Lawhorn v. State
| Decision Date | 21 September 1990 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 281 |
| Citation | 581 So.2d 1159 |
| Parties | James Charles LAWHORN v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Hank Fannin and Mark Smith Nelson, Talladega, for appellant.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Robert E. Lusk, Jr. and William D. Little, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant, James Charles Lawhorn, was indicted, by the May 1988 term of the Talladega County grand jury, for the capital offense of murder of William Clarence Berry pursuant to a contract for hire, with Altion Maxine Walker, consideration being $100. Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(7). On April 26, 1989, after deliberating for 35 minutes, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged. A sentencing hearing was conducted, in accordance with §§ 13A-5-45 and -46, and the jury returned an advisory verdict, based on a vote of 11 to 1, recommending to the trial court that the penalty be death. On June 26, 1989, the trial court held a sentencing hearing, in compliance with § 13A-5-47, and fixed appellant's punishment at death.
The prosecution presented the following evidence:
During the late morning of March 31, 1988, the attention of Officer Kenneth Brasher of the Sylacauga Police Department was drawn to some people arguing across the street from a Sylacauga gas station at which he had stopped. He observed a woman in a truck belonging to Altion Maxine Walker, appellant's aunt. He also saw the victim run from appellant and get in his automobile.
Later that day, a man driving an automobile, later identified as belonging to the victim, was seen following a truck driven by a woman and later identified as belonging to Walker. The vehicles stopped at a store on Highway 148, about one-half mile from Wiregrass Road. After the drivers bought sodas from a machine located outside the store, both got into the truck and drove away. The owner of the store saw the automobile parked in front of the store at 3:30 or 4:00 that afternoon, and it remained there until April 2, when it was towed away by police officers.
At approximately 4:00 p.m. on March 31, a man who was on a dirt road off of Highway 148, observed a truck, which resembled Walker's, turn down the road and come toward him. He observed three people sitting in the front seat of the cab, two of whom were "fairly young men" with beards. (Appellant had a beard at this time.)
On April 1, Walker cashed an $800 check drawn from the account "Maxine Walker, for Children of F.L. Walker" and payable to the First National Bank of Sylacauga. On that same date, she deposited $600 of those funds to her account and kept $200 in cash. (The above information was established by bank records.)
On April 2, at approximately noon, a hunter discovered the body of the victim, William Clarence Berry, in a wooded area about 70 feet off Wiregrass Road, about 2 miles from Sylacauga.
An autopsy was performed on the body of the 46-year-old victim on April 3. The autopsy revealed abrasions on the forehead and 27 gunshot wounds, 16 of which were entrance wounds and 11 of which were exit wounds. Gunshot from a pistol or a rifle caused four wounds: one entering the left side of the neck; one entering the chin, which went into the brain, causing death instantly; and two entering the left side of the chest, one of which severed the spine and spinal cord, also causing death instantly. The remaining wounds were caused by a shotgun. They were to both arms, the upper abdomen, the right side of the chest, the right leg, and the right upper back. The wounds from either weapon would have been fatal. The cause of death was "multiple gunshot and shotgun wounds."
On the night of April 2 and on April 3 and 4, officers seized, from Walker's residence, a 12-gauge shotgun, a 12-gauge .00 buck Winchester shell, and an empty box of .00 buckshot. A box of Winchester Super-X .25 caliber shells was retrieved by Robert Kilgore, Walker's son, from under a shed located approximately 50 feet behind the residence. Parts of a black box were found about five feet behind the residence, and papers for the operation of a Titan semi-automatic .25 caliber pistol were found between the house and the barn. A FIE Titan .25 caliber automatic pistol with a clip was found in the driveway behind the residence.
The 12-gauge shotgun was compared with three spent 12-gauge shotgun shells (two Winchester brand shells and one Activ brand shell) that had been found off the road near the scene. Although each shell had the same class characteristics, the firearms expert was unable to conclude, with absolute certainty, that the spent shells had been fired from that particular gun. However, he did determine that the three .25 auto-caliber spent projectiles recovered from Berry's body and a spent .25 caliber cartridge found at the scene had been fired by the pistol found in Walker's driveway. Shotgun pellets and pellet fragments recovered from the body, pellets removed from the ground near the body and toward the road, and one pellet removed from a tree five to ten feet from the body were all copper-plated .00 buckshot.
A fingerprint expert determined that a latent print lifted from the exterior of the passenger door of Walker's truck was that of appellant. She also determined that a latent print lifted from the box of Winchester shells found under Walker's shed was that of Walker.
Late in the evening of April 2, the day the body was discovered, appellant was advised of his rights guaranteed by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), by Investigator Frankie Wallis at the Sylacauga Police Department. Appellant acknowledged that he understood those rights and that he wished to talk. He also signed a waiver form.
On April 7 at approximately 4:00 p.m., appellant was again advised of his rights by Wallis, this time in the presence of Ann Wallace, of the district attorney's office, and Lieutenant Billy Joe Pope, and at the Talladega County jail. Appellant again acknowledged his understanding of his rights and his desire to talk to the officers. He also signed a waiver form and wrote on it, "I do not want a lawyer." No one threatened appellant, made him any promise, or rewarded him to induce a statement from him. Appellant first stated that his aunt had tried to hire him to kill Berry, but that he did not take any part in it and that he was in Alexander City until 5:00 p.m. on the day of the murder.
Appellant gave another statement at 5:40 p.m. wherein he related the following: From the Monday prior to the murder through the Friday after the murder, appellant stayed with his aunt, Walker. During the week, Walker told him that she was scared of Berry; that she had had her son, Kilgore, "beat his ass"; and that she wanted to "get rid" of him. Nearly everyday, she asked appellant to "get rid" of Berry. On Wednesday, she told him that she would pay him, and he said no. On Thursday, appellant and Walker, in Walker's truck, ran some errands in Alexander City. They picked up appellant's brother, Mac Lawhorn, about 1:30 p.m. On their way to Sylacauga, Walker asked Mac Lawhorn if he would be interested in making some money, and he answered, "Yes." He asked her what was the job, and she replied, "Get rid of William." Appellant further explained that Walker wanted to hire them for $100 to get rid of Berry. As they rode to Sylacauga, Mac Lawhorn was lying down in the back seat, at his aunt's direction.
In Sylacauga, they went to the Otasco hardware store where appellant retrieved a 12-gauge single-shot shotgun and four shells from the automobile of his cousin Kilgore, Walker's son. Then, between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., the three went to a wooded area, where, according to Walker, she and the victim "go parking," and appellant and Mac Lawhorn got out of the truck to wait in the woods until Walker returned with Berry. Appellant had a pistol in his pocket that he had gotten out of Walker's truck, and Mac Lawhorn was carrying the shotgun, which he loaded.
In less than 30 minutes, Walker returned with Berry. Appellant and Mac Lawhorn were hiding in the woods. Berry and Walker got out of Walker's truck, and according to Walker's version that she later told appellant and his brother, Walker went across the road to the bushes to "use the bathroom." Berry went across the road with her, but he then began running up the road. (Walker later told them that he had been "real" scared "the whole time" that Kilgore was waiting on him.) Walker then went to the two men and told them that Berry had run up the road. Then, Walker got into the driver's seat of her truck, the two men lay down in the bed of the truck, and Walker told them that she would slam on the brakes when she caught up with Berry.
We now refer to appellant's actual words to explain the subsequent occurrences:
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