Jackson v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 2001
• Docket Number: No. D1998-1412.,D1998-1412.
• Parties: Shelton D. JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

41 P.3d 395

2001 OK CR 37

Shelton D. JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. D1998-1412.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

December 21, 2001.

Pete Silva, Public Defender, Paula Alfred, Denny Johnson, Assistant Public Defenders, Tulsa, OK, Attorneys for Defendant at trial.

Charles Richardson, District Attorney, Mark Collier, Steven Sewell, Chad Moody, Assistant District Attorneys, Tulsa, OK, Attorneys for the State at trial.

Jamie D. Pybas, Julie L. Gardner, Mark Henricksen, Appellate Defense Counsel, Norman, OK, Attorneys for Appellant on appeal.

W.A. Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma Attorney General, Jennifer B. Miller, Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma City, OK, Attorneys for Appellee on appeal.

OPINION

LILE, Judge:

¶ 1 Shelton D. Jackson was convicted by jury of count one, First Degree Malice Murder, 21 O.S.1991, § 701.7(A), count two, Arson in the First Degree; and count three, Injury to a Minor Child, in the District Court of Tulsa County, Case No. CF-97-1765, before the Honorable Jesse Harris, District Judge.¹ During the sentencing stage, the jury found the existence of three aggravating circumstances: (1) the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person; (2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, involving mental and/or physical abuse; and (3) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution. The jury set punishment at Death for count one. 21 O.S.1991, §§ 701.12(2), (4), & (5).² The jury set punishment at Thirty Five (35) Years and a $25,000 fine for count two, and Life and a $5,000 fine for count three. The trial court entered Judgment and Sentence in accordance with the jury's verdict. From this Judgment and Sentence, Jackson has perfected his appeal.

¶ 2 The shocking facts of this case are that on April 8, 1997, Monica Decator was found dead in her own home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gasoline had been poured throughout the house, and the gasoline had been ignited. However Decator did not die from fire or smoke. She died as a result of loss of blood from stab wounds and from head injuries caused by blunt force trauma. Decator's son Oz was missing from the house. As a result of investigations, Appellant, Decator's live in boyfriend, was taken into custody later the same day as he exited a bus in McAlester, Oklahoma.

¶ 3 Later that same day, Decator's son Oz was found underneath a neighboring house. He had been beaten and had suffered severe brain damage as a result of the beating.

¶ 4 During the investigation, the police found a brick and knives that had been used to beat and stab Decator. Witnesses saw Appellant buy gasoline on April 7, 1997, at about 2:45 p.m. Appellant also withdrew nearly all of Decator's money from her account at that time.

¶ 5 Appellant admitted to police that he had beaten Oz and killed Decator the night before. He said he just lost it with Oz because Oz was crying uncontrollably. He said he got into a fight with Decator over Oz's injuries. The fight escalated, and he had to beat and stab her. He stated that he was pouring gasoline on the floor the next morning, and the gas cook stove ignited the gasoline.

¶ 6 Testimony and evidence indicated that Appellant beat Oz sometime prior to 6:00 p.m. the evening before. After spending the evening with his uncle, Andre Jackson, from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., Appellant told Jackson that he had injured Oz. Jackson took Appellant home to Decator's house. Appellant later called Jackson and told him that Oz was okay.

¶ 7 The next day Jackson picked up Appellant at the house, and Appellant indicated that he, Decator and Oz were all returning to Louisiana. However, he later told his mother that he was moving to Houston and that he and Decator had decided to go their separate ways. He said that Decator and Oz had already left. Appellant boarded a bus headed for Houston, but he was apprehended at the stop in McAlester.

¶ 8 Soon after Appellant left Decator's house with Jackson, a witness saw smoke coming from the house. Fire investigators testified gasoline was used as an accelerant, but the cook stove did not ignite it.

¶ 9 Appellant raises sixteen propositions of error in support of his appeal. The claims found in proposition one require reversal of the First Degree Murder conviction and Death Sentence and remand for a new trial. We find that the propositions that raise issues regarding counts two and three do not require reversal of those two counts; therefore counts two and three shall be affirmed.³ ¶ 10 Appellant contends in his first proposition of error that his trial counsel's "frank admission of guilt" during voir dire and first stage closing argument deprived Appellant of his right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and his right to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

¶ 11 During voir dire, one of the attorneys representing Appellant stated,

"no one is going to be contesting guilt in this case. So, if you find Mr. Jackson guilty, is that, [prospective juror] Mr. Perry, all you need to know about him is that he committed these acts and would you be prepared to punish him for it?"

¶ 12 Later, defense counsel stated:

I told you folks before lunch that nobody is going to be contesting guilt in this case. Now, our role as lawyers, I hope you'll agree that and not be offended by, the fact that we're not offering a defense, does not mean that we're going to just sit back and let things happen. . . .

[N]obody is going to get up there and say, you know this was an accident, or I was in Texas.

So given that, that nobody is going to be contesting first degree murder, malice murder, do you think, [prospective juror] Ms. Rosinski, that somebody that commits malice murder deserves the death penalty?

¶ 13 Appellant's second attorney later said:

Now, in a case such as this when we are not contesting first stage, I, quite frankly, get very nervous. . . . I'm very concerned in these types of cases that if we don't put on evidence, then jurors may decide, along with the guilt or innocence, well there is really nothing, they have nothing to say, and they are going to start forming that opinion. You know, I have found the person guilty and I'm already deciding the proper punishment.

Later, also during jury selection, this attorney stated,

Now, as we've all indicated, . . . we do not intend to contest the issues in the first stage of this trial. . . .

This Attorney expressed his concern that if the jurors found his client guilty, they would automatically impose the death penalty.

¶ 14 Defense counsel's opening statement consisted, for the most part, of the following:

As you heard, we're not contesting first stage, but some of the things that Mr. Richardson outlined, I simply want you to listen to the testimony and the evidence. Nothing that Mr. Richardson said he anticipated the evidence will be is evidence in this case, so listen to the evidence yourself. And if it's something different than what you may have heard was going to be in opening statement, even if it's the same, you use what you hear from there. That's all we're asking you to do at this stage.

¶ 15 This Court most recently visited this issue in Abshier v. State, 2001 OK CR 13, 28 P.3d 579. We held, in that case and continue to find that a concession of guilt does not amount to ineffective assistance of counsel, per se. Id. ¶ 61, 28 P.3d at 594. Furthermore, a concession of guilt is not the equivalent of a guilty plea, because the defendant retains his rights against compulsory self-incrimination, right to trial by jury, and the right to confront his accusers. Id. ¶ 63, 28 P.3d at 595. We also found and continue to find that there is no per se violation of due process in conceding guilt. Id. ¶ 65.

¶ 16 In Abshier, this court held that there was no evidence that the appellant opposed or disagreed with the concession strategy; we held that, at the least, Abshier acquiesced in the strategy. Id. ¶¶ 75-76, 80, 28 P.3d at 598. Therefore, this issue did not require relief in Abshier.

¶ 17 Pursuant to Rule 3.11, Rules of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Title 22, Ch. 18, App. (2001), this Court remanded this case to the Trial Court for an evidentiary hearing on this issue, as well as other effective assistance of counsel issues. In this hearing, Appellant's two trial attorneys, amazingly, testified they could not recall whether they did or did not discuss the strategy of conceding guilt with Appellant.

¶ 18 Defense counsel split responsibilities between the two stages of trial. Counsel responsible for the first stage, Pete Silva, made the concessions during voir dire and opening statement. Silva testified at the hearing on remand that he met with Appellant several times during the initial stages of the case. Silva recalled discussing trial procedure, possible defenses and strategies. He testified that at some point he believed that the best strategy was to concede guilt to first-degree murder; however, he didn't recall ever discussing the concession strategy with Appellant.

¶ 19 Counsel responsible for second stage, Paula Alfred, testified that she entered the case three to four months prior to trial and visited with Appellant on a weekly basis until trial. She testified that she discussed trial strategy with him, as well as other issues.

¶ 20 Alfred testified that she and co-counsel discussed trial strategy and decided it would be best to concede guilt during the first stage of trial and present mitigating evidence during the second stage in an effort to save Appellant's life. This decision was clearly acceptable trial strategy under the facts of this case. She could not recall whether she discussed the strategy with Appellant before trial. She did recall that during trial, after the concessions had been made, that she discussed the strategy with Appellant, and he...