Littlejohn v. Com., 1834-95-2

• Decision Date: 18 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 1834-95-2,1834-95-2
• Citation: 482 S.E.2d 853,24 Va.App. 401
• Parties: Monique LITTLEJOHN v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record
• Court: Virginia Court of Appeals

Page 853

482 S.E.2d 853

24 Va.App. 401

Monique LITTLEJOHN v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 1834-95-2.

Court of Appeals of Virginia,

Richmond.

March 18, 1997.

Kevin M. Schork, Richmond (Epperly, Follis & Schork, P.C., on brief), for appellant.

Katherine P. Baldwin, Assistant Attorney General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: BENTON, ANNUNZIATA and OVERTON, JJ.

BENTON, Judge.

A jury convicted Monique Littlejohn of (1) one charge of being an accessory before the fact to capital murder, (2) four charges of being an accessory before the fact to first degree murder, (3) two charges of being an accessory before the fact to malicious wounding, and (4) seven charges of being an accessory before the fact to the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. This Court granted Littlejohn's appeal on the issues whether the trial judge abused his discretion when he denied Littlejohn's motion for a change in venue and whether the evidence was sufficient to uphold the convictions. Because the evidence was insufficient, we reverse the convictions.

I.

The evidence proved that at approximately 9:30 a.m. on October 14, 1994, police officers from the City of Richmond went to 1008 St. James Street, Apartment C, in response to a report of multiple shootings. Tamika Jones, a minor, had reported to the police by telephone that Christopher Goins had shot her and her family. Inside the apartment, the police found two adults and three children dead from multiple gunshot wounds. The officers also found three baggies of powder and crack cocaine on James Randolph, Jones' deceased father, and later learned that Daphne Jones, Jones' deceased mother, had cocaine in her blood. Jones and one of her infant siblings had been shot but were alive. Littlejohn was indicted on fourteen charges of being an accessory before the fact to Goins' commission of these crimes.

At trial, Jones testified that Goins often visited her mother and stayed overnight at their apartment with her mother. Although Jones and her parents knew that Goins sold illegal drugs, Goins and the Jones family members trusted each other. Jones also testified that at one point she wanted to leave home and live with an aunt because of all the drug dealing that occurred in her family's apartment. Jones testified, however, that she developed a close relationship with Goins and on one occasion kept for him $2,400 of proceeds from his drug business.

Three years after Jones met Goins, she began having a sexual relationship with Goins. She was then twelve years old. She testified that she became pregnant by Goins in March 1994, when she was fourteen years old. Jones testified that although Goins was pleased that she was pregnant, when she told Goins that she did not wish to deliver the baby, Goins said he would abide by her wishes. However, Goins did not give her money for an abortion as he had promised.

Devon Hicks, Jones' teenage friend, testified that Jones had confided only in him that she and Goins were sex partners. Hicks also testified that Jones hid that fact from her mother. No evidence established whether Jones' mother knew that Goins was the person who had impregnated her daughter.

Jones learned in 1993 that Littlejohn also had a sexual relationship with Goins. Littlejohn also had become pregnant by Goins during the same time period as Jones. In June 1994, however, Littlejohn underwent an emergency abortion due to a complication with her pregnancy. That same month, Jones' friends told Jones that Littlejohn had asked them to beat Jones in order to cause Jones to abort her baby. When Jones confronted Littlejohn about these allegations, Littlejohn admitted that they were true and said that she made the statements only because she was upset. Later in June, Jones overheard Littlejohn threaten to use a knife to "cut the baby out" of Jones. Littlejohn told Jones that if Littlejohn could not have Goins' baby, then neither could Jones.

Jones also testified that Littlejohn never hit her or shoved her and that Littlejohn made no threats against her after June 1994. Indeed, when Jones was in the hospital at various times between July and early October because of her pregnancy, Littlejohn visited Jones several times. Littlejohn, who worked at the hospital where Jones was receiving treatment, spent free time in Jones' room and on occasion asked if Jones needed things that Littlejohn could deliver to her. Although Littlejohn acted as a friend and their dispute seemed to have subsided, Jones did not believe Littlejohn was sincere. On October 11, 1994, Littlejohn visited Jones in her hospital room several times during Littlejohn's work breaks. She told Jones that Goins "didn't want anything to do with the baby" and that on October 14 she and Goins planned to go to New York, where Goins' ill father lived, to start a new life. She said Jones needed to find someone to love her and help her take care of her child.

Hicks, Jones' teenage friend who lived across from Jones' apartment, testified that on the morning of October 14, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., he saw Goins and Stefan Winston on the porch leading to Jones' apartment. He also saw Barry Scott at Jones' door. Hicks, who knew Winston was involved in drugs, told Winston that Hicks' brother wanted to see Winston. Hicks then returned to his apartment and prepared for school. When Hicks was leaving for school, Jones called to him from her window and urged him to go to school. At that time, Goins was talking to one of Hicks' schoolmates and asked her if she wanted a ride to school.

Sherwyn Green testified that at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of October 14, he drove a friend, who was a cocaine dealer, to the Jones' apartment. The cocaine dealer intended to sell cocaine to people in the apartment. When Green and the cocaine dealer arrived at the street in front of the apartment, they saw Goins and Winston talking outside the Jones' apartment building. Green testified that he and the cocaine dealer did not leave Green's car. Instead, they "wait[ed] for [Goins and Winston] to leave because [the cocaine dealer] didn't want to go up there while [Goins] was going up there because it would create a conflict." Green feared a conflict because his friend, the cocaine dealer, and Goins "both ... were trying to sell drugs" to people in Jones' apartment. Green had been in Jones' apartment previously when his friend, the cocaine dealer, sold cocaine there. While Green and the cocaine dealer waited in Green's automobile, Goins went inside Jones' apartment. After Goins stayed in the apartment for a while and Winston remained outside, Green and the cocaine dealer drove to a nearby store three blocks away.

Jones testified that on the morning of October 14, between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m Barry Scott entered the apartment and visited her family. Scott entered the bedroom where Jones was playing with her four infant siblings. Scott talked to her and looked at the ultrasound "picture" that she had obtained while in the hospital. Scott left the apartment but returned ten minutes later with Goins. While Goins was in the apartment, Scott returned to the bedroom where Jones was and obtained the ultrasound "picture." He took the ultrasound "picture" into the living room and showed it to Goins. Goins responded, "I don't want to see that. Take it back to her. Why are you showing me that ... ?" When Scott returned the ultrasound "picture" to Jones, she admonished him for showing it to Goins and said, "I didn't want him to see it."

In the ensuing thirty or forty minutes, Jones heard her mother, her father, Scott, and Goins talking and laughing in the living room. When Jones went to the bathroom, she saw Goins sitting on the sofa. Although she made eye contact with Goins, they did not speak. Jones returned to her bedroom and heard more talking and laughing for fifteen minutes. Then she "started hearing shots." She heard her brother crying, her mother scream, shots, and footsteps of one person walking to the bedrooms. She then saw Goins standing at the door with a gun. After Goins shot her multiple times, she did not hear anything. Jones testified that she remained still and pretended to be dead. After a while, she got up and called the police.

Green testified that after he and the cocaine dealer drove to the nearby store, they made calls on the telephone. They also purchased sandwiches and waited for calls to be returned to them. While they were waiting, Green saw Littlejohn arrive in her automobile. As Littlejohn sat in the automobile, they observed Winston walking along Baker Street. Shortly thereafter, Goins arrived, walking along another street. Goins spoke to Winston and then entered Littlejohn's automobile. Littlejohn drove away with Goins as her passenger. Winston walked away.

The police met Littlejohn while she was on her way to work on the afternoon of October 14. When the police told her of the shootings, Littlejohn went with the police for questioning. Littlejohn falsely told the police that she had not seen Goins that day, that she had recently moved to get away from Goins, and that Goins did not know where she lived. When the police searched Littlejohn's apartment, with her permission, they found men's clothing and various handgun publications, including a manual for the operation of a Glock .45 caliber automatic. The police also saw a safe, which Littlejohn falsely told them was in the apartment before she began her occupancy. Later, the police found inside the safe Littlejohn's social security card, birth certificate, car title, and an identification card bearing a photograph of Goins with the name, "Derrick Readon," an alias used by Goins. Upon searching Littlejohn's car, the police found Littlejohn's driver's license and another identification card bearing a photograph of Goins with the name, "Derrick Readon." After the police questioned Littlejohn, they released her.

A few days...