Knight v. State

• Decision Date: 10 August 2018
• Docket Number: CR-16-0182
• Citation: 300 So.3d 76
• Parties: Justice Jerrell KNIGHT v. STATE of Alabama
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

300 So.3d 76

Justice Jerrell KNIGHT

v.STATE of Alabama

CR-16-0182

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

August 10, 2018

Rehearing Denied October 5, 2018

Certiorari Denied January 24, 2020

Alabama Supreme Court 1180031

Alicia A. D'Addario, Ashley T. Adams, and Ryan C. Becker of Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, for appellant.

Steve Marshall, atty. gen., and John A. Seldon, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

WINDOM, Presiding Judge.

Justice Jerrell Knight appeals his convictions for three counts of capital murder. Knight was convicted of one count of murder made capital for taking the life of Jarvis Daffin during the course of a first-degree kidnapping, see § 13A-5-40(a)(1), Ala. Code 1975; a second count of murder made capital for taking Daffin's life during the course of a first-degree robbery, see § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975; and a third count of murder made capital for taking Daffin's life through the use of a deadly weapon while Daffin was in a vehicle, see § 13A-5-40(a)(17), Ala. Code 1975. The jury recommended, by a vote of 11 to 1, that Knight be sentenced to death for his capital-murder convictions. The circuit court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Knight to death.

Facts

In early 2012 Daffin and Knight were awaiting their anticipated income-tax refunds. The two friends had made plans to use the funds to purchase vehicles. Daffin desired a Pontiac Grand Am automobile and had given a seller, Steve Carlisle, a $50 deposit on one, while Knight sought a Chevrolet El Camino coupe-utility vehicle and had located a seller in Florida. When Charlotte King, Daffin's and Knight's tax preparer, contacted the men about their refunds, the news was mixed. King informed Daffin that she had a refund totaling $6,653 for him; Knight, however, was told that he had not received a refund because the Internal Revenue Service had initiated an audit of his return. King testified that Knight was upset upon learning of the development.

Knight drove Daffin to King's office to pick up Daffin's refund on February 3, 2012, and then to a local grocery store in Dothan to cash them. Peggy Reynolds, an employee of the grocery store, recalled cashing Daffin's checks that day; she added that she saw Knight "peeping" inside from the door of the grocery store. It was Reynolds's impression that Knight was watching to ensure that Daffin "was doing his transaction." (R. 483.) Reynolds also noted the presence of Antwain Wingard, commonly known as "Duke," in the grocery store that day, who she also believed was watching the transaction. Although Duke was several years younger than Knight, Knight knew the teenager because he was close to the Wingard family.

Daffin placed $1,000 in a front pocket of his pants and placed the remainder in a back pocket. Now flush with cash Daffin planned to complete his purchase of the Grand Am, which was located at Carlisle's auto-repair shop in Headland. Duke joined the two friends on their trip to Carlisle's shop. Upon reaching Headland early that afternoon, Daffin telephoned Carlisle to let him know that he was 15 minutes away. Daffin, however, never arrived at Carlisle's shop.

The vehicle Knight had been driving that day was a black Kia Optima automobile that belonged to Comeshia Wingard, Duke's mother. Comeshia lived with Duke; her mother, Gwendolyn Wingard; her brother, Manguel Wingard; and Manguel's girlfriend, Porscha Copeland. Knight returned the Optima to the Wingard residence that evening. Knight attempted to give the keys to Porscha, but she declined to take them because of Knight's nervousness. Knight telephoned Manguel, who was at work, and told him: "Hey, bro. I'm sending you my gun by your momma. You can get rid of it or you can keep it, sell it. It went down and it didn't go down right. You can do whatever you want to do with the gun." (R. 726.) Knight informed Manguel that he intended to get a new cell phone and to travel to Miami. Knight also telephoned Gwendolyn, telling her that she could find a pistol under her pillow on her bed and asking her to give the pistol to Manguel. Gwendolyn retrieved the pistol but placed the pistol in her vehicle.

That evening Gwendolyn traveled to her deceased mother's residence in Goshen; she abruptly returned home the following day, though, as the result of a telephone call from Comeshia. Comeshia directed her mother's attention to her Optima. Gwendolyn saw that the passenger seatbelt was missing, that there were what appeared to be bloodstains on the passenger seat, and that there was a hole in the lid of the glove compartment. Gwendolyn spoke to Duke and, after consulting with a friend and praying, contacted law enforcement. Responding officers searched Gwendolyn's house and received from her the pistol Knight had left under her pillow.

That evening officers, along with Duke and Comeshia, traveled to some farmland in rural Henry County. Once there officers were able to follow tire tracks and apparent drag marks to Daffin's body, which had been left in a wooded area and covered with debris. Detective John Crawford of the Dothan Police Department testified that there were two distinct sets of shoe prints with the drag marks leading to Daffin's body. When his body was found, Daffin was not wearing pants and had only one shoe. An autopsy of Daffin's body showed that Daffin had been killed by a gunshot wound

to the back left of his head. The bullet traveled through his brain and exited through his right nostril.

The next day, February 5, 2012, Duke again spoke with Gwendolyn and gave his grandmother $920. Following the conversation Gwendolyn walked to the house of Janet Trice, where Knight lived, and looked in her garbage can. Inside she saw blue jeans and a shoe that appeared to be stained with blood. Gwendolyn testified that she recalled Daffin's wearing blue jeans on February 3. Gwendolyn summoned law enforcement and directed them to Trice's garbage can. Detective Crawford testified that the shoe found in the garbage can matched the shoe found near Daffin's body. During a search of Trice's house, officers recovered a pair of Knight's shoes that appeared to have a similar tread pattern to the shoe prints that led to Daffin's body.

Through the course of the investigation, law enforcement learned that on the afternoon of February 3, Knight had been seen in Dothan at an O'Reilly Auto Parts store, where he purchased fabric dye, fabric cleaner, air fresheners, and rags, and at Coastal Car Wash, where surveillance footage captured him cleaning the interior of Comeshia's Optima. Officers recovered a shell casing from a trash bin at the car wash. Forensic testing determined that the shell casing had been fired from the pistol Gwendolyn had given to law enforcement.

Duke was arrested on February 7, but law enforcement could not locate Knight. With the assistance of the United States Marshals Service, Knight was apprehended near Miami on February 20. After being returned to Alabama, Knight made a statement to Detective Crawford. Knight admitted to being involved in Daffin's murder, but said that he participated under duress. Knight alleged that Duke shot Daffin without warning and then threatened to kill Knight if he did not help dispose of Daffin's body. Forensic evidence, however, strongly indicated that it was Knight, not Duke, who shot Daffin. Specifically, swabs taken from the grip and trigger of the pistol had DNA that included Knight as a contributor but excluded Duke.

Standard of Review

This Court has explained:

" ‘When evidence is presented ore tenus to the trial court, the court's findings of fact based on that evidence are presumed to be correct,’ Ex parte Perkins, 646 So.2d 46, 47 (Ala. 1994) ; ‘[w]e indulge a presumption that the trial court properly ruled on the weight and probative force of the evidence,’ Bradley v. State, 494 So.2d 750, 761 (Ala. Crim. App. 1985), aff'd, 494 So.2d 772 (Ala. 1986) ; and we make ‘ "all the reasonable inferences and credibility choices supportive of the decision of the trial court." ’ Kennedy v. State, 640 So.2d 22, 26 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993), quoting Bradley, 494 So.2d at 761."

State v. Hargett, 935 So.2d 1200, 1203 (Ala. Crim. App. 2005). A circuit court's "ruling on a question of law[, however,] carries no presumption of correctness, and this Court's review is de novo." Ex parte Graham, 702 So.2d 1215, 1221 (Ala. 1997). Thus, "[w]hen the trial court improperly applies the law to the facts, no presumption of correctness exists as to the court's judgment." Ex parte Jackson, 886 So.2d 155, 159 (Ala. 2004).

Further, because Knight has been sentenced to death, according to Rule 45A, Ala. R. App. P., this Court must search the record for "plain error." Rule 45A states:

"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, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."

(Emphasis added.)

In Ex parte Brown, 11 So.3d 933 (Ala. 2008), the Alabama Supreme Court explained:

" ‘ "To rise to the level of plain error, the claimed error must not only seriously affect a defendant's ‘substantial rights,’ but it must also have an unfair prejudicial impact on the jury's deliberations." ’ Ex parte Bryant, 951 So.2d 724, 727 (Ala. 2002) (quoting Hyde v. State, 778 So.2d 199, 209 (Ala. Crim. App. 1998) ). In United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), the United States Supreme Court, construing the federal plain-error rule, stated:

" ‘The Rule authorizes the Courts of Appeals to correct only "particularly egregious errors," United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163 (1982), those errors that "seriously affect the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings," United States v. Atkinson, 297 U.S. [157], at 160 [ (1936) ].

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