Irvin v. State
| Decision Date | 24 June 2005 |
| Docket Number | CR-01-2229. |
| Citation | 940 So.2d 331 |
| Parties | Michael IRVIN v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Kyla L. Groff Kelim, Alexander City, for appellant.
William H. Pryor, Jr., and Troy King, attys. gen., and Anne C. Adams and Henry M. Johnson, asst. attys. gen., for appellee.
Michael Irvin was convicted of two counts of murder made capital in connection with the death of Jackie Thompson because it was committed during the course of a robbery in the first degree and because it was committed by or through the use of a deadly weapon while the victim was in a vehicle. See § 13A-5-40(a)(2) and (a)(17), Ala.Code 1975. The jury recommended, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Irvin be sentenced to death. The circuit court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Irvin to death.
The State's evidence tended to show that on November 12, 1997, Jackie Thompson left work and drove to the home of his girlfriend, Lawanda Fallin. Fallin lived in a mobile home in Pinkard's Trailer Park in Tuskegee. Thompson, who lived in Eclectic, was employed by Pennington Construction Company, a company located in Montgomery. During November 1997, however, Thompson was assigned to a project in Tuskegee, allowing him to spend more time with Fallin.
Thompson went to Fallin's mobile home to attend a birthday party for Michael Irvin, Fallin's brother. Fallin, Irvin, Toria Howard, and two infants—one belonging to Fallin and one to Howard—were present at Fallin's mobile home when Thompson arrived. Later, Alister Butler arrived. After everyone arrived, the guests played cards, watched television, and drank alcoholic beverages.
Later that night, the guests left Fallin's mobile home and walked next door to the mobile home where Fallin's mother lived. Everyone prepared a plate of food and then went back to Fallin's mobile home to eat. The guests then played cards for a while, before Thompson, Butler, and Irvin left Fallin's mobile home.
The three men were gone for approximately one hour. When they returned, Fallin noticed that Thompson was very quiet, a marked contrast from his "energetic" high-spirited behavior earlier that evening. Fallin further noticed that Butler and Irvin exhibited no change in their demeanor, and they continued to drink and talk in much the same way as they had before leaving the party.
Shortly after the three men returned to Fallin's mobile home, Thompson told Fallin that he had to leave. This surprised Fallin, because Thompson had been planning to spend the night with her. Thompson left the mobile home by himself. This was the last time Fallin saw Thompson alive. Moments after Thompson departed, Irvin and Butler also left Fallin's mobile home.
On November 13, 1997, Walter Vail was at his farm in south Macon County when he discovered a burned automobile on his property. No body was found in the vehicle. Vail telephoned the Macon County Sheriff's Department and reported his discovery. Law-enforcement officials subsequently determined that the burned automobile was registered to Jackie Thompson. The Macon County Sheriff's Department contacted the Wetumpka Sheriff's Department, and an officer was sent to inform Thompson's mother, Mary Splunge, of the discovery. Thereafter, Ms. Splunge went to the Wetumpka Police Department and filed a missing person's report on her son.
Law-enforcement officials questioned Irvin on November 17, 1997, regarding Thompson's disappearance. Irvin told officers that he had last seen Thompson at his sister's mobile home on November 12, 1997. Irvin also told the officers that Thompson was known to him as someone who sold drugs and guns.
Jackie Thompson's disappearance remained unsolved until 1999. In September 1999, Irvin was arrested and charged with the murder of Dacqurie Lane. On October 4, 1999, Irvin gave a statement to law-enforcement officials in which he admitted being present when Thompson was killed. Irvin told officers that after Thompson left Fallin's mobile home, he, Butler, and Thompson met up later that night on a dirt road in an isolated area of Macon County. While Thompson was seated in the driver's seat of his automobile, Butler—who was standing outside Thompson's vehicle—shot Thompson in the head with a rifle. Afterwards, Irvin and Butler took approximately $3,000 from Thompson's body. Irvin told officers that Butler put Thompson's body in the backseat of Thompson's vehicle, and then Butler drove Thompson's car to an isolated area in another part of Macon County. Irvin followed Butler in Butler's car to the location where they planned to dispose of Thompson's vehicle. Butler and Irvin moved Thompson's body from Thompson's vehicle to the trunk of Butler's vehicle, and set fire to Thompson's vehicle. Irvin and Butler left that location and drove to yet another isolated area of Macon County where they left Thompson's body. On October 5, 1999, Irvin took the officers to the spot where he and Butler had disposed of Thompson's body. Law-enforcement officials discovered Thompson's remains in a rural part of Macon County, approximately 26.4 miles from where Walter Vail had discovered Thompson's vehicle on November 13, 1997. Irvin and Butler were arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder arising out of the death of Jackie Thompson.
State Medical Examiner Dr. James Lauridson used dental records to identify the remains found in Macon County on October 5, 1999, as those of Jackie Thompson. During Irvin's trial, Dr. Lauridson testified that the injuries to Thompson's skull were consistent with a gunshot wound to the head. Dr. Lauridson acknowledged that the wounds could have been caused by another type of weapon, such as an iron rod; however, he stated that given the nature of the injuries, such a scenario was "unlikely."
Toria Howard, Irvin's former girlfriend, also testified at Irvin's trial. Howard testified that during an argument with Irvin in the summer of 1998, Irvin threatened her and said that "he would blow [her] fucking brains out like he did Jackie and that nigger in Atlanta." The State also offered the testimony of Norman Williams regarding Irvin's participation in the 1999 robbery and murder of Dacqurie Lane for the purpose of proving identity, motive, and intent under Rule 404(b), Ala.R.Evid. Williams testified that he was with Irvin when Irvin robbed and then killed Lane by shooting him in the head as Lane sat in his vehicle. Williams testified that after Irvin shot and killed Lane, he and Irvin dumped Lane's body in a remote area of Macon County, before taking Lane's vehicle to another remote location and setting fire to it.
After both sides had rested and the circuit court had instructed the jury on the law applicable to Irvin's case, the jury returned a verdict finding Irvin guilty of two counts of capital murder, as charged in the indictment.
During the penalty phase of Irvin's trial, the State resubmitted all of the evidence it had introduced during the guilt phase. The State also offered evidence that in 1991 Irvin had been convicted of armed robbery in Fulton County, Georgia. Irvin offered the testimony of two witnesses, Agent Raymond Smith of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation ("ABI") and March Cameron, Irvin's mother. Agent Smith testified that Irvin appeared remorseful when he took him to where he and Butler had disposed of Thompson's body. Cameron described Irvin as a "good son," and she testified regarding various details about her son's life, including the fact that Irvin's father had been killed when Irvin was approximately two years old. Cameron also testified that following his 1998 Georgia armed-robbery conviction, he was released early, based on his good behavior. Finally, she testified that while in jail awaiting trial, Irvin "gave his life to Christ." After both sides had rested and the circuit court had instructed the jury on the law applicable to the penalty-phase proceeding, the jury initially returned a verdict, by a vote of 9 to 3, that Irvin be sentenced to death. The circuit court instructed the jury that it could not return a verdict recommending death where only 9 jurors had recommended death, and it reinstructed the jury on the applicable law. The jury retired to resume deliberations, and subsequently returned a verdict recommending, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Irvin be sentenced to death.
In every case in which the death penalty is imposed, this Court must review the record for any plain error, i.e., for any defect in the proceedings, whether or not the defect was brought to the attention of the trial court. Rule 45A, Ala.R.App.P., provides:
"In all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, the Court of Criminal Appeals shall notice any plain error or defect in the proceedings under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."
As this Court stated in Hall v. State, 820 So.2d 113, 121-22 (Ala.Crim. App.1999), aff'd, 820 So.2d 152 (Ala.2001):
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