Hedrick v. Com., Record No. 982055
| Decision Date | 26 February 1999 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 982055,Record No. 982056. |
| Citation | 513 S.E.2d 634,257 Va. 328 |
| Parties | Brandon Wayne HEDRICK v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
James P. Baber, Cumberland (Lee Randolph Harrison, on brief), for appellant.
Robert Q. Harris, Assistant Attorney General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: All the Justices.
In these appeals, we review the capital murder conviction, sentence of death, and related convictions imposed upon Brandon Wayne Hedrick.
I. PROCEEDINGS
The defendant was tried before a jury on indictments for the following offenses: capital murder of Lisa Yvonne Alexander Crider in the commission of robbery, forcible sodomy, and rape in violation of Code § 18.2-31(4) and (5); robbery in violation of Code § 18.2-58; rape in violation of Code § 182-61; forcible sodomy in violation of Code § 18.2-67.1; abduction in violation of Code § 18.2-47; and use of a firearm in the commission of murder in violation of Code§ 18.2-53.1. The jury found the defendant guilty of these crimes and fixed his punishment at life imprisonment on the charge of forcible sodomy, life imprisonment on the charge of rape, life imprisonment on the charge of robbery, ten years imprisonment on the charge of abduction, and three years imprisonment on the charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
In the penalty phase of the capital murder trial, the jury fixed the defendant's punishment at death, finding that he represented a continuing serious threat to society and that his offense was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, or aggravated battery to the victim. After considering a report prepared by a probation officer pursuant to Code § 19.2-264.5, the trial court sentenced the defendant in accord with the jury verdicts.
We consolidated the automatic review of the defendant's death sentence with his appeal of the capital murder conviction. Code § 17.1-313(F). The defendant's appeal of his non-capital convictions was certified from the Court of Appeals, Code 17.1-409, and was consolidated with his capital murder appeal and given priority on our docket.
On May 10, 1997, William K. Dodson, Trevor Jones, and the defendant were together at Jones' apartment in Lynchburg. The defendant and Jones decided to leave the apartment and drive to an area in downtown Lynchburg where they could find some prostitutes. Dodson remained at the apartment.
Jones drove his truck to an area near Fifth and Madison Streets in Lynchburg where the defendant and Jones met two prostitutes. The defendant and Jones gave the prostitutes money, asked them to purchase a small quantity of crack cocaine, and returned to Jones' apartment with the women. The defendant and Jones smoked the crack cocaine that they purchased, and the women smoked their own cocaine. Jones, the defendant, and Dodson had sexual relations with the prostitutes. The defendant and Jones, along with the women, returned to the area near Fifth and Madison Streets. The defendant and Jones gave the women $50 and asked them to purchase some more crack cocaine. The women took the money but never returned.
The defendant and Jones then rode around in Jones' truck for about 45 minutes. They met two different prostitutes and returned with them to Jones' apartment. The defendant and Jones drank bourbon, smoked marijuana, and had sexual relations with the women. Dodson, who was still at Jones' apartment, was asleep when these women were present.
Around 11:00 p.m., the defendant and Jones, along with the prostitutes, left the apartment and returned to the area near Fifth and Madison Streets. After the women left Jones' truck, Jones observed Crider "walking down the road." Jones, who had met Crider previously, told the defendant that Crider's boyfriend was a seller of crack cocaine. The defendant and Jones decided to "pick up" Crider, have sexual relations with her, and rob her because they thought she may have crack cocaine in her possession.
Jones approached Crider and "asked if she wanted to have sex." Crider got into Jones' truck, and the defendant, Jones, and Crider went to Jones' apartment. Once they arrived at the apartment, Jones paid Crider $50 and had sexual intercourse with her. The defendant did not have sexual relations with Crider at the apartment.
After Jones had sexual intercourse with Crider, he left his bedroom while Crider was "getting dressed." Jones went to a living room and spoke with the defendant. The defendant and Jones devised a plan in which the defendant would pretend to rob both Jones and Crider. Jones did not want Crider to know that he was involved in the robbery because Crider knew where Jones lived, and Jones was afraid that Crider's boyfriend would retaliate against him.
Jones told the defendant to leave the apartment, go to Jones' truck, and get Jones' shotgun. While the defendant was retrieving the shotgun, Jones told Crider that he had lost his keys, and she began to help him look for the supposedly lost keys. Jones went into the kitchen, got some duct tape, returned to the bedroom, and placed the tape there. Jones also got a set of handcuffs. When the defendant entered the house with the shotgun, Jones and Crider were in the kitchen. The defendant "racked" the pump on the shotgun to "get [Crider's] attention," and the defendant "motioned for" Crider and Jones and told them to go into Jones' bedroom.
The defendant ordered Jones to empty Crider's pockets, and Jones took the $50 bill that he had paid Crider, cigarettes, and a cigarette lighter. The defendant told Jones to place the handcuffs on Crider. Jones did so. Jones also covered Crider's eyes and mouth with duct tape, and he placed a shirt over her face. The defendant took Crider out of the apartment and placed her in Jones' truck.
Dodson, who had been asleep in the living room, woke up when he heard the sound caused when the defendant "racked" the pump on the shotgun. In response to Dodson's son's question, "what . . . is going on?", Jones responded that, "this is one of the girls that ripped us off; we're just going to scare her."
The defendant, Jones, and Crider left the apartment about 1:00 a.m. Jones sat in the driver's seat. The defendant and Crider were in the backseat of the truck. The defendant removed the shirt and duct tape from Crider. After riding around in the truck for some time, the defendant decided that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with Crider. The defendant told Crider that he "wanted some ass." The defendant warned her, "don't try anything; I got a twenty-five," referring to a .25-caliber pistol. Jones stopped the truck and got out. The defendant raped Crider.
After the defendant raped Crider, he got out of the truck and spoke with Jones. The defendant told Jones that the defendant did not want to return Crider to the downtown area of Lynchburg because he was "afraid something might happen." The defendant, because he had just raped Crider, was afraid that "she might come back on him with her boyfriend." The defendant and Jones had a brief conversation, "about killing" Crider, and decided to do so.
The defendant and Jones got back into the truck. Crider was crying. She was "upset" and "scared." Jones drove the truck as he and the defendant tried to find a good location to kill Crider. As the defendant and Jones continued to look for a place to kill Crider, Jones drove the truck into Appomattox County. Crider, who "kind of figured" that the defendant and Jones intended to harm her, pled, "don't kill me; I got two kids." She was "sniffling and crying."
Crider, continuing to plead for her life, asked: "[I]s there anything I can do to make ya'll not do this?" The defendant responded, "if you suck my dick, I'll think about it." Crider then performed oral sodomy on the defendant.
Jones continued to drive the truck, and he proceeded on a road in Appomattox County and drove onto a "pull-off" space on a "back road" near the James River. The defendant got out of the passenger side of the truck with the shotgun, and Jones took Crider out of the truck. Jones removed the handcuffs from Crider because he was afraid that his fingerprints were on them. The defendant and Jones put gloves on their hands to avoid leaving their fingerprints at the crime scene.
The time was now "daybreak." Crider, who was crying, continued to beg the defendant and Jones not to kill her, saying, "I got two kids." After Jones had removed the handcuffs from Crider, he bound her hands together with duct tape. He also placed duct tape around her mouth and around her eyes. The defendant was standing, watching with the shotgun in his hands.
The defendant, Jones, and Crider walked toward the river bank. Jones led Crider because she was "blindfolded." Jones "turned [Crider and] faced her back to the river." Jones turned to the defendant, who was armed with the shotgun, and said, "do what you got to do." Jones began to walk to the truck. When Jones was within 10 feet from the truck, he heard a gunshot.
The defendant returned to the truck with the shotgun and told Jones that Crider "went into the river." Jones took the shell from the shotgun so that it would not be present at the scene. The defendant and Jones returned to Lynchburg. They disposed of the shotgun shell, duct tape, and other evidence en route to Lynchburg. They arrived at Jones' apartment at about 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, and went to sleep.
The defendant and Jones subsequently fled Virginia, and they were arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska. The shotgun that the defendant used to kill Crider was found in Jones' truck, which he had driven to Nebraska.
Sherry Kelly Mays and Warren Johns, two friends who had gone to the James River to fish, found Crider's body on the evening of May 11, 1997. Crider's body had been placed in such a manner that the body appeared to be "sitting up with [the]...
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