Reid v. Com.

• Decision Date: 06 November 1998
• Docket Number: Record No. 981020.
• Citation: 256 Va. 561,506 S.E.2d 787
• Parties: James Edward REID a/k/a James Edward Reed v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

506 S.E.2d 787

256 Va. 561

James Edward REID a/k/a James Edward Reed v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 981020.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

November 6, 1998.

Peter A. Theodore, Blacksburg; Robert M. Jenkins (Jenkins & Jenkins, Radford, on brief), for appellant.

Katherine P. Baldwin, Assistant Attorney General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

KINSER, Justice.

On December 3, 1997, James Edward Reid pled guilty to three charges: (1) capital murder of Annie V. Lester during the commission of attempted rape and/or attempted robbery in violation of Code § 18.2-31; (2) attempted rape in violation of Code § 18.2-67.5; and (3) attempted robbery in violation of Code § 18.2-58.¹ After accepting the pleas and hearing evidence about the commission of the offenses, the trial court found Reid guilty as charged.

During the subsequent sentencing proceedings, the trial court heard evidence from both sides and received a pre-sentence report.² The trial court then sentenced Reid to death for the capital murder conviction and imposed two ten-year sentences for the attempted rape and attempted robbery convictions. In imposing the death penalty pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-264.2 and -264.4(C), the trial court found that Reid's conduct in committing capital murder was "outrageously vile, horrible and inhuman in that it involved such aggravated battery to the victim, that is... qualitatively and quantitatively ... more culpable than the minimum necessary to accomplish an act of murder."

On appeal, Reid contends that the trial court disregarded certain mitigating evidence and therefore erred in imposing the death penalty.³ Upon consideration of the record, briefs, and argument of counsel, we find no error in the judgment of the trial court. Further, upon conducting our review pursuant to Code § 17-110.1(C), we conclude that the sentence of death in this case was not imposed "under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor" and is not excessive or disproportionate. Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS

"Since the Commonwealth prevailed in the trial court, we review the evidence and all reasonable inferences arising therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth." Graham v. Commonwealth, 250 Va. 79, 81, 459 S.E.2d 97, 98, cert. denied, 516 U.S. 997, 116 S.Ct. 535, 133 L.Ed.2d 440 (1995) (citing Swann v. Commonwealth, 247 Va. 222, 225, 441 S.E.2d 195, 198, cert. denied, 513 U.S. 889, 115 S.Ct. 234, 130 L.Ed.2d 158 (1994)).

In the afternoon on October 12, 1996, Lester's cousin went to Lester's house, and after finding the front screen door open, entered the house, discovered Lester's body on the floor at the end of a bed, and observed debris all over the bedroom floor. The cousin left and went to a relative's house to call for emergency help, but then returned to Lester's home and was there when the police arrived.

Before disturbing the crime scene, the police made a video recording of the inside of Lester's house. The tape was admitted into evidence, and Officer Tommy Lawson narrated what was being seen as the trial court watched it. Blood was present throughout Lester's home on such items as the kitchen floor, the back door and back door trim, the refrigerator, a can of milk, a wig lying on the kitchen floor, the door leading from the kitchen into a television room, scissors lying on a chair in the television room, the bed and headboard in the bedroom where Lester's body was found, the cord of an electric heating pad that was under Lester's head, and the seat of a chair beside her body. Several items of Lester's clothing had blood on them, including a sweater, a slip, and a bra that was still fastened in the back but that "[was] broken in some fashion in the front." The bedroom was in complete disarray with dresser drawers on the floor and bed and clothing strewn all around. A wine bottle was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed.

William Massello, the Assistant Chief Medical Examiner for Western Virginia, performed an autopsy on Lester. He described Lester as an elderly, slender, and "somewhat emaciated" female. During the autopsy, Massello observed 14 stab wounds to the front of Lester's neck and three stab wounds to her chin, one of which went into the jugular vein on the left side of her neck. There were also five stab wounds to the front of Lester's chest. Massello testified that several of these wounds went through the chest wall into Lester's left lung and into her heart. In Massello's opinion, the most rapidly lethal wounds were four of the stab wounds to the chest, which caused bleeding into the chest cavity and, in turn, caused Lester to die rapidly. According to Massello, all the stab wounds had a Z-shaped or H-shaped configuration consistent with injuries caused by two blades superimposed on one another or scissors blades.

In addition to the stab wounds, Massello observed multiple lacerations and bruises on Lester's body. Some of these injuries on the top of Lester's head and face were caused either by Lester's head being struck with a blunt instrument, or by her head striking another object such as a door or wall. Lester had lacerations on the right and left sides of her face and linear crush marks on the right side of her face.⁴ Finally, Lester sustained a fracture of the hyoid bone,⁵ resulting either from the force of strangulation or from being struck in that area with an object.

The evidence linking Reid to the commission of these crimes consists, in part, of testimony from witnesses who saw Reid at or in the vicinity of Lester's house on the day of her murder. Around 10:30 a.m. on October 12, Reid secured a ride to Lester's house with Haywood Alexander and Robert Smith. Reid's stated purpose for going to Lester's house was to do some work there.⁶ En route to Lester's home, Reid asked Alexander and Smith to stop at a store where Reid purchased a bottle of wine. They then proceeded to Lester's house, and upon arriving there, Reid exited the vehicle and walked around to the back of the house with his bottle of wine. Alexander and Smith then left.

Around 4:30 p.m. on that same day, George Eanes, who worked at Eanes Body Shop located across the street from Lester's house, observed Reid walking across the street from the direction of Lester's house. Reid approached Eanes and asked for a ride. Eanes explained to Reid that he was working on his vehicle and could not give him a ride at that time. When asked at the trial to describe Reid's appearance, Eanes stated that "[Reid] had a lot of blood on him and he was staggering."⁷ After seeing the blood on Reid's clothing, Eanes asked Reid how he got in that condition. According to Eanes, Reid responded by referring to a former lover and stating that "he did it for love."

George W. Eanes, father of George Eanes, also saw Reid at the body shop and confirmed that Reid appeared to have been in a fight because he had blood all over him. Eanes' father stated that Reid smelled like a "brewery" but that he, nevertheless, agreed to give Reid a ride home. During that drive, Reid explained to Eanes' father that some person had given him some drugs and that they had gotten into an argument or fight.

The results of forensic tests, fingerprint analyses, and handwriting comparisons also place Reid at Lester's house on the day in question. Forensic tests established that Reid's DNA matched a stain abstracted from a cigarette butt found in Lester's home. A blood stain abstracted from the same cigarette butt was consistent with the DNA profile of Lester and Reid. In addition, the forensic scientist who conducted these tests testified that Lester's DNA was consistent with blood recovered from Reid's jacket. Finally, two of Reid's fingerprints were identified in blood found on the handset of a rotary telephone in Lester's bedroom, and Reid's handwriting was found on some papers recovered in Lester's house.

The Commonwealth presented all the foregoing evidence during the guilt phase of Reid's trial but also relied upon it during the sentencing phase. In addition, the Commonwealth presented testimony from Robert D. O'Neal, a probation officer. O'Neal interviewed Reid while preparing the pre-sentence report. During that interview, Reid stated to O'Neal that he did not remember anything about the incident. According to O'Neal, Reid believes that he "blacked out" because he remembers being at Lester's house prior to the offense but does not recall anything that transpired from that point until he awoke at home and found blood on his clothing.

In mitigation, Reid presented evidence from three medical experts: Dr. Pogos H. Voskanian, a forensic psychiatrist; Dr. Stephen Herrick, a forensic psychologist; and Dr. Randy Thomas, a clinical psychologist. Each of these witnesses discussed Reid's medical and psychiatric conditions that, in their opinion, affect Reid's ability to form the intent to commit a crime and that have caused Reid to experience "blackout" periods during which he is basically out of control and engages in disorganized, aggressive behavior toward an unlikely target.

Three factors were significant to these medical experts in formulating their respective opinions. First, Reid suffered a major head trauma as a result of an automobile accident in 1968 and was in a coma for at least five days. The damaged area of Reid's brain was the left temporal lobe and part of the frontal lobe, which affects an individual's personality and ability to control impulses. Thus, Reid does not resist acting on his impulses. Second, Reid developed a seizure disorder shortly after the head injury. According to Dr. Voskanian, Reid's head trauma triggered the seizure disorder. Because Reid has been noncompliant with taking his medication to control the seizures, he has experienced repeated seizures that have, in turn, progressively caused more damage to his brain....