JONES v. State of Ala.

• Citation: 43 So.3d 1258
• Decision Date: 26 October 2007
• Docket Number: CR-05-0527.
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama
• Parties: Jeremy Bryan JONES v. STATE of Alabama.

43 So.3d 1258

Jeremy Bryan JONES v. STATE of Alabama.

CR-05-0527.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

August 31, 2007.

Rehearing Denied October 26, 2007.

Certiorari Denied February 19, 2010 Alabama Supreme Court 1070234.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Glenn L. Davidson, Mobile; W. Gregory Hughes, Mobile; and Vader Al Pennington, Mobile, for appellant.

Troy King, atty. gen., and Corey L. Maze, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

BASCHAB, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Jeremy Bryan Jones, was convicted of four counts of capital murder for the killing of Lisa Nichols. The murder was made capital because he committed it during the course of a rape or an attempted rape, see § 13A-5-40(a)(3), Ala. Code 1975; a sexual abuse or an attempted sexual abuse, see § 13A-5-40(a)(8), Ala. Code 1975; a burglary, see § 13A-5-40(a)(4), Ala.Code 1975; and a kidnapping or an attempted kidnapping, see § 13A-5-40(a)(1), Ala.Code 1975. After a sentencing hearing, by a vote of 10-2, the jury recommended that he be sentenced to death. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced him to death. The appellant filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied. This appeal followed.

The appellant raises some 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 appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. However, we have reviewed the evidence, and we find that it is sufficient to support the appellant's convictions. The following summary of the relevant facts, as prepared by the trial court, may be helpful to an understanding of this case:

"On Wednesday, September 15, 2004, the same day Hurricane Ivan struck in the Mobile area, Jeremy Jones arrived at the doorstep of Mark and Kim Bentley, a Turnerville couple. The Bentleys previously employed Jones in 1999-2000 and had provided housing for him. The Bentleys actually knew Jones as John Paul Chapman, an alias Jones had assumed during a previous visit to Alabama.

Continuing to hold himself out to be John Chapman, Jones informed the Bentleys that he needed work and a place to live. Accordingly, the couple allowed Jones to stay in their mobile home with their cousin, Scooter Coleman, while they fled the approaching hurricane with their children to relatives in Chickasaw, Alabama.

"Early the next morning, Thursday, while Hurricane Ivan was bearing down on Mobile, Jones contacted Kim Bentley through the use of two-way phones in an effort to locate a radio and batteries. Kim Bentley informed Jones that the items possibly could be found in her bedroom closet; however, she instructed Jones to tell Scooter Coleman, whom the family trusted, to search for the items in her closet. Instead, Jones personally scoured through Mrs. Bentley's closet and found Mrs. Bentley's .25 caliber handgun hidden under clothing and other items on the shelf.

"Later that Thursday afternoon, the Bentley family returned to their home in Turnerville. Throughout the day, Mark Bentley, Scooter Coleman, and Jones worked on damage caused by the storm in Bentley's yard. It was during this time that the Bentleys' neighbor, 43-year-old Lisa Marie Nichols, returned home after riding out the storm elsewhere. Jones inquired about Ms. Nichols to Mr. Bentley who informed Jones that she was a single female living alone in the mobile home next door.

"Throughout the early morning of Friday, September 17, 2004, until approximately 4:30 a.m., Jones and another neighbor, Chris Hill, consumed or ingested illegal narcotics. Around 5:00 a.m. the same morning, Lisa Nichols went to work at her job at a local grocery store. During the time Ms. Nichols was at work, Mark Bentley, Scooter Coleman, and Jones continued the cleanup work on Bentley's yard. At some point that Friday, Jones requested Kim Bentley to purchase for him a six-pack of Bud Light beer. Mrs. Bentley left and returned with Jones' six-pack of Bud Light, and then left the house with her children.

"That same day, Joel Taff Edge picked up Scooter Coleman from the Bentleys and they traveled to Edge's home to clean up his storm damage. Coleman stayed with Edge throughout the entire day, leaving to return to the Bentleys' home well after dark. When Ms. Nichols returned home from work, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Mark Bentley and Jones were at the Bentley residence.

"At approximately 6:00 p.m., Mark Bentley offered to buy hamburgers for Jones and himself. The closest restaurant open for business was a Hardee's in Citronelle, which was approximately a 30-minute drive from the Bentley home. Furthermore, because the Hardee's was the only restaurant open for business, Mr. Bentley stated he waited in line for hamburgers for approximately one hour once he arrived in Citronelle.

"Once Jones was left alone, he took Kim Bentley's .25 caliber handgun and his Bud Light and went next door to the home of Lisa Nichols. Based on the evidence introduced at trial, Jones entered Ms. Nichols' home, raped her under the threat of violence, and shot her three times in the head killing Ms. Nichols instantly.

"Jones, in an effort to cover up his crime, returned to the Bentleys' residence where he obtained an undetermined amount of gasoline. Jones then returned to Ms. Nichols' home covering her body and the bathroom in which she lay, with gasoline. Jones lit Ms. Nichols on fire, which caused a momentary explosion. This was heard by a neighbor, Ann Parden. Ms. Parden testified that she heard what appeared to be an explosion between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. Jones then returned to the Bentleys.

"Sometime after 8:00 p.m., Joel Edge and Scooter Coleman finished their work on Mr. Edge's property, and Edge brought Coleman back to the Bentley residence. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bentley returned with the hamburgers, just as Jones was exiting the shower. After the three men went to bed at approximately 10:00 p.m., Mark Bentley, through his open bedroom window, heard a noise and smelled the odor of gasoline. Bentley, after investigating, saw Jones just outside Bentley's bedroom window where he kept several gasoline cans. When confronted by Mr. Bentley, Jones claimed that he was putting gasoline in Bentley's four-wheelers so that he could take a late night ride. Bentley instructed Jones to return into the house and to go to bed.

"Saturday morning, September 18, 2004, Lisa Nichols did not show up to work, nor did she return any phone calls from her family. Late that Saturday evening, Ms. Nichols' two daughters, Jennifer Murphy and Amber Nichols, and Ms. Nichols' son-in-law, Todd McKerchie, drove to check on Ms. Nichols at her home in Turnerville. After arriving at Ms. Nichols' home shortly before midnight, they were surprised to find her back door ajar. Using only flashlights (due to a lack of electricity from the hurricane), Lisa Nichols' family went directly to her bedroom. McKerchie looked into the bathroom and found the charred remains of Ms. Nichols' body lying on the bathroom floor.

"Ms. Nichols' daughters and son-in-law ran from Ms. Nichols' home hysterical and screaming for assistance. They went to Mark Bentley's home where Mark Bentley and Scooter Coleman immediately ran to Ms. Nichols' home in a panicked attempt to help Ms. Nichols. Jones stayed behind, showing little or no emotion or willingness to help. The group quickly discovered that no amount of help could save Ms. Nichols. 911 had been contacted and deputies from the Mobile County Sheriff's Department arrived shortly thereafter.

"Upon Jones learning from Mark Bentley early that Sunday morning that Ms. Nichols' body had been discovered severely burned, but not completely destroyed, Jones told Mark Bentley that he had been informed by his uncle (a Vietnam veteran) that to completely dispose of a dead body during the war soldiers simply doused the body in gasoline and lit it on fire. Hours later that Sunday, and after having acted strangely around the Bentley family throughout the morning, Jones departed the Bentley house never to return.

"The preliminary autopsy of Ms. Nichols allowed the detectives to quickly learn that her cause of death was three gunshot wounds to her head. After the Sheriff's detectives learned of Jones' presence at the Bentleys' home and his suspicious actions surrounding the time of the murder, they attempted to locate Jones for questioning. Jones was discovered and arrested on Tuesday morning, two days after he vanished from the Bentley home. When the deputies informed Jones of his arrest, Jones stated, `I had every intention of making you kill me.'

". . . .

"The court will not list all of the evidence linking Jones to Ms. Nichols' murder. This was a week-long trial with well over 100 items introduced into evidence.

Instead, this Court will outline some of the most critical evidence.

"The most convincing evidence of Jones' guilt was his multiple confessions to the rape and murder of Lisa Nichols. Beginning on the day he was arrested, and...