Jackson v. State, 68097
| Decision Date | 18 February 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 68097,68097 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 146 Clarence JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, and W.C. McLain, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Kim W. Munch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
The appellant, Clarence Jackson, appeals his convictions for first-degree murder and his sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. Finding no reversible error, we affirm both the convictions and sentences.
A Hillsborough County grand jury indicted Clarence Jackson in October, 1981 for the first-degree murders of Roger McKay and Terrence Milton. A jury convicted Jackson on both counts and recommended death for both murders. The trial court sentenced Jackson to death on the convictions. We reversed Jackson's convictions and remanded for a new trial. Jackson v. State, 451 So.2d 458 (Fla.1984).
The key witness at the first trial, James Lucas, died before the time of Jackson's second trial. Because he was unavailable to testify at the second trial, his prior testimony was read to the jury. According to Lucas' testimony, Jackson often shared heroin and other drugs with Lucas and the victims. Lucas testified that Jackson picked up McKay on a Saturday afternoon near an east-side Tampa bar. As Lucas drove, Jackson, sitting in the back seat, argued with McKay about drugs, then shot him in the back. After driving to a remote area, Jackson shot McKay again as he put him in the trunk of the car. Returning to the bar Saturday evening, Jackson found Milton, took him for a ride with Lucas driving, and shot Milton after arguing about drugs. Milton remained conscious for some time, begging for his life. After driving to another remote area, Jackson had Lucas stop at a bridge where Jackson shot Milton several more times, then dumped both bodies into a backwater of the Hillsborough River. The bodies were found several days later. Lucas eventually told detectives about the murders and Jackson was arrested. Jackson relied on an alibi defense, with his wife, son, and two friends testifying that Jackson was home at a dinner party on the day of the murders.
On retrial, Jackson was again convicted of the first degree murders of McKay and Milton, with the jury recommending a life sentence without possibility of parole for twenty-five years for the killing of McKay and a sentence of death for the killing of Milton. The trial court agreed with the recommended sentences. In imposing the death sentence for the murder of Milton, the trial court found no statutory mitigating circumstances and the following non-statutory mitigating circumstances: 1) statements of law enforcement officials that the defendant is a "model prisoner" and 2) the report of Dr. Mussenden that tests indicated the defendant would adjust well to prison life, be helpful and productive in the prison system, and not present behavioral problems. The trial court found, however, that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances found to exist: 1) the defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person; 1 2) the capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel; 2 3) the capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner, without any pretense of moral or legal justification. 3
Jackson raises a total of nine issues. Three issues from the guilt phase and three issues from the sentencing phase merit discussion. The remaining issues 4 have been carefully considered by this Court and found to be meritless.
The first issue urged concerns the trial testimony of state witnesses James Lucas and Sylvester Dumas. Prior to the introduction of Lucas' previous trial testimony and during the testimony of Dumas, objections were raised to testimony which Jackson describes as irrelevant evidence of collateral crimes. Jackson contends he was prejudiced by this testimony and is entitled to a new trial. § 90.404(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1985); Peek v. State, 488 So.2d 52 (Fla.1986); Drake v. State, 400 So.2d 1217 (Fla.1981); Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86 (1959). We disagree.
Evidence of collateral crimes or acts committed by the defendant is inadmissible if its sole relevancy is to establish bad character or propensity of the accused. Williams, 110 So.2d at 662. Evidence of other crimes or acts is admissible however, "if it casts light upon the character of the act under investigation by showing motive, intent, absence of mistake, common scheme, identity or a system or general pattern of criminality so that the evidence of the prior offenses would have a relevant or a material bearing on some essential aspect of the offense being tried." Id. See § 90.404(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1985). "Among the other purposes for which a collateral crime may be admitted under Williams is establishment of the entire context out of which the criminal conduct arose." Smith v. State, 365 So.2d 704, 707 (Fla.1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 885, 100 S.Ct. 177, 62 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979). See also Ruffin v. State, 397 So.2d 277, 280-81 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 882, 102 S.Ct. 368, 70 L.Ed.2d 194 (1981).
Among the comments admitted over objection were statements by Lucas that Jackson had an argument with an unnamed person in the back of a bar, threatened to kill him, and shot at him several times, just prior to taking the first victim in the car. During the testimony of Sylvester Dumas, the trial court, over objection, also admitted testimony concerning a prior assault by Jackson on the victim McKay approximately two weeks before the murders.
We are persuaded that this testimony was admissible. Neither incident was given undue emphasis, the evidence was relevant, and its probative value was not outweighed by any improper prejudicial effect. See, e.g., Washington v. State, 432 So.2d 44, 47 (Fla.1983). The testimony of a prior assault on the victim McKay by Jackson during an argument over drugs was not so remote in time as to be irrelevant and supported the state's theory that Jackson's motive for killing Milton and McKay was his belief that they were stealing his drugs and taking advantage of him. See Phillips v. State, 476 So.2d 194 (Fla.1985) () See also Mayberry v. State, 430 So.2d 908 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Wooten v. State, 398 So.2d 963 (Fla. 1st DCA), pet. for review dismissed, 407 So.2d 1107 (Fla.1981); Outler v. State, 322 So.2d 623 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), cert. denied, 336 So.2d 107 (Fla.1976); Summit v. State, 285 So.2d 670 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973); Hutchinson v. State, 102 So.2d 44 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958).
The testimony by Lucas of an assault on an unnamed person prior to meeting McKay on the day of the murders was also properly admissible. The alleged assault on the unnamed person was one incident in a chain of chronological events which occurred on September 12, 1981, beginning with Jackson's visit to Lucas' home and ending with Jackson dumping the two bodies into the river. See Malloy v. State, 382 So.2d 1190, 1192 (Fla.1979). The evidence established the entire context out of which the criminal action occurred and was probative to material factual issues, placing Jackson at the location where the first victim was encountered, supporting the state's theory that the second gun used in committing the murders was in Jackson's possession, and indicating Jackson's state of mind at the time and place in question. See Medina v. State, 466 So.2d 1046, 1049 (Fla.1985); Ruffin, 397 So.2d at 280-81; Shriner v. State, 386 So.2d 525, 533 (Fla.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1103, 101 S.Ct. 899, 66 L.Ed.2d 829 (1981); State v. Baker, 441 So.2d 1102, 1103 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983), pet. for review denied, 450 So.2d 485 (Fla.1984); Lewis v. State, 369 So.2d 667, 668 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979).
In addition, the trial court admitted references to Jackson possessing weapons and bulletproof vests. We agree with Jackson's contention that this testimony was not relevant to any material fact in issue. Jackson's objection to it should have been sustained. The erroneous admission of such evidence is subject to harmless error analysis. See Craig v. State, 510 So.2d 857, 864 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 732, 98 L.Ed.2d 680 (1988). Application of the harmless error test "requires an examination of the entire record by the appellate court including a close examination of the permissible evidence on which the jury could have legitimately relied, and in addition an even closer examination of the impermissible evidence which might have possibly influenced the jury verdict." State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129, 1135 (Fla.1986). The focus of the analysis is on the effect of the error on the trier-of-fact, with the burden remaining on the state to show the error was harmless. Id. at 1139. We find that the error in admitting this evidence was harmless and could not possibly have affected the outcome of the case. In light of the ample evidence establishing Jackson's guilt and discrediting his alibi defense and the admissible testimony of the prior assaults committed by Jackson, we do not find a reasonable possibility that the jury was unduly or improperly influenced by references to guns and bulletproof vests. The error therefore does not warrant reversal for a new trial.
Jackson next urges that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial because of comments by two witnesses and the prosecutor on his exercise of his right to remain silent. Jackson contends that the first comment on his right to...
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