Horn v. State
| Decision Date | 05 August 2022 |
| Docket Number | CR-20-0790 |
| Parties | James Benton Horn v. State of Alabama |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from Covington Circuit Court (CC-18-646)
The appellant, James Benton Horn, was convicted of murder, see §13A-6-2, Ala. Code 1975, arson in the second degree see §13A-7-42, Ala. Code 1975, and criminal mischief in the first degree, see §13A-7-21, Ala Code 1975.[1] Horn was sentenced as a habitual felon to life imprisonment for the murder conviction, life imprisonment for the arson conviction, and 20 years' imprisonment for the criminal-mischief conviction. The circuit court ordered that all three sentences be served consecutively.
The State's evidence tended to show that in the early morning hours of June 20, 2018, police discovered the badly burned body of Bruce Nelson in his vehicle parked outside his mobile home in Andalusia. Dr. Christopher Guthrie, a medical examiner for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences testified that Nelson had two gunshot wounds to his head four knife injuries, and thermal injuries caused by the intensive heat of the fire. Nelson had been shot in the right eyebrow and the chin, had four sharp-force wounds, and had multiple heat injuries that caused "thermal fractures of the lower extremities." (R. 643.) It was Dr. Guthrie's opinion that the thermal injuries were caused after Nelson's death and that his cause of death was the "combined effects of multiple sharp force injuries and gunshot wounds of the head." (R. 644-45.)
At approximately 3:30 a.m. on June 20, 2018, Cody Taylor, at the time of trial a former officer with the Covington County Sheriff's Office, responded to a 911 emergency call that there was a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity of Ray Armstrong Road. Taylor testified that on his way to that call he observed a vehicle on fire in front of a mobile home. After he dealt with the 911 call, he said, he returned to the fire. Taylor walked around the vehicle and discovered a badly burned and unrecognizable body in the driver's seat. That body was later identified as Bruce Nelson. There was also testimony that the mobile home and the vehicle belonged to Nelson. (R. 292.)
Tomi Cox, Nelson's fiancee, testified that Horn was a friend of Nelson's and that they had known each other for about 30 years. Nelson owned a vehicle repair shop, Nelson's Auto Repair ("the shop"), and Horn had worked as a mechanic for Nelson in the past. According to Cox, Nelson had fired Horn for his conduct and the poor quality of his work. On the day that Nelson was killed, Cox said, Horn had been in the shop and he and Nelson had had a disagreement because Horn had taken an installed stereo out of Nelson's vehicle. Cox said that Nelson arrived home at about 4:00 p.m. and that Horn showed up a little after 5:00 p.m.
(R. 321.) She said that it was unusual for Horn to come to their house. Nelson and Horn drank beer and watched videos on YouTube streaming service while at the house. Cox left the house at around 11:00 p.m. to go to work, and Horn was still with Nelson when she left. Cox also testified that when she borrowed $20 from Nelson before she went to work she noticed that Nelson had several "twenties and fifties" in his wallet. (R. 329.) According to Cox, she found Nelson's empty wallet in one of his drawers when she was allowed back in the mobile home to get some clothes after Nelson's murder. (R. 330-31.)
Clint Adkison, Nelson's brother, testified that he had worked at the shop for eight years and that after Nelson's death he took over the management of the shop. He said that at the time of his death, Nelson was driving a 1988 Black Mazda MX6 automobile and that he had helped Nelson make modifications to that car that cost approximately $2,200. He testified that several days before Nelson was killed, Nelson discovered that his stereo equipment had been taken out of his Mazda. Adkison testified that he had a game camera at the shop and that, in order to see Horn's reaction, he told Horn that the camera had recorded the person who had stolen the stereo equipment from Nelson's car. Horn sent a text message to Adkison later that day, he said, and told Adkison that he had taken the equipment to "prove a point." (R. 359.) Horn had come by the shop on June 19, 2018, and had asked to borrow money so that he could go to a funeral and he offered his tools as collateral. Adkison said that he told him to go to a nearby pawnshop and Horn left the shop. Horn came back a little later, Adkison said, and showed everyone that he had gotten $100 for his tools, and he asked Nelson if he could borrow $20.
Investigator David Hamby with the Covington County Sheriff's Office testified that he was called to the scene in the early morning of June 20, 2018. There was a burned vehicle in the front yard, a body was on the ground outside the driver's door and the mobile home was still smoldering. (R. 407.) He said that there was a blood trail on the grass from a boat trailer to the burned vehicle. Nelson's mobile home had been partially burned in the master bedroom, and the bed in that room had collapsed. (R. 431.) In the mobile home, there was a trail of blood that started in the "bedroom, went all the way out to -- went to the chair [in the living room], went all the way out to the boat, then came back to the car." (R. 440.) An empty bottle of lighter fluid was also found in the living room. (R. 430-31.) A .22 caliber gun was also recovered from the mobile home.[2]
Horn was arrested after police stopped his car at a laundromat near Horn's residence at approximately 8:30 a.m. on the morning of June 20. Investigator Mark Odom of the Covington County Sheriff's Office testified that, when Horn was stopped, he was alone and was driving a four-door silver Saturn automobile. After opening the vehicle, Investigator Odom said, he discovered what he believed to be blood on the driver's side door. The car was impounded, and Horn was taken to the Drug Task Force ("DTF") office in Andalusia, where he was interviewed. Horn had an injury to his right hand when he was taken into custody.[3]
Investigator Hamby testified that he took Horn to the DTF office and advised Horn of his Miranda[4] rights and that Horn gave a statement to police at around 10:00 a.m. on the morning of June 20 after waiving those rights. Horn told police that he was good friends with Nelson and had known him for many years, that Nelson was his "buddy", that he visited Nelson on June 19, that he stayed only 20 minutes after Cox left to go to work, and that he and Nelson did argue. (R. 460.) Horn also told police that when he left Nelson's residence he saw a Chevrolet Malibu vehicle pull up and that two individuals were inside the vehicle. The driver, he said, was a black man. Horn said that he went by Nelson's mobile home later that evening and saw that the Malibu was still parked at Nelson's residence. Horn later told police that several days after Nelson was killed a black man broke into Horn's house and threatened him.
After Horn was first interviewed, Investigator Hamby took Horn to his residence while police executed a search warrant. Police discovered a pair of blue jeans in the washing machine with powdered laundry detergent on them. The washing machine had not been started. At the scene, police tested the jeans for blood and obtained a positive result; the jeans were sent for DNA testing. (R. 473.) There was also a pile of clothes in the backyard that had been set on fire and the pile was "still wet like it appeared that somebody had just put the fire out recently." (R. 478.) State forensic DNA expert, Teryn Bostick, testified that she conducted DNA tests on the jeans recovered from Horn's house and found that the DNA on one knee of those jeans matched Nelson's DNA. Horn had told police that the jeans belonged to him. Bostick also testified that the DNA found in Horn's vehicle matched Nelson's DNA.
Investigator Ken Harris of the Covington County Sheriff's Office testified that, after the search warrant had been executed on Horn's home, he drove Horn to the Covington County Sheriff's Office and put Horn in an interview room. After Horn was questioned, Investigator Harris took Horn to a nearby Marathon gasoline service station because Horn had asked if he could get "some items." (R. 104.) Investigator Harris testified:
(R. 104.) When Horn was arrested, police seized $579 in cash from his wallet. (R. 116.)
Charles Nelson[5] testified that he lives about 400 feet from Bruce Nelson's mobile home. (R. 692.) He testified as an expert in the valuation of Nelson's vehicle and said that Nelson's vehicle was very rare and that its value was between $7,500 and $15,000. Charles further testified that he had been working on a water line in his yard on the afternoon of June 19 and that he had gone up and down the road in front of Nelson's mobile home several times that day. He said that he observed a silver vehicle parked at Nelson's that he did not recognize and that he also saw Cox's vehicle and Nelson's vehicle at the residence at that same time. (R. 703.) That same silver vehicle was there when his wife called him into the house at approximately 2:30 a.m. in the early morning hours of June 20. (R. 704.)
Special Agent John Wesley Snodgrass with the Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office testified that he investigated the fire at Nelson's residence. He said that the fire in the master bedroom "had to be an...
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