Norman v. State

• Decision Date: 16 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. 531,2007.,No. 565,2007.,531,2007.,565,2007.
• Citation: 976 A.2d 843
• Parties: Allison Lamont NORMAN, Defendant Below-Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below-Appellee.
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware

976 A.2d 843

Allison Lamont NORMAN, Defendant Below-Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below-Appellee.

No. 531,2007.

No. 565,2007.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: March 9, 2009.

Decided: June 16, 2009.

Court Below Superior Court of the State of Delaware in and for Sussex County, ID No. 0504005647.

Upon appeal from the Superior Court.

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.

Bernard J. O'Donnell, Esquire (argued), Nicole M. Walker, Esquire (argued), and Santino Ceccotti, Esquire, of the Office of the Public Defender, Wilmington, Delaware, for appellant.

Abby L. Adams, Esquire, Paul R. Wallace, Esquire (argued), and John R. Williams, Esquire of the Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware for appellee.

Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, BERGER, JACOBS, and RIDGELY, Justices, constituting the Court en Banc.

RIDGELY, Justice.

Before us are Defendant-Appellant Allison Lamont Norman's consolidated direct and automatic appeals¹ from his Superior Court conviction of murder in the first degree and related offenses, which resulted in a sentence of death and 145 years in prison.² Norman raises four arguments. First, he claims that the court improperly allowed the expert psychiatric testimony of Dr. Stephen Mechanick to be considered in the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. Second, he contends that a death sentence cannot be based on the single statutory aggravating circumstance that his conduct resulted in the death of two or more persons,³ where one of the deaths occurred outside of Delaware and beyond its jurisdiction. Third, he argues that even if an out-of-state death can be used to establish an aggravating circumstance, his lack of criminal responsibility for that death under the law of that state must be considered as a mitigating circumstance. Fourth, he urges that executing a person who lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 11 of the Delaware Constitution.

In this Opinion, we affirm the judgments of conviction by the Superior Court. We conclude that Dr. Mechanick's initial interview of Norman in Maryland on behalf of Delaware prosecutors violated Norman's Sixth Amendment right to counsel on the Delaware charges, but that Dr. Mechanick's testimony was nonetheless admissible under the independent source and inevitable discovery exceptions to the exclusionary rule. We also conclude that the State may use evidence of criminal conduct in another state to establish the existence of a statutory aggravating circumstance under the Delaware statute.

However, we find merit to Norman's third argument and, therefore, remand for a new penalty hearing. The sentencer in a capital case must consider, in mitigation, any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any mitigating circumstance that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. Lack of criminal responsibility under the law of the state where an act occurs is a mitigating circumstance. By relying upon the aggravating circumstance that Norman caused the death of two persons, the prosecution put in issue a second homicide in Maryland. Norman presented evidence in mitigation of his lack of criminal responsibility for his conduct in Maryland. Neither the jury nor the trial judge decided Norman's claim in mitigation under Maryland law. This was because the Superior Court determined—at the State's request—that Norman's conduct in Maryland would be "screened" under Delaware law, notwithstanding evidence of his lack of any criminal responsibility under Maryland law. This ruling—and the absence of any instruction to guide the jury on the issue of Norman's alleged lack of criminal responsibility under Maryland law—requires a new penalty hearing. Without guidance from the trial judge on Maryland law, the jury could not properly determine the existence of the alleged mitigating circumstance that Norman was "not criminally responsible" for the crimes he committed in Maryland or weigh that circumstance in its determination of sentence. Delaware law and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution require the jury and the judge to consider any mitigating circumstance that may be raised by the evidence.⁴ The absence of an instruction on how to determine the existence of the alleged mitigating circumstance jeopardized the fairness and integrity of the penalty hearing in this case. Accordingly, we must reverse the death sentence imposed and remand for a new penalty hearing that will include an instruction to the jury on the applicable Maryland law.⁵

I. Facts and Procedural History.

In a tragic shooting spree that unfolded across fifteen miles and two states on April 7, 2005, Norman shot at numerous people while delirious, killing two and wounding several others, including one woman who became paralyzed. Norman fatally wounded Jamell Weston and wounded Marcus Cannon near a school bus stop at the entrance to the Carvel Gardens apartment complex in Laurel, Delaware. Afterward, Norman stole a parked car from the apartment complex and drove to Salisbury, Maryland. Along the way, Anthony White attempted to ask Norman for a ride home, but as White approached the vehicle, Norman shot and wounded him. When Norman reached Delmar, Maryland, he shot at a garbage truck and crew, but none of the workers sustained injuries. While continuing to drive to Salisbury, Norman shot at several people and vehicles, wounding Marsha Hankerson. When he arrived at his friend Tobias Cannon's home in Salisbury, Norman took one of his dogs and shot two others. He then shot and killed Davondale Peters after Peters gave him a ride. Norman also shot Carla Green, who was driving with her daughter, leaving Green paralyzed. After shooting Peters and Green, Norman chased after witnesses and went from house to house in Salisbury, eventually breaking into the home of Mary and Watson Dutton, an elderly couple. He left their home without harming them and was arrested a short time later by Wicomico County Sheriff's officers.

The defense presented evidence that Norman was acting in the throes of a psychotic episode driven by bizarre delusions that were the culmination of a lifetime of exposure to abuse, violence, and criminal conduct. As related by psychiatrists at trial, Norman experienced a concurrence of factors which contributed to this mental state. On April 17, 2003, his older brother, Shane DeShields, and a friend killed a man in a botched attempt to steal the drugs the man was selling. Norman, who deeply admired DeShields, was crushed by his brother's imprisonment. He attended DeShields's capital murder trial and witnessed his conviction. At his brother's penalty hearing, evidence was presented that DeShields and Norman, when young children, were sexually assaulted by a babysitter, Ben Green. Norman, as a child, had begged his mother not to leave them with Green. He was furious at her for having kept the abuse quiet and for denying him the support of family and friends. His anger toward his mother was renewed by the cavalier attitude he felt she displayed about the assaults at the hearing. On October 8, 2004, DeShields was sentenced to life in prison.⁶

On October 16, 2004, Norman was parked at a convenience store in Delmar, Maryland when two men approached his vehicle and opened fire. Norman returned fire, but was shot in the abdomen and leg. His wounds required surgery to his colon and he was hospitalized for several weeks. Norman was charged with a weapons offense in connection with the shooting and faced a potential ten year prison sentence in Maryland upon his release from the hospital.

After his discharge from the hospital, Norman moved in with his mother in Seaford. Although still in pain from the surgery, he stopped taking his prescribed medications; instead, he consumed marijuana and ecstasy. For the next few months, Norman took two to four ecstasy tablets per day and regularly smoked marijuana. He was terrified that his life was in danger because he did not know the identity of at least one of the men who shot him, and he suspected that his own friends were involved.

In January 2005, Norman moved to Carvel Gardens in Laurel to live with his girlfriend, Kisha DeShields, and her five children. He was the father of one of Kisha's children, five-year-old Donesha. On January 10, Ronshelle Harmon gave birth to Norman's son, Ny'Kael. Norman did not sign the birth certificate, but he visited Harmon in the hospital and occasionally visited Ny'Kael in early Spring 2005, sometimes bringing Donesha along.

On April 6, knowing he faced up to ten years in jail on the weapons charge, Norman failed to appear for his scheduled Maryland court appearance. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Norman spent a few hours with his friend Devon Cannon, during which time they smoked marijuana. He also took ecstasy. He then discussed potentially killing his mother, even scouting a gravesite in the wooded area to which he and Devon had traveled. Norman then began to fear Devon might kill him, and told him so, but later apologized.

Later that night, Norman started to believe he had special powers of vision. He thought he could see things in the dark and that things turned white for him in the darkness. He believed he was blessed with this special gift. When Kisha seemed to ignore or neglect him, Norman became angry, pointed a gun at her, and told her not to "disrespect" him. He then danced around the apartment, announcing that he was the Messiah who ruled the world.

After Norman calmed down, he watched an episode of the television show, The X-Files. He formed the belief that aliens or demons were trying to get into the children's bedrooms to kidnap and rape them. Norman went into their rooms and, thinking his enhanced vision allowed him to see the creatures outside in the darkness, he yelled at them and chased them. Thinking that...