Lane v. State

• Decision Date: 16 April 2010
• Docket Number: CR–05–1443.
• Citation: 80 So.3d 280
• Parties: Thomas Robert LANE v. STATE of Alabama.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

80 So.3d 280

Thomas Robert LANE

v.STATE of Alabama.

CR–05–1443.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Feb. 5, 2010.Rehearing Denied April 16, 2010.

Glenn L. Davidson, Mobile; and Charlotte Morrison and Randall S. Susskind, Montgomery, for appellant.

Troy King, atty. gen., and Kevin W. Blackburn, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

KELLUM, Judge.¹

Thomas Robert Lane was convicted of two counts of capital murder for the murder of his estranged wife, Theresa Lane. The murder was made capital (1) because it was committed during the course of a burglary, see § 13A–5–40(a)(4), Ala.Code 1975, and (2) because it was committed for pecuniary gain, see § 13A–5–40(a)(7), Ala.Code 1975.² By a vote of 8 to 4, the jury recommended that Lane be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for his capital-murder convictions. The trial court overrode the jury's recommendation and sentenced Lane to death.

The evidence adduced at trial indicated the following. Around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 12, 2003, Pelagia Wilson returned to her home on 15th Street in Irvington from her all-night babysitting job and found Theresa, her roommate, dead in the bathtub. Wilson testified that when she found her Theresa was completely submerged under the water. Dr. Leszek Chrostowski, a forensic pathologist, went to the scene and removed Theresa's body from the bathtub; he performed an autopsy on Theresa the following morning, October 13, 2003. Dr. Chrostowski testified that the cause of Theresa's death was drowning and that the manner of death was homicide. Dr. Chrostowski based his determination on the following findings: (1) that Theresa had foam around her mouth when she was found, indicating that she had water in her lungs; (2) that she had petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes, indicating that she had been asphyxiated; (3) that she suffered from “several blunt force impacts” (R. 672) to the top and back of her head that caused subdural hemorrhaging, indicating that she had hit her head on the bathtub numerous times; (4) that she had bruises on her right shoulder and chest area, indicating that she had been held down; and (5) that she had numerous bruises on both of her forearms, on both of her elbows, on her right thigh, on her right knee, and on her right ankle, all of which Dr. Chrostowski described as defensive wounds. In Dr. Chrostowski's opinion, the pattern of bruising, coupled with the hemorrhaging on the skull and in the eyes and the foam around her mouth, indicated that Theresa had been pushed down into the water in the bathtub and forcibly held underwater as she thrashed around and fought her attacker before she ultimately drowned.

The State presented evidence indicating that Lane had met Theresa, a native of the Philippines, in the mid 1990s, over the Internet. After an “Internet courtship,” Lane married Theresa and brought her to the United States. Lane and Theresa were married for approximately nine years when, in late June 2003, Theresa and Lane separated. Theresa moved in with her friend, Wilson, and Lane stayed in the couple's mobile home. On July 3, 2003, Theresa retained an attorney to begin divorce proceedings. On July 10, 2003, Theresa removed Lane as the beneficiary on her $161,000 life insurance policy—obtained through her employer, a local Wal–Mart discount department store—and made her sister the beneficiary.

Testimony indicated that Lane and Theresa's divorce was initially uncontested; however, issues subsequently arose that delayed the divorce. ³ The delay upset Lane because immediately following his separation from Theresa Lane began “shopping” on the Internet for a new “mail-order bride” from the Philippines, and he had already selected Lorna Abe to be his new bride. Evidence was presented indicating that Lane was under both time and financial constraints to bring Abe to the United States based on demands made by his prospective bride's father. Documents seized from Lane's mobile home and computer evidenced Lane's “Internet courtship” with Abe. Included in the documents were numerous e-mails between Lane and Abe; various “on-line” conversations between Lane and Abe; e-mail receipts from Western Union showing that Lane had repeatedly wired money to Abe, despite the fact that Lane was unemployed at the time; and an e-mail receipt showing that Lane had sent Abe flowers. In addition, evidence was presented indicating that Lane had bragged to various family members, friends, and neighbors about his new bride and that he had filed paperwork with the Immigration and Nationalization Service and the Department of Homeland Security seeking to bring Abe—whom he termed his fiancée—to the United States.⁴

The State presented testimony that during the three months after their separation and leading up to Theresa's murder, Lane harassed Theresa's divorce attorney as well as Theresa, in an attempt to speed up the divorce, and that, on more than one occasion, Lane had threatened to kill Theresa. Specifically, Theresa's divorce attorney testified that Lane contacted him—by telephone and in person—in excess of 20 times after he was retained by Theresa in July 2003, in an attempt to persuade Williams to “speed up” the divorce. At one point, the attorney said, Lane showed him a photograph of a young woman and said that she was “waiting on him” and that he needed a quick divorce. (R. 904.) The attorney also testified that a court date regarding possession of Theresa's truck, see infra note 3, was scheduled for October 15, 2003, two days after Theresa's murder.

Testimony also indicated that Lane went to Wilson's home, where Theresa was living, approximately two weeks before Theresa's murder and banged on the door trying to get in; that Theresa often rode to work with one of her friends, Charlene Gilmore, and that they would always take different routes to and from the Wal–Mart store because they were afraid that Lane was following them; and that Lane left a threatening message on Theresa's voicemail on her cellular telephone approximately three weeks before the murder. Robert Lane (“Robert”), Lane's father, testified that when Lane visited him in North Carolina in September 2003, approximately three weeks before Theresa's murder, Lane told him about the separation and said: “[I]f I thought I could do what [Scott] Peterson⁵ did and get away with it, I'd kill her.” (R. 458.) Additionally, Tony Bazzel, a friend of Lane's, testified that sometime before Theresa's murder, Lane told him that “he would kill Theresa” and that “he would put three bullets in her head if he thought he could get away with it.” (R. 782.)

On the morning of the murder, Lane was seen by neighbors at his mobile home between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Lane told neighbors that he was going out to get some coffee and doughnuts because he had worked all night, and he then left in his late 1970s model pea-green Ford half-ton pickup truck. Melissa Bruno, one of the neighbors who had seen Lane that morning, testified that Lane's dog was very upset that morning and that Lane told her that it was because he could not go with Lane to get the coffee and doughnuts. However, Bruno said that, in the time she had known him, Lane had always taken his dog with him everywhere. As soon as Lane left, his neighbors also left to go to church; when they returned home at approximately 9:30 a.m., Lane's truck was parked in front of his mobile home.

At approximately 8:30 a.m. that morning, Wilson's neighbor, James Jay—a mechanic—saw what he described as a 1975 to 1978 model pea-green Ford pickup truck parked across the street from Wilson's house. At trial, Jay identified a photograph of Lane's truck as the truck he had seen parked across the street from Wilson's house that morning. Jay testified that he saw a person get out of the truck and walk to the front porch of Wilson's home, at which point Jay's view of the person became obstructed by shrubbery. Testimony indicated that it took between 10 and 15 minutes to drive from Lane's mobile home to Wilson's house.

At approximately 11:00 a.m. on the morning of the murder, Lane visited his friend, Tony Bazzel, at Bazzel's house. According to Bazzel, Lane was pacing and he was fidgety. Bazzel's wife, Vervena, returned home from church at approximately noon and received a telephone call. Because Vervena conducted the conversation in Tagalog—a Filipino language—Bazzel did not understand what was being said. However, based on his wife's mention of the name “Theresa” and her demeanor, Bazzel believed that she had been told that something was wrong with Theresa. Bazzel conveyed his conclusion to Lane, to which Lane replied, “I know.” (R. 786.) When Lane asked Vervena about the telephone call, however, she refused to give him any details. Lane then left Bazzel's home; he returned approximately half an hour later and told Bazzel that “he had heard” that Theresa had been found dead. (R. 787.) Bazzel told Lane that he believed Lane was a suspect, and Lane responded that he “was familiar with the system,” and would “find some bail money and a lawyer.” (R. 787.) Lane then left.

After Wilson discovered Theresa's body at approximately 10:00 a.m., she telephoned emergency 911, and both law-enforcement and emergency-medical personnel came to the scene. Sergeant Mitch McRae, supervisor of the major-crimes division of the Mobile County Sheriff's Department, was in charge of investigating Theresa's death. He arrived at the scene at approximately 1:00 p.m., after Theresa's body had been removed. Based on the fact that there were no signs of forced entry and that nothing appeared to be missing from the house, Sgt. McRae determined that Theresa's death was suspicious; however, until the cause and manner of death were positively determined by an autopsy, there was no crime. Nonetheless, Sgt. McRae wanted to speak with Lane to notify him of Theresa's death and to get information regarding Theresa's general health.⁶

Deputy Erik Travis...