Jackson v. State
| Decision Date | 07 February 2014 |
| Docket Number | CR–12–0667. |
| Citation | 177 So.3d 911 |
| Parties | Esaw JACKSON v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Esaw1 Jackson ("Jackson") was initially convicted in 2007 of three counts of capital murder for killing Pamela Montgomery ("Pamela") and Milton Poole III ("Milton"). Following Jackson's first trial, he was convicted of murder made capital because he killed Pamela by shooting her with a rifle fired from a vehicle, see § 13A–5–40(a)(18), Ala.Code 1975; murder made capital because he killed Milton by shooting him with a rifle fired from a vehicle, see § 13A–5–40(a)(18), Ala.Code 1975; and of murder made capital because he killed Pamela and Milton during one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, see § 13A–5–40(a)(10), Ala.Code 1975. Jackson was also convicted of two counts of attempted murder, see §§ 13A–4–2 and 13A–6–2, Ala.Code 1975, for shooting Denaris Montgomery and Shaniece Montgomery. Jackson was sentenced to death for his capital-murders convictions and to life imprisonment for the attempted-murder convictions.
Jackson appealed and this Court affirmed his convictions, and sentences in Jackson v. State, 68 So.3d 201 (Ala.Crim.App.2009). In Ex parte Jackson, 68 So.3d 211 (Ala.2010), the Alabama Supreme Court reversed our judgment and remanded Jackson's case. In accordance with that opinion we remanded Jackson's case to the circuit court for a new trial. Jackson v. State, 68 So.3d 218 (Ala.Crim.App.2010).
Jackson's second trial began on November 28, 2011. At the conclusion of the guilt phase, the jury convicted Jackson on all counts.2 Following the presentation of evidence at the penalty phase of the trial the jury recommended, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Jackson be sentenced to death for the capital-murder convictions.
The probation officer included in the presentence report a notation that "Esaw Jackson seemed to have mental retardation; he would not elaborate as to why he receives disability, nor ... did he have the capability to answer my questions in a competent manner." (C. 310.) The circuit court ordered that a psychological evaluation of Jackson be conducted by Dr. Glen King ("Dr. King"). Following the completion of Dr. King's report, the circuit court held a combined sentencing and Atkins3 hearing during which Dr. King testified that he concluded that Jackson was mentally retarded and that Jackson had an overall IQ of 56.
In sentencing Jackson, the circuit court found "Dr. King's testimony and findings to be quite credible" and sentenced Jackson to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on each count of capital murder and life imprisonment on each count of attempted murder. All the sentences are to be served consecutively with each other. (C. 56.) Jackson appealed.
The evidence admitted at trial indicated that, in the middle of January 2006, Jackson's friend, Melanie Torrence, was riding with Jackson in his car while Jackson was talking on his two-way radio with someone named "Pig." (R. 362.) Pig said that he had bought "an SK" gun. (R. 363.)
Also in January 2006, Loretta Poole ("Loretta"), Milton's mother, was walking near a store with A–Kia Hicks when Jackson pulled up in his car. Loretta asked Jackson, who had been driving past her apartment waiving money and guns, why he had been acting that way. Jackson replied:
(R. 407–08)(errors in original.) Jackson then drove away.
At about 8:30 p.m. on the night of February 1, 2006, Pamela, her daughter Shaniece Montgomery ("Shaniece"), her son Denaris Montgomery ("Denaris"), and Milton left Milton's mother's house in Smithfield to return to Pamela's house where Milton had been staying during the week. Pamela was driving her Chevrolet Cavalier automobile; Shaniece was in the front passenger seat, Denaris was in the backseat on the driver's side, and Milton was in the backseat on the passenger side. They stopped at the intersection of 19th Street and Avenue V in Ensley. Jackson, whose nickname was "Wolf," pulled up in a car next to them, yelled, "Bitch," pointed a rifle out of the window of his car, and began shooting. (R. 505.) Milton said, "Wolf just shot me." (R. 507.)
After the shooting stopped, Jackson drove off. Pamela also drove the Cavalier away from the intersection but soon passed out. Shaniece climbed over into Pamela's lap and drove several more blocks before coming to a fire station where she stopped the car.
Sgt. John Ballard of the Birmingham Police Department ("BPD") received a telephone call about the shooting and responded to the intersection of 19th Street and Avenue V but was subsequently dispatched to the fire station. There, Ballard spoke with Shaniece and Denaris. Denaris was "kind of frantic, excited" and told Ballard "that Wolf had shot at them." (R. 268.)
William Ward, a fire lieutenant with the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service, was returning from a call when he was directed back to the fire station. He "arrived to find a very chaotic scene [with] several citizens in a state of hysteria, [and] several people who were injured." (R. 369.) Ward determined that Milton was already dead and that Pamela "had several gunshot wounds and was unresponsive." (R. 370.) Ward and his colleagues placed Pamela in an ambulance and transported her to the hospital, where she died.
Shaniece had been shot four times and Denaris had wounds in his hand, arm, and leg.
Officer Kim McDonald of the BPD's Crime Scene Unit, arrived at the fire station, where she took photographs and collected evidence. McDonald testified that she later collected bullet fragments and a spent shell casing4 from the interior of the Cavalier. The Cavalier had been shot at multiple times and had several shattered windows.
McDonald left the fire station and went to the intersection of 19th Street and Avenue V. She took photographs and documented and collected evidence that consisted of shattered glass and a Wolf5 brand spent shell casing.
Doctor Greg Davis was the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on Pamela and Milton. Davis determined that Milton had a grazing gunshot wound to his forehead. Another bullet passed through Milton's right arm and entered his chest, where it struck his right lung, his heart, and his left lung before exiting his chest and striking his left arm. A third bullet passed through Milton's right hip and exited through his right buttock. Davis determined that Milton Poole died "as a result of the injury to his lungs and heart due to [the] gunshot wound to his chest." (R. 436.)
Davis found that Pamela had been shot four times. One bullet entered Pamela's chest and struck her diaphragm and liver. Two other bullets, which caused muscle damage, "ended up in [Pamela's] back." (R. 441.) A final bullet struck Pamela's right lung and stopped under her collarbone. Either the bullet that struck her diaphragm and liver or the bullet that struck her lung could have caused Pamela's death within minutes.
Mitch Rector is a firearms examiner and the forensic-services manager for the BPD. He determined that the Wolf shell casing that was recovered from the intersection of 19th Street and Avenue V was "a 7.62 x 39 millimeter caliber."6 (R. 457–58.) Rector examined bullets, bullet fragments, and bullet-jacket fragments that were recovered from the Cavalier and the victims. Of the pieces large enough to provide him useful information, Rector "determined that they could have been fired from the same barrel" but was unable to say conclusively that they had been. Rector established that some firearms that can fire 7.62 x 39 millimeter ammunition include AK 47s, Mac 90s, and SKSs.
Jackson first argues that the jury venire did not represent a fair cross-section of Jefferson County and that there was "a substantial underrepresentation of African Americans on the venire by more than one-third." (Jackson's brief, p. 55.)
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