Jackson v. State
| Decision Date | 20 September 2019 |
| Docket Number | CR-16-1039 |
| Citation | 303 So.3d 846 |
| Parties | Jamal O'Neal JACKSON v. STATE of Alabama |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
The appellant, Jamal O'Neal Jackson, was convicted of murdering Satori Richardson during the course of an arson. See § 13A-5-40(a)(9), Ala. Code 1975. The jury unanimously found beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of one aggravating circumstance — that Jackson had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence, see § 13A-5-49(2), Ala. Code 1975 — and, by a vote of 10 to 2, recommended that Jackson be sentenced to death for his capital-murder conviction. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Jackson to death.1 This appeal followed.
The evidence adduced at trial indicated the following. On the morning of July 3, 2014, Jackson and Richardson, who were dating, went to the home of Jackson's cousin, Jans'sica, to visit. Jans'sica said that Jackson drank vodka during the visit. Jackson then spent the afternoon visiting his grandfather, where Jackson continued drinking alcohol. Jackson's grandfather did not know how much alcohol Jackson drank during that time. Later that night, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Jackson and Richardson returned to Jans'sica's house with Richardson's four-year-old daughter, Tiauna, where they stayed until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. the morning of July 4, 2014. While at Jans'sica's house, Jackson, Richardson, Jans'sica, and Jans'sica's boyfriend drank almost three bottles of vodka. Jackson, Richardson, and Tiauna then went back to Richardson's apartment on Navco Road in Mobile. Testimony indicated that at 3:50 a.m., the emergency 911 center in Mobile received a telephone call from Richardson's cellular telephone. A recording of that call was played for the jury. During the call, a woman can be heard screaming.
Dorneshia Bendolph, Richardson's cousin who lived in the same apartment complex as Richardson, testified that around 4:30 a.m. the morning of July 4, 2014, Tiauna knocked on her front door and said that "[h]er momma was dead in the tub and her dad just killed her momma." (R. 1766.) Bendolph further testified:
(R. 1766-67.) Richardson tried to go upstairs to the second level of Richardson's two-story apartment but was unable to breathe because of the smoke.
Janet Roberts, who also lived in the same apartment complex as Richardson, testified that, in the early morning hours of July 4, 2014, she was awakened by a smoke alarm going off in her apartment. She said that the second level of her apartment was filling with smoke. Roberts looked out her window and saw a man sitting in an automobile in the parking lot; a young girl was walking around the front of the vehicle. Roberts had previously seen both the man and the young girl around the apartment complex, and she knew that the young girl was Richardson's daughter.2 Roberts then went outside and found the young girl standing with another resident of the apartment complex, who she believed to be Richardson's cousin. Roberts telephoned emergency 911 to report the fire and then asked the young girl where her mother was. The girl said: "My momma is dead." (R. 1462.)
Law-enforcement officers were the first to arrive at the scene. When Joseph Law, a corporal with the Mobile Police Department, arrived, he saw smoke billowing from the apartment complex and several people standing outside, including Tiauna. According to Cpl. Law, Tiauna said to him: "My Daddy killed my Mommy and set the house on fire." (R. 1489.) At the time of trial, Tiauna was seven years old. She testified at trial, in relevant part:
(R. 1750-51.) Tiauna identified the man as "Jamal" and said that "Jamal" had a hammer and a knife and that he "[d]id something to my mommy with [the knife], but I don't know because I was in the bathroom downstairs." (R. 1764.)
Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after law enforcement. They found Richardson in the bathroom on the second level of the apartment; she was in the bathtub, which was full of water. Firefighters took her outside and paramedic Thomas Manning began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Richardson. Manning said that Richardson had no pulse, had an electrical cord wrapped around her neck, and had numerous lacerations and punctures on her body. Richardson was transported to Spring Hill Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Dr. Staci Turner, a medical examiner with the State of Alabama, testified that Richardson suffered 32 sharp-force injuries to her body that varied in depth and size. Richardson also "had hemorrhages in the soft tissue of her neck and the soft tissue surrounding her voice box, and the soft tissue surrounding her hyoid bone" and "petechia hemorrhages in her eyes." (R. 1825.) It was Dr. Turner's opinion that Richardson died of multiple sharp-force injuries and strangulation.
Kenneth Gillespie, a detective with the homicide unit of the Mobile Police Department, examined Richardson's apartment after the fire was extinguished. He said that there was soot on the stairs; that the upstairs bathtub was filled "with a dark red liquid believed to be a mixture of blood and water;" and that there was a pile of clothes that appeared to be burned on the floor in the upstairs bedroom. (R. 1773.) In addition, Richardson's driver's license, some cash, and a bent kitchen knife were on the bed. The knife, Det. Gillespie said, was bent "almost completely into like a horseshoe." (R. 1773.)
Rufus Watkins, a captain with the Mobile Fire & Rescue Department who was an arson investigator in July 2014, testified that he investigated the fire at Richardson's apartment. Capt. Watkins testified that the area of the apartment with the most damage was a closet in an upstairs bedroom and that the origin of the fire was clothing that was located on the floor of that closet. Capt. Watkins further testified:
(R. 1693.) It was Capt. Watkins's opinion that the fire was not accidental but was intentionally set.
Henry Guess, a cashier at a gasoline station/convenience store located on Gulf Breeze Drive in Gulf Breeze, Florida, testified that at approximately 5:45 a.m. the morning of July 4, 2014, a man, later identified as Jackson, drove into the parking lot and parked his automobile. Jackson stayed in his vehicle "for a long period of time, longer than normal" before he got out and entered the store. (R. 1503.) Guess said that Jackson was disheveled and had what appeared to be dried blood on his clothes and shoes; he also appeared to be intoxicated. According to Guess, Jackson wandered up and down the aisles in the store but did not look at any of the merchandise; instead, he kept looking at the area where the cash register was located. Guess testified to what happened next:
(R. 1504.)
Officers with the Gulf Breeze Police Department responded to Guess's telephone call and approached Jackson as he was still sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot of the gasoline station/convenience store. Jackson did not respond to the officers' questions or commands. After a minute or two of not responding, Jackson sped away in the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Jackson v. State (Ex parte Jackson)
-
Jackson v. State (Ex parte Jackson)
...the record "contain[ed] no indication that the State engaged in disparate or desultory questioning of jurors," Jackson v. State, 303 So.3d 846, 871 (Ala. Crim. App. 2019), I would allow briefing on the issue of whether Jackson's case should be remanded for a Batson hearing based on disparat......