May v. State

• Decision Date: 23 April 2021
• Docket Number: CR-19-0721
• Citation: 343 So.3d 533
• Parties: Earnie MAY v. STATE of Alabama
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

343 So.3d 533

Earnie MAY

v.STATE of Alabama

CR-19-0721

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

April 23, 2021

Rehearing Denied June 25, 2021

Melissa S. Gowan, Opelika, for appellant.

Steve Marshall, att'y gen., and Stephen N. Dodd, asst. att'y gen., for appellee.

KELLUM, Judge.

The appellant, Earnie May,¹ was convicted of murdering Lorenzo Freeman, Sr., see § 13A-6-2(a)(1), Ala. Code 1975. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was fined $10,000. In addition to the firearm-enhancement statute, May's sentence was enhanced pursuant to § 13A-5-13(c)(1)(a.), Ala. Code 1975, Alabama's hate-crime statute, because the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder had been racially motivated.

The State's evidence tended to show that on January 11, 2018, police were dispatched to the parking lot of the Dollar General store off Highway 165 in Russell County in response to a 911 emergency call indicating that shots had been fired. Deputy Gary Graham of the Russell County Sheriff's Office testified that he arrived within minutes and found the body of Lorenzo Freeman, Sr., lying face down on the pavement. Dr. Edward Reedy, senior medical examiner with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that Freeman died from a shotgun wound that exited his right chest and that there were four entrance wounds on his back. (R. 329-31.) The shotgun projectiles, he said, entered Freeman's right kidney and his liver.

Lorenzo Freeman, Jr., the victim's son, testified that he was in Columbus, Georgia, on January 11, 2018, and that his friend Kevin Delcid was with him in his vehicle when he stopped at a traffic light near the civic center in Columbus; a silver vehicle driven by Justin Davidson² was in front of his vehicle. He said that he did not know Davidson and that he was not carrying a weapon. When the light turned green and traffic proceeded, Davidson's vehicle was moving slowly and erratically so he passed Davidson's vehicle. Davidson caught up with him at another traffic light. Lorenzo said that he was in the left lane and that Davidson's vehicle was in the right lane. Lorenzo testified that Davidson was "staring at us" and that, when the light turned green, Davidson accelerated and threw a drink cup on his windshield and got in front of Lorenzo's vehicle. (R. 136.) Lorenzo said that he tried to catch up with Davidson's vehicle so that he could get the license-plate number and that Davidson kept applying his brakes. Lorenzo got into the other lane, and the female in Davidson's car, later identified as Davidson's wife, yelled at Lorenzo and threw her drink cup at his front windshield. Lorenzo said that he telephoned his father and told him that someone was following him. His father told him to meet him at "Big Cat" or Sunoco gas station across the street from the Dollar General store and near their house so that the people following them would not know where he lived. (R. 138.) When Lorenzo arrived, Freeman was already there and was standing by his vehicle holding a shotgun at his side while Lorenzo's mother remained in the vehicle. Lorenzo said that he and Delcid got out of the car and went to talk to his parents. Davidson was right behind him when he got to Big Cat. Lorenzo said Davidson and his wife were "calling us niggers, calling us niggers. Hey, niggers, we're going to get you. Hey, niggers, we're going to get you this, niggers that, niggers this." (R. 143.) Freeman told Lorenzo to get back in his car and to drive to their house, which was across the street. As he pulled into the driveway, he heard "at least six or eight gunshots." (R. 147.) Shortly thereafter, his mother pulled into the driveway. Lorenzo testified: "She told me they just killed my dad, and I told her to go to the house. I ... ran to a neighbor's house and told him to grab his gun. He's a military retired ... But after that, I ran back to my car and went back up to Dollar General and that's when I seen my dad on the ground. ..." (R. 148.) Police arrived shortly after he reached his father's body.

Kevin Delcid testified that he was in Lorenzo's vehicle during the events that transpired on January 11, 2018. His description of the events was consistent with Lorenzo's testimony. Delcid also testified that Davidson and his wife were yelling and mouthing "racial slurs" while they were driving beside Lorenzo's vehicle. (R. 181.)

Shannon Freeman testified that on the evening of January 11, 2018, her husband received a telephone call from their son that some white people were chasing him and trying to run him off the road. (R. 428.) Her husband grabbed his shotgun and they got in their vehicle, a burgundy Dodge Durango sport-utility vehicle, and drove to the Big Cat station. While they waited Shannon telephoned Lorenzo to find out where he was, and he told her that they were on their way and that "[t]hey're still trying to run me off the road." (R. 431.) After Lorenzo arrived and his parents spoke to him, Lorenzo left to go home and Shannon and Freeman got into their vehicle and started to drive to their house. Shannon said they thought that the other vehicle had passed them but Davidson's car turned around. Davidson rolled down the window and yelled "f--- niggers, meet us at the store. We're going to get y'all." (R. 437.) Davidson fired at their vehicle. Shannon testified:

"After he shot at us, after he shot at us, I told my husband hurry up and get us home, but my husband told me no. He stopped my truck in the road down by the Dollar General and my husband got out and he said, [Shannon], go home. My husband opened up the back door and grabbed his shotgun and he walked down like -- it's like a little ditch. I call it a little ditch. I don't know if it is a little ditch, and my husband had his shotgun down. He never point[ed] it at him. He just had it down walking, and he just asked him what's wrong, what's the problem. ...

"He did not walk towards them. He was walking like he was going to the Dollar General store. When he says that to him, that's when that man gunned my husband down. Then my husband stumbled back. He stumbled back and his shotgun dropped. That's what happened. His shogun dropped and he fell. But I will say when I got back up there, my husband was not in the same spot; that's how I knew he was trying to get back home. But before he dropped, he told me, he said go, and I took off."

(R. 440-42.) When Davidson shot her husband, Shannon said, Freeman was walking toward the Dollar General store and had just asked Davidson: "What's wrong, what's going on?" (R. 442.) "When [her husband] said that to him, that's when [Davidson] gunned my husband down." (R. 442.)

Manuel Maldonado³ testified that he was in the parking lot of the Dollar General store at the time of the shooting. As soon as he got into his vehicle and started to back up he heard "an explosion or a gunshot." (R. 92.) A burgundy sport-utility vehicle pulled in front of him as he was at the parking-lot exit, and a black man, identified as Freeman, got out of that car with a rifle in his hands. Another vehicle, a dark pickup, pulled up behind the sport-utility vehicle and a white man, identified as May, got out of that vehicle carrying a rifle and pointed the gun at Freeman and loaded the gun in front of Freeman. He said that a white man with a shotgun and a flashlight, Davidson, moved toward Freeman. Davidson yelled for everyone to get on the ground, Maldonado said, and he heard a gunshot and saw Davidson fall to the ground. He walked up to Davidson and saw that he had been shot in the left leg. (R. 100.) When he was talking to Davidson another white man, identified as May, came over to talk to Davidson. After they finished talking, Maldonado saw that Freeman had a lot of blood on the left side of his chest and was on his knees. Maldonado said that he did not see a weapon in Freeman's hands at this time. May walked over to Freeman and Maldonado heard a shot. When May came back he had a "lot of holes in his shirt" and he told Davidson that he "killed the m—f—." (R. 104.)

Izzac Steinruck testified that he was with May on January 11, 2018, and that Davidson spoke to May and sent him a text message with what he thought was the license-plate number of a vehicle. (R. 398.) After he received that message, May asked if Steinruck wanted to go for a ride with him. They left in May's black Dodge pickup to meet Davidson. May had a gun in the vehicle, and Steinruck had his rifle. May was also armed with his .357 handgun, which he carried on his hip. When they pulled up to Big Cat, Davidson jumped out of his vehicle and ran toward May's truck. May tossed a 12-gauge shotgun to Davidson from the window of the truck and Davidson ran toward the road and fired a shot. A red Durango sport-utility vehicle was on the street at this time. (R. 405.) In his vehicle, May followed Davidson across the street to the front of the Dollar General store. Steinruck testified that the black man got out of the Durango and pulled a shotgun out and started shooting at Davidson "because [Davidson] started shooting." (R. 407.) Steinruck testified that he thought Davidson fired the first shot because the shot came from behind him, which was where Davidson was located, that many shots were fired, that the black man fired his gun, and that May yelled that he had been shot. (R. 408.) After more shots were fired, Davidson yelled that he had been shot. A short time later, he heard one more shot. After that shot May said, "I just shot that f'ing nigger." (R. 410.)

The medical examiner testified that Freeman had been killed by shotgun projectiles that entered his back, one of which exited through his chest, and that none of Freeman's wounds matched a bullet fired from a .357 handgun.⁴ Davidson was carrying the shotgun. In Davidson's statement to police, he said that he shot Freeman. Davidson also told police that Lorenzo had tried to run him off the road and that Lorenzo had been acting crazy. Surveillance video from the Big Cat...