Jones v. State, CR-04-1183.
| Decision Date | 03 February 2006 |
| Docket Number | CR-04-1183. |
| Citation | 946 So.2d 903 |
| Parties | Timothy Jason JONES v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
John H. Wiley III, Birmingham, for appellant.
Troy King, atty. gen., and Marc Bass and Corey L. Maze, asst. attys. gen., for appellee.
The appellant, Timothy Jason Jones, was convicted of two counts of capital murder for the killings of his parents, John Timothy Jones ("Tim") and Nancy Stewart Lazenby Jones ("Nancy"). The murders were made capital because the appellant committed them during the course of a robbery or an attempted robbery. See § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. He was also convicted of an additional count of capital murder, pursuant to § 13A-5-40(a)(10), Ala.Code 1975, because he killed Tim and Nancy by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct. After a sentencing hearing, by a vote of 10-2, the jury recommended that the appellant be sentenced to death. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced the appellant to death. The appellant filed a motion for a new trial, which was deemed denied by operation of law. See Rule 24.4, Ala. R.Crim. P. This appeal followed.
The appellant raises several arguments on appeal that he did not raise at trial. Although the lack of an objection at trial will not bar our review of an issue in a case involving the death penalty, it will weigh against any claim of prejudice the appellant may raise. See Ex parte Kennedy, 472 So.2d 1106 (Ala.1985). 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 ... whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."
"[This] plain-error exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule is to be `used sparingly, solely in those circumstances in which a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result.'" United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985) (quoting United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163 n. 14, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1592 n. 14, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 n. 14 (1982)).
The State presented the following evidence during the guilt phase of the trial:
Cathy Fountain testified that, in January 2004, she worked at a doctor's clinic and had worked as a nurse for Tim for seven years; that Tim saw patients at the clinic and usually arrived any time between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.; and that Tim saw patients at the hospital before he went to the clinic. She also testified that, on January 29, 2004, she became concerned when Tim had not arrived by 9:15 a.m. because he always telephoned her if he was going to be late. She checked, and none of the other doctors and no one at the hospital had seen him. She also telephoned his residence, but got an answering machine. Ultimately, about 9:30 a.m., she telephoned the police department.
Chief Rudolph Munnerlyn of the Monroeville Police Department testified that his department received a call requesting that someone check on Tim; that he and Officer Brian Cantrell arrived at the Jones residence at approximately 10:00 a.m. on January 29, 2004; that Cantrell knocked on the front door, but did not get a response; and that they checked all of the doors and did not see any signs of a forced entry. He also testified that he went back around the house and checked the carport/garage door again and "noticed a fresh mark like the door had been damaged," looked to the side and "saw the pile of debris and the white blanket with the red spots," and saw Tim's day planner; that he walked around a vehicle that was parked there and saw Tim's hand; that he moved enough material to see Tim's face; and that he left the carport/garage and called for more law enforcement officers to come to the scene. (R. 233.)
Munnerlyn testified that he smelled the strong odor of gas at the back of the residence and called for the fire department to come to the scene; that, after Monroe County Sheriff Thomas Tate arrived, they noticed that a grill on a deck was leaking gas; that they went around the deck and saw what they thought might be a body in the bedroom; and that they got the fire department to help them enter the residence. When they got to the bedroom, he saw what appeared to be a bloody bone on the floor. The sheets were pulled back and revealed Nancy's body.
Monroe County Sheriff Thomas Tate testified that he went to the Jones residence at Munnerlyn's request; that he went into the carport, moved some covering, and saw Tim's body; that they decided that they needed to determine whether anyone else was in the residence; and that they went onto a deck, looked into the master bedroom, and saw what appeared to be a body under the cover on the bed. At that point, they got fire department personnel to let them into the house so they could check the condition of the body on the bed and determine whether anyone else was in the residence. When he pulled back the covers on the bed in the master bedroom, he found Nancy's dead body. Tate also testified that there were blood spatters in the kitchen area on either side of a bar area and that they could have indicated a trail from the kitchen into the carport and a trail into the bedroom.
Elise Hicks testified that she was Tim's sister; that she telephoned the Jones residence around 6:55 a.m. on January 29, 2004; that the appellant answered the telephone; and that she told him she would call back later.
Jacquilyn Nobles testified that, between 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on January 29, 2004, she telephoned the Jones residence and did not get an answer. Afterward, she telephoned Nancy's cellular telephone, and the appellant answered and told her he was on the way to Mobile.
Allison Burns testified that she and the appellant met in a rehabilitation center in September 2003; that, when they got out of the center, they stayed in Birmingham for a few weeks and then moved to the victims' condominium in Destin, Florida; that she moved back to Muscle Shoals in January 2004, and the appellant came there and stayed in a hotel for about one week; that Nancy went to Muscle Shoals on January 27, 2004, and she and the appellant drove back to Monroeville on January 28, 2004; and that Nancy and the appellant arrived in Monroeville around 5:00 p.m. She also testified that she thought she talked to the appellant only one more time that night and that he told her he was going to Kim Stabler's house; that, starting at 9:00 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., her caller identification on her telephone showed that the appellant called her house every thirty minutes, but she was not home; that the appellant had said something about going back to rehabilitation; that the appellant did not ever mention going back to Muscle Shoals; that an ex-boyfriend was going to get out of jail shortly thereafter, but she did not remember discussing that with the appellant that day; and that the appellant did not sound intoxicated when she talked to him. Burns testified that the appellant telephoned her throughout the night of January 28, 2004, and into the day on January 29, 2004; that the calls "started at ... Kim's, and then his parents' house, and then his grandmother's house, and then his house again, and then from [Nancy's] cell phone"; and that, late in the afternoon, he said he would be at her house shortly. (R. 403.) She further testified that, when the appellant arrived, he was driving Nancy's Mercedes; that she eventually got into the vehicle with him, and law enforcement officers drove up; and that the appellant drove through the yard and stopped to let her get out of the vehicle.
Burns testified on cross-examination that she understood that the appellant started using cocaine almost as soon as he left the rehabilitation program; that she and the appellant started drinking alcohol the day she left the rehabilitation program; that, after they moved to Destin, the appellant went on binges where he used cocaine for days at a time; and that the appellant had been on a binge before Nancy went to Muscle Shoals to get him.
Kim Stabler testified that she was a friend of the appellant's and had known him for about fifteen years. On the evening of January 28, 2004, she picked up the appellant at his parents' residence to get him to work on her computer, and Nancy requested that she call if she was going to bring the appellant home later. On the way to her house, they went to a liquor store, and the appellant bought a fifth of vodka and spoke to someone. The appellant identified the person as Tyron and told her he owed Tyron $600.
While he was at Stabler's house, the appellant worked on her computer; spoke on the telephone to Burns; drank vodka; and took some Klonopin pills. He told Stabler he was concerned about Burns because her ex-boyfriend, who had been violent in the past, was getting out of jail the next day; told her he wanted to go back to Muscle Shoals; and asked her to take him to his parents' residence to get a Blazer. She refused to take him to his parents' residence that night, told him to stay at her house that night, and told him they would find a way to get him to Muscle Shoals the next day. However, around 5:15 a.m. the next day, she discovered that the appellant had left, and she called Tim to let him know and to make sure everything was okay. Finally, Stabler identified a sweatshirt that law enforcement officers later recovered from the Jones residence as one she had previously given the appellant.
Stabler testified on cross-examination that the appellant was drinking and feeling the effects of alcohol while he was at her house during the evening of January 28, 2004; that she had known the appellant to take both illegal and prescription drugs; and that the appellant had been in several drug and alcohol treatment programs.
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