Lesley v. State, 89-KA-893

• Decision Date: 12 August 1992
• Docket Number: No. 89-KA-893,89-KA-893
• Citation: 606 So.2d 1084
• Parties: Loretta LESLEY v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 1084

606 So.2d 1084

Loretta LESLEY v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 89-KA-893.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 12, 1992.

Jeremy J. Eskridge, Roy J. Farrell, Tupelo, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Deirdre McCrory, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ.

PITTMAN, Justice, for the Court:

Loretta Lesley, along with Basil Hood, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Hood pled guilty. After trial on Loretta Lesley's charge, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Loretta Lesley has appealed to this Court alleging that: (1) the trial court erred by allowing the State to elicit testimony from a State's witness, Dale Lesley, regarding Loretta Lesley's alleged extramarital affairs in violation of Miss.R.Evid. 404(b); and (2) the trial court erred by overruling her motion to suppress statements by her to law officers and erred by admitting such evidence at trial. Because the State's proof of Lesley's alleged extramarital affairs was prejudicial and was too remote to be admitted as a show of motive pursuant to Miss.R.Evid. 404(b), We reverse and remand for a new trial consistent with this opinion.

I.

Seventeen-year-old Loretta Lesley married twenty-five-year-old Dale Lesley on June 29, 1975. They lived in the Peppertown community of Itawamba County. In 1979, a daughter was born to the Lesleys; a son was born to the Lesleys in 1982. Dale Lesley was employed with two different trucking companies during the course of their marriage. Loretta Lesley was employed as the manager of the Itawamba Community College bookstores located in Fulton and Tupelo. She also did janitorial work at Friendship Methodist Church in Peppertown, where she and her family were also members.

Loretta Lesley testified that she was good at accumulating money. From childhood she had a personal savings account started by her parents and supplemented by her savings as an adult. She testified that she had a habit of saving small bills until she had at least $100 which she would then convert into a one-hundred-dollar-bill. She would put those bills away in her closet and use them to purchase items the family needed. She also kept some cash in a safety deposit box. By September, 1988, she had accumulated about $9,000.

David C. Beane, Loretta Lesley's father, was elected supervisor of the third district of Itawamba County in 1987. He won the seat after an election contest. A member of the Democratic Executive Committee who had been active on Beane's behalf was Basil "Buddy" E. Hood.

After Beane took over the supervisor seat, he hired Hood for several jobs. David Wayne Beane, brother of Loretta Lesley and son of David C. Beane, hired Hood to work for his logging business on several occasions. Hood also worked for a local construction company at one time. Hood had financial problems due to his irregular employment.

Hood and Loretta Lesley became casual acquaintances.

In the spring of 1988, Dale and Loretta Lesley discussed divorce due to marital differences. The marriage improved in the summer of 1988, and they ceased divorce discussions.

In the summer of 1988, Hood was having marital problems. Hood and Loretta Lesley often ran into each other at the general store operated by her mother. By mid-August, 1988, they talked with each other about their marital problems. They also discussed their financial situations. Hood explained his financial problems, and Loretta Lesley explained her habit of collecting cash. Hood separated from his wife by the beginning of September, 1988.

During the Labor Day Weekend of September, 1988, Hood experienced a confrontation with his estranged wife and her relatives. According to Loretta Lesley, Hood told her about the confrontation on Monday. Hood also asked to borrow some money. She testified that about a week later, she went to Hood's home and studied his bills, such as his house payments, other loan payments, and three or four credit card bills that were charged to their limits ($2,500-$3,000). She retrieved $3,000 in one-hundred-dollar-bills from her closet and loaned the money to Hood. She also told him that she had more money if he needed it.

Loretta Lesley and Hood had developed a mutual attraction which led to sexual intimacy sometime between August and mid-September, 1988.

Loretta Lesley gave testimony that she loaned Hood more money in late October, 1988, because he was thinking about buying a farm tractor to repair and resell. According to Loretta Lesley, she gave Hood $1,000 for a down payment on the tractor. She testified that when she found out later that Hood had not bought the tractor because it had a damaged block, she requested the return of her money. He replied that he had put it somewhere safe and would retrieve the cash later.

Loretta Lesley also testified that during one of her "rendezvous" with Hood, he asked for a picture of her and her children and that she would not give him any photographs. She gave testimony that Hood took some pictures out of a small album she carried in her purse even though she objected. Loretta Lesley said that one picture included Dale Lesley along with herself and that Hood told her he wanted to crop the photograph. At trial, the prosecutor stipulated that a cropped portion of a photograph showing Loretta Lesley alone and matching a cropped photograph of Dale Lesley which was given to the hired killers was found in Hood's possession after his arrest.

Loretta Lesley told the court that she and Dale Lesley considered divorce again in September, 1988. She testified that she and Dale Lesley heard a sermon about marriage and divorce on the first Sunday in October. They talked after the church service and agreed to make an effort to repair their marriage. Loretta Lesley called Hood to tell him she was committed to her marriage. According to Loretta Lesley, she was never sexually intimate with Hood again. She also told the court that Hood was upset and threatened suicide when she broke off their affair. Loretta Lesley testified that she was concerned about Hood's suicide threats, still ran into Hood at her mother's store, continued to speak to Hood on the telephone, remained attracted to Hood, and even sent a number of greeting cards to Hood.

Hood testified that in October, 1988, Loretta Lesley asked him if he knew anyone who would kill her husband and that he told her he did not know of anyone. According to Hood, two weeks later, Loretta Lesley asked him about finding someone. Hood told her he had not been looking for anyone. Once more, in October, Loretta Lesley asked Hood if he had found anyone to kill her husband. Hood told her that he had not.

According to Hood, a man named Danny Smith who was buying a jeep from Hood was at Hood's home "about the third week of October" when Loretta Lesley telephoned to ask Hood if he had found anyone to kill Dale Lesley. Hood told her he had not and hung up. Hood then told Smith that he had a friend who needed her husband killed. Smith told Hood that he wanted to consider the matter and would get back in touch with him.

A few days later, Hood said that Smith agreed to have Dale Lesley killed for $4,000, $2,000 "to start with" and $2,000 "when the job was finished". Hood told Loretta Lesley that Smith wanted the money and a picture of Dale Lesley. Hood said Loretta Lesley gave him $2,000.00 in one-hundred-dollar bills as well as a picture of Dale Lesley. According to Hood, Loretta Lesley gave him two photographs of Dale Lesley only, with other persons in the picture already cropped off, for the use of the hired killer. That night, Hood gave the money and pictures to Smith.

Smith became an informant. Jerry Butler, an Itawamba County Deputy Sheriff, testified that he had worked on contract murder cases before and was asked by Lee County Sheriff, Jack Shirley, about November 1, 1988, to talk to an informant. Butler and Shirley met with Smith on November 2, 1988, at the State Park Road near a lake. Smith recounted to Butler and Shirley how he had been given $2,000.00, two photographs, and an '81 Toyota Land Cruiser as compensation to kill Dale Lesley.

On November 9, 1988, Smith contacted Hood and told him that he needed $2,000.00 more and that he was leaving his "partner" in charge. The next night, November 10, Hood met with Smith's partner, whom Smith introduced as "J.B." J.B. was Jerry Butler. The three men rode around Tupelo in Hood's car planning the murder. Hood stated that Loretta Lesley wanted the killing to appear to be an accident. Hood gave J.B. an additional $1,000.00. Later that night, Hood informed Loretta Lesley that he had "talked with the guy that was going to do the job and it would be done the next morning or the next day."

On November 11, Dale Lesley was taken into protective custody. Hood was arrested at work. Loretta Lesley was arrested at work by Itawamba County Deputy Sheriff Quinnell Shumpert and Lee County Deputy Sheriff David Hill. Both were told that they were under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, and both were read their Miranda rights.

According to Loretta Lesley, in the car on the way to the sheriff's office, Hill told her that Hood was being brought to the sheriff's office also. Loretta Lesley testified that she asked what her arrest had to do with Hood and was told by Hill that her phones had been tapped for three or four weeks, that the officers were aware of what had been going on with Hood, that the officers wanted her to try to remember everything that had happened, and that the officers wanted her to answer any questions. According to Loretta Lesley, Hill also told her that the officers did not know anything "bad" about her and just wanted to straighten out the facts. Loretta Lesley gave testimony that Hill told her, "We will help you out. We will take care of you. You will be okay." At the sheriff's office, Loretta Lesley testified that she was told by Hill, "We believe that Buddy Hood is...