Hamer v. State
| Decision Date | 08 March 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2019-KA-01633-COA |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
| Parties | NAKERO LASHAWN HAMER JR. A/K/A NAKERO HAMER APPELLANT v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE |
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY LAUREN GABRIELLE CANTRELL
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: BENJAMIN F. CREEKMORE
BEFORE BARNES, C.J., McCARTY AND SMITH, JJ.
¶1. After two people were killed and a rifle was stolen, a teenager was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder and armed robbery. He was tried and found guilty on all charges and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
¶2. In the early hours of a summer morning, Paul Koster called 911. Frightened, he told the dispatcher that he saw three armed men outside his house via his surveillance camera.
Koster told the dispatcher that he was "scared as hell" and that it looked like they had an "assault rifle." But with relief in his voice, he told the 911 dispatcher the men had identified themselves as FBI agents, and Koster immediately opened the door. As soon as he did, he was shot to death.
¶3. Ayla Hopper was visiting Koster that night. After Koster was shot, the recording preserves her screaming, The intruders told her to get down on the ground. They then shot her repeatedly. The 911 call reveals someone in the background saying, "I don't see no more guns." Then,
¶4. Testimony would later establish that four men went to the house that night. Terrenz Mason would explain that he, Nakero Hamer, Kaderius Hamer, and T.J. Hamer drove to Koster's home. When they arrived, Mason acted as a lookout while the three men went into Koster's home. When the three men came back, one of them gave Mason a rifle. Mason testified that they did not have the weapon when they initially got out of the car, but they had it when they returned.
¶5. When the Tippah County Sheriff's Department arrived on the scene, officers discovered both Koster and Hopper dead from multiple gunshot wounds. When Investigator Jeremy Rainey later listened to the 911 dispatch call, he remembered Koster was a confidential informant for Tennessee authorities in a federal investigation of a man named Keith Hamer, who was suspected of trafficking methamphetamine across state lines.
¶6. Keith had at least one other person working with him-his son Nakero Hamer. Nakero was seventeen years old and was a "runner" for Keith. A customer would place an order to Keith's phone, and Keith would call Nakero and tell him to deliver the drugs.
¶7. During Koster's and Hopper's murders, Keith was in federal custody in Oxford, Mississippi, for drug trafficking. Koster happened to be one of Keith's biggest customers. After recalling that Koster was a confidential informant, Investigator Rainey was put in touch with Special Agents Scott Lawson and Wes Mayes of the FBI. Agents Lawson and Mayes drove to Koster's house the morning that the murders occurred. After listening to the 911 recording and hearing the shooters identify themselves as the FBI, they went to visit Keith the following day. The agents believed there was a connection between the FBI's investigation of Keith and the murders of Koster and Hopper. Only a few people knew Koster was in contact with the FBI-one of whom was Nakero Hamer. Keith told the investigators he was not involved in the murders and did not think that his son was involved either. As proof, Keith agreed to call Nakero to show that neither he nor his son had anything to do with the deaths of Koster and Hopper.
¶8. Nakero initially denied having anything to do with the crimes. However, on the recorded call he confessed that he did it because he thought Koster had gotten his father Keith arrested. During the phone call, Nakero said, Keith asked Nakero if he left any loose ends, and Nakero said he had not. Sighing, Keith told Nakero he would call him back.
¶9. After the first phone call, Agent Lawson testified that Keith began to weep. Keith then made a second phone call to Nakero. Keith asked Nakero, "Why the hell would you do that anyway, man, why?" Nakero replied, "He had something to do with you." Keith then said of Koster, "That was a good dude, man." Keith proceeded to ask Nakero, "Why wouldn't you think the cameras got you on camera?" Nakero replied,
¶10. A warrant was then issued for seventeen-year-old Nakero, and he was arrested.
¶11. Nakero was indicted for two counts of capital murder for the killing of Koster and Hopper and theft of the rifle.
¶12. Investigator Rainey testified he interviewed Nakero after his arrest. "[Nakero's] demeanor was relaxed," he recalled, and the teenager "didn't seem to have no worries." During the interview, the 911 recording was played for Nakero, and once the suspect had listened to it, he commented on how he had been off his medications. Nakero also stated that one time, he was playing football and broke another player's leg, and he stood over the person and laughed.
¶13. Investigators also played recordings of phone calls between Nakero and his father Keith. When asked if there was a change in his demeanor after the recordings were played, one investigator testified that Nakero ducked his head down and put his hands over his head. At that point, the interview with Nakero ended. Investigator Rainey stated that after the interview had ended, Nakero told him and the other investigator that they might want to look at T.J. Hamer and Terrenz Mason-the other men who went to Koster's house that night.
¶14. FBI Agent Lawson testified about the investigation of Keith and the wiretapped phone calls between Keith and Nakero. Agent Lawson testified that they monitored Keith's cell phone calls, and they learned that Keith was "at the top" of the drug trafficking and that Paul Koster was one of Keith's biggest customers.
¶15. As a result of the wiretap, the FBI was able to determine Nakero was involved in Keith's drug enterprise. When asked how much of the information relating to the wiretapped phone calls connected Keith, Nakero, and Koster, Agent Lawson testified that "just about all of our intel at that point came from listening to the [wiretapped] telephone calls." Agent Lawson was asked if he was able to recognize Nakero's voice on the phone calls, and he answered yes. In short, Agent Lawson was able to match the voices as being from the same two people-Keith and his son Nakero.
¶16. Dr. Mark LeVaughn, the State's chief medical examiner, testified about the autopsy findings on Paul Koster and Ayla Hopper. According to Dr. LeVaughn, the autopsies revealed Koster sustained ten gunshot wounds on various locations on his body, and the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds due to homicide. Hopper sustained thirteen gunshot wounds on various locations of her body, including injuries to major organs-the brain, the left lung, the heart, the right lung, and the liver. The results of these injuries were hemorrhage. There were also wounds to the head, the chest, the abdomen, one arm, and both legs. Hopper's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was homicide.
¶17. The jury found Nakero guilty of two counts of capital murder.
¶18. At sentencing, Investigator Rainey believed Nakero could not be rehabilitated. In contrast, two of Nakero's brothers and Nakero's aunt testified they believed he was a normal seventeen-year-old boy and believed he could be rehabilitated.
¶19. Nakero was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for both counts. Nakero appealed, raising seven issues. For the sake of clarity, we combine some of his assignments of error.
¶20. At trial, the circuit court allowed the admission of wiretapped phone calls between Nakero and his father Keith. On appeal, Nakero argues this audio was more prejudicial than probative, and as a result the jury should not have been allowed to hear them. Nakero goes on to argue that even assuming that the audio was not more prejudicial than probative, there was no reason to inject this information throughout the trial.
¶21. "Evidence admissibility is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard." Phillips v. State, 285 So.3d 685, 691 (¶19) (Miss. Ct. App. 2019). "Reversal is required only if the defendant can show that he was prejudiced or harmed by the exclusion of the evidence." Id. "A trial judge enjoys a great deal of discretion as to the relevancy and admissibility of evidence." Shell-Blackwell v. State, 305 So.3d 1211, 1219 (¶23) (Miss. Ct. App. 2020). "Where error involves the admission or exclusion of evidence, [the reviewing court] will not reverse unless the error adversely affects a substantial right of a party." Id.
¶22. Mississippi Rule of Evidence 404(b)(1) provides "Evidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not admissible to prove a person's character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character." This evidence, though, "may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident." MRE 404(b)(2). "Additionally, if the evidence meets one of these exceptions, it must be filtered through Rule 403." Shell-Blackwell, 305 So.3d at 1219 (¶24). Under our Rules of Evidence, a trial ...
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