Mayfield v. Commonwealth

• Citation: 722 S.E.2d 689,59 Va.App. 839
• Decision Date: 27 March 2012
• Docket Number: Record No. 0882–11–1.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Virginia
• Parties: Troy L. MAYFIELD v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

59 Va.App. 839

722 S.E.2d 689

Troy L. MAYFIELD

v.COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 0882–11–1.

Court of Appeals of Virginia, Chesapeake.

March 27, 2012.

Drew R. Page (Stallings & Bischoff, P.C., on brief), for appellant.

Aaron J. Campbell, Assistant Attorney General (Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: FELTON, C.J. and PETTY and BEALES, JJ.

PETTY, Judge.

Troy L. Mayfield was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in commission of the murder. On appeal, Mayfield raises three assignments of error. First, he argues the trial court erred when it declined to strike a prospective juror for cause because the juror was related to two witnesses for the Commonwealth. Second, Mayfield argues the trial court erred when it allowed the admission of evidence relating to a prior incident involving Mayfield's half-brother and the victim. Finally, Mayfield argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of these crimes. For the following reasons, we conclude that no error occurred, and therefore we affirm Mayfield's convictions.

I. BACKGROUND

“On appeal, ‘we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, granting to it all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom.’ ” Archer v. Commonwealth, 26 Va.App. 1, 11, 492 S.E.2d 826, 831 (1997) (quoting Martin v. Commonwealth, 4 Va.App. 438, 443, 358 S.E.2d 415, 418 (1987)). So viewed, the evidence shows that on March 3, 2009, a fatal shooting occurred at the Oak Trail Apartments in Southampton County, Virginia. After an investigation, Mayfield was charged with first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in commission of murder in connection with the shooting. Mayfield pled not guilty and requested a trial by jury.

During jury voir dire, and in response to questioning from Mayfield's attorney, a prospective juror explained that she was related to two prosecution witnesses: Rodney H., her nephew, and Charquena G., the daughter of her cousin. After discovering this information, Mayfield's attorney asked the juror whether her familial relationship with these two witnesses would be “a problem in deciding the case, which may be based on the testimony of your blood relatives.” In response, the juror answered, “No.” In response to further questioning from the prosecutor, the juror confirmed that she could put aside her relationship with the witnesses and impartially evaluate their testimony, that she had no preconceived notions regarding the witnesses' truthfulness, and that she could be fair to both Mayfield and the Commonwealth. Moreover, the juror verified that she had never spoken to either witness regarding what they saw at the Oak Trail Apartments.

Mayfield's attorney then objected to empaneling the juror, stating

Your Honor, I would move to strike [the juror] for cause. This is a situation where she has told [the prosecutor] that she would remain impartial, but the fact remains that these two witnesses, one of whom is her nephew, the other is a cousin, second or third cousin, this is an entirely different situation than mere acquaintanceship or something like that. I don't know that it's a per se disqualifier that someone cannot sit on a jury when a witness is related to them by a certain degree of affinity the way it is with a party. But in a case like this I submit with the seriousness of the matter, and with the fact that we have more than an ample supply of other jurors to use, I would ask the Court to strike her for cause. I just would submit to the Court that we're—if we put her—if we leave her on the jury we're putting a problem into the case that does not need to be there.

The trial court denied the motion and declined to strike the juror for cause. In response, Mayfield's attorney used a peremptory strike on the juror.

Mayfield also made a motion in limine to exclude any evidence relating to a prior incident where Mayfield's half-brother, Eric Parker, shot the victim. Mayfield anticipated that the Commonwealth would produce evidence that tended to show that Mayfield wanted to kill the victim to prevent the victim from testifying against Parker. The trial court denied the motion in limine in a written order. Nevertheless, the Commonwealth agreed that certain in-court testimony from Parker's trial was inadmissible. It also agreed that Parker's convictions related to the prior incident were also inadmissible.

At trial, the Commonwealth introduced Parker's indictments related to the prior incident. The indictments included relevant dates, which served as key evidence to establish that Mayfield shot and killed the victim to prevent the victim from testifying against Parker. Further, the Commonwealth elicited testimony from multiple witnesses that established that Mayfield was present at the Oak Trail Apartments the night the victim was killed, that Mayfield made multiple statements both after and before the shooting that suggested that he killed or intended to kill the victim to prevent the victim from testifying against Parker, and that Mayfield actually shot and killed the victim. Specifically, Herbert B. testified that he saw Mayfield walk past him outside the apartments just after he heard two gunshots. Tony S. testified that he heard Mayfield say that he “had to get” the victim because the victim was going to testify against Parker. He further testified that he saw Mayfield shoot the victim “two or three times.” Henifa B. also testified that he saw Mayfield shoot the victim several times at point-blank range and that as a result he saw the victim fall to the ground. According to Henifa B., he heard Mayfield say just after the shooting that he had “handled [his] business” and that “snitches get stitches and a dead man can't talk.” Another witness, Rodney H., also confirmed that Mayfield had told him before the shooting that “he couldn't let [the victim] testify against his brother.” ¹ At the close of the Commonwealth's case, Mayfield moved to strike the evidence, arguing that the Commonwealth's witnesses should not be believed based on either their past criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. The trial court denied the motion to strike. In his defense, Mayfield took the stand and testified that he was not at the Oak Trail Apartments when the victim was shot. He then renewed his motion at the close of his defense, which the court again denied.

Thereafter, the jury found Mayfield guilty of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in commission of the murder. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Motion To Strike Prospective Juror for Cause

Mayfield first argues that the trial court should have struck the prospective juror for cause because the juror was related to two witnesses for the Commonwealth. Specifically, he argues that the trial court should have struck the juror for cause to protect public confidence in the jury system, because of the juror's bias, or because the juror had a contemporaneous and continuing relationship with a prosecution witness. Under the facts of this case, we disagree.

“It is prejudicial error for the trial court to force a defendant to use peremptory strikes to exclude a venireman from the jury panel if that person is not free from exception.” Townsend v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 325, 329, 619 S.E.2d 71, 73 (2005). “The striking of any juror for cause, however, is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court.” Id.

Generally, a juror is free from exception so long as he “stand[s] indifferent in the cause.” Code § 8.01–358; Townsend, 270 Va. at 330, 619 S.E.2d at 74. In other words, if the juror “ ‘has any interest in the cause, or is related to either party, or has expressed or formed any opinion, or is sensible of any bias or prejudice,’ ” he should be struck for cause. Townsend, 270 Va. at 330–31, 619 S.E.2d at 74 (quoting Spangler v. Ashwell, 116 Va. 992, 996–97, 83 S.E. 930, 931 (1914)). In Virginia, there is no per se rule disqualifying a prospective juror who is related to a prosecution witness on the grounds that he is presumed to be biased, or not indifferent in the cause.² Barrett v. Commonwealth, 262 Va. 823, 826, 553 S.E.2d 731, 733 (2001); see Townsend, 270 Va. at 331, 619 S.E.2d at 74–75 (further explaining Barrett and this principle). Likewise, there is no per se rule that other relationships between a juror and a prosecution witness, e.g., a current or past acquaintance with a prosecution witness, standing alone, renders the juror biased. Perez v. Commonwealth, 40 Va.App. 648, 656, 580 S.E.2d 507, 511 (2003).

Despite this general rule, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that there is a separate and distinct rule that “has effectively established per se disqualification [of a juror] by [other] limited categories.” Townsend, 270 Va. at 331, 619 S.E.2d at 74. This includes the per se disqualification of certain jurors in order to maintain public confidence in the judicial system. Id. at 331, 619 S.E.2d at 74–75 (disqualifying a juror with a close blood relationship to a prosecution witness in order to maintain public confidence in the judicial system); see also Barrett, 262 Va. at 824–27, 553 S.E.2d at 731–33. This categorical rule does not stem from the mandate set forth in Code § 8.01–358, which disqualifies any juror that is biased or not otherwise “indifferent in the cause”; rather, it stems from a separate public policy concern that “override[s] an otherwise legitimate[ly]” empaneled juror. Townsend, 270 Va. at 333, 619 S.E.2d at 76. Accordingly, the issue of striking a juror for bias is distinct from the issue of striking a juror to maintain public confidence in the judicial system. Thus, raising the former issue at trial does not preserve the latter issue for appeal. Id. at 333–34, 619 S.E.2d at 75–76 (referring to the Supreme Court's Rule 5:25 for this proposition, the equivalent to this Court's Rule 5A:18); see Rule 5A:18.

In light of this distinction, we must first examine to what...