McConnell v. State

• Decision Date: 29 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 42101.,42101.
• Citation: 120 Nev. 1043,102 P.3d 606
• Parties: Robert Lee MCCONNELL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

102 P.3d 606

120 Nev. 1043

Robert Lee MCCONNELL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.

No. 42101.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

December 29, 2004.

Michael R. Specchio, Public Defender, and Cheryl D. Bond, Deputy Public Defender, Washoe County, for Appellant.

Brian Sandoval, Attorney General, Carson City; Richard A. Gammick, District Attorney, and Terrence P. McCarthy, Deputy District Attorney, Washoe County, for Respondent.

Before the Court En Banc.¹

OPINION²

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of first-degree murder, pursuant to a guilty plea, and from a sentence of death, pursuant to a jury verdict. Appellant Robert Lee McConnell shot Brian Pierce to death in August 2002. The State charged McConnell with murder and sought the death penalty. After his preliminary examination, McConnell was allowed to represent himself. He then pleaded guilty. He presented a case in mitigation at his penalty hearing, but the jury returned a sentence of death. Initially, he moved to waive his appeal but eventually authorized his appointed counsel to fully brief all issues on appeal.

McConnell challenges the propriety of his penalty hearing and death sentence on various grounds. The most significant question raised is: in a prosecution seeking death for a felony murder, does an aggravator based on the underlying felony constitutionally narrow death eligibility? We conclude that it does not, but because McConnell admitted to deliberate, premeditated murder, the State's alternative theory of felony murder was of no consequence and provides no ground for relief.

FACTS

On August 7, 2002, McConnell shot Brian Pierce to death. Pierce lived with and planned to marry April Robinson, McConnell's former girlfriend. McConnell broke into the couple's home while they were at work. When Pierce returned and entered his front door, McConnell shot him repeatedly. Later, when Robinson came home, McConnell threatened her with a knife, handcuffed her, and sexually assaulted her. He then kidnapped her, forcing her to drive to California. Robinson was able to escape and alerted authorities. McConnell was later arrested in San Francisco.

The State charged McConnell with first-degree murder, alleging theories of deliberate, premeditated murder and of felony murder during the perpetration of a burglary. The State also charged him with sexual assault and first-degree kidnapping. After the preliminary hearing, the State filed a Notice of Intent to Seek Death Penalty and alleged three aggravators: the murder was committed during the course of a burglary, was committed during the course of a robbery, and involved mutilation. Before trial, McConnell successfully moved to represent himself; the Public Defender served as standby counsel thereafter. McConnell then pleaded guilty, without benefit of a plea agreement, to sexual assault and first-degree kidnapping; judgment was entered accordingly, and he was sentenced to consecutive terms of life imprisonment with the opportunity of parole. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and a penalty hearing before a jury was set.

McConnell's penalty hearing began on August 25, 2003, and lasted four days. In his opening statement, McConnell said that he believed that the evidence would show four mitigating circumstances: he was acting under extreme emotional distress at the time of the murder; he had accepted responsibility for the crimes by pleading guilty; he had no significant prior criminal history in the way of violent felonies; and his behavior in custody was good.

The evidence at the hearing showed that Robinson met McConnell in Reno in 2000, and the two began dating. She broke up with him in the spring of 2001 and about eight months later became engaged to Pierce. Threats were exchanged between the couple and McConnell, and Robinson obtained a temporary protective order against McConnell.³ After breaking up with Robinson, McConnell told another girlfriend, Lisa Rose, that he was going to murder Pierce. Rose was so concerned that she twice notified the Secret Witness Program and also contacted Robinson. McConnell eventually left the Reno area.

About a year later, McConnell returned to the area. On August 4, 2002, he contacted his former roommate, Alejandro Monroy. When the two men met, Monroy noticed that McConnell was still fixated on Robinson and displayed aggression toward her. Monroy tried to persuade McConnell to let his feelings for Robinson go and to grow up.

Three days later, when Robinson came home from work at around 4:30 p.m., she noticed some unusual things. The window blinds were closed, a golf-ball-sized hole was in the outside paneling, and a blanket was lying in front of the door inside the house. Most unusual of all, however, was that her fiance, Brian Pierce, did not come outside to greet her. A few seconds after entering her home, Robinson saw a man dressed in black holding a knife. It took her a moment to realize that the man was McConnell, whom she had not heard from in months.

McConnell told Robinson, "Just shut the fuck up." He grabbed her arm, forced her into the master bedroom, threw her facedown on the bed, and handcuffed her. He then placed her on a couch and began talking to her. About 20 minutes later, McConnell cut Robinson's shirt and bra off with the knife and took off her pants and panties. Placing her facedown on the bed again, he duct taped her arm to her leg, duct taped her eyes and mouth, and placed a towel over her head. He then sexually assaulted her vaginally, anally, and orally with his finger and penis.

Afterwards, McConnell asked Robinson for money, and she gave him seven dollars. Robinson then got dressed, and McConnell told her that if she made any wrong moves he was going to shoot her in front of her neighbors. She saw that he had a gun in a holster with two magazine clips and believed him. She also saw that he had a wallet and car keys that appeared to belong to Pierce. When she asked about Pierce, McConnell told her that Pierce was locked up in a U-Haul, being watched by other people. McConnell said that she would have to take him to California if Pierce was ever going to be set free.

Robinson and McConnell drove to California in her car. He told her that everything that was occurring was a part of his plan. She realized that McConnell "had been keeping track of ... when Brian and I went to work, when we got home, the activity at the house, our cars, where they were parked, how many dogs we had, where we sat in the house." As they approached San Francisco, Robinson began suspecting that Pierce was not a hostage and that McConnell was eventually going to kill her. After they stopped at a gas station, she was able to escape in the car. Robinson drove to a nearby hospital and contacted the police in San Mateo, California. She gave the police McConnell's backpack, which contained items such as a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun, bullet magazines, and handcuffs.

Early the next morning, on August 8, Washoe County Sheriff's Deputies responded to the reported kidnapping and sexual assault and arrived at Robinson's home. After kicking in the door and entering, the deputies found Pierce dead. He had suffered several gunshot wounds, and a knife was stuck in his torso. Underneath the knife was a videocassette entitled "Fear."

Dr. Christine Elliot, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on Pierce's body. Pierce had suffered nine gunshot wounds. One gunshot wound behind his ear "appeared to be very close range or contact in nature." He had also suffered three stab wounds. Two stab wounds were the "most superficial," and a knife was still in the third wound. The lack of bleeding into the stab wounds suggested that they occurred postmortem. Pierce died from massive blood loss from the gunshot wounds.

Before his arrest, McConnell called his brother, Darren Bakondi, and asked him to send "money, things of that nature." Bakondi testified that McConnell was "kind of rambling" during the conversation: "He told me maybe he should kill himself. Or he said he might go out in a blaze of glory, maybe make the cops — maybe take a couple of them with him, or hopefully some kind of shootout or something."

Less than a week after the crimes, McConnell was arrested in San Francisco. He was extradited back to Nevada. While in custody, he made a number of drawings, had some recorded telephone conversations, and wrote a number of letters. These items were admitted as evidence against him. One item was a letter he wrote to Robinson after she testified at his preliminary hearing. The letter had a cover sheet with "Rest in peace" and "1977-2002" (the years of Pierce's birth and death) written on it. The letter read in part:

I hope this letter finds you before you kill yourself. Just think. Now you can be with your mom and Brian forever. That was some performance last Thursday. You almost had me feeling sorry for you.

You should thank me, you know. I could get into your house anytime I wanted. Just think. Brian would still be alive if you had locked that window. How does that really make you feel, April? Late at night, alone, when you cry yourself to sleep. Yes, it is a nightmare. And it won't end until you finish the job on your arm.

The last sentence referred to an earlier attempt by Robinson to commit suicide. She, however, never received the letter. (Other items admitted into evidence will be discussed below.)

At the time of his murder, Pierce was 26 years old, attending college and studying graphic design. His younger sister, Kristine Pierce, testified that he had many friends. She loved him and looked to him for guidance. She described Pierce as "a brave person and a real man." Pierce's mother, Pam McCoy, spoke of her pride for her only son and stated, "He never spoke hurtful words. He was loyal. He was a loving son."

Pierce's stepmother, Sheryl Pierce, described Pierce as "a great kid" who held a Bible study class in his...