. Sonya jumped out of the car, and John took the gun from Fitzgerald. Shortly thereafter, the police apprehended Fitzgerald, and John gave the gun and the money to the police.

On the afternoon of January 29, 1993, T.L. Nicholson, an investigator with the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office, took Fitzgerald to the intersection of State Route 691 and State Business Route 29. At Fitzgerald's direction, they found White's wallet that Fitzgerald had buried under a "clump of grass" and a ski mask that Fitzgerald had thrown into a small briar patch.

The pistol that Covington had taken from Fitzgerald and given to the police was a Bryco .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol. Claudia White testified that this pistol looked like the same pistol that Fitzgerald used to kill her father. This pistol had also been used to kill Morrison. Fitzgerald also used this pistol when he shot the bullet into the floor at Lovelace's home.

The police recovered glass...