Rider v. US

• Decision Date: 30 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-CF-1587.,94-CF-1587.
• Citation: 687 A.2d 1348
• Parties: David V. RIDER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

687 A.2d 1348

David V. RIDER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 94-CF-1587.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued September 26, 1996.

Decided December 30, 1996.

Francis T. Lacey, Rockville, MD, appointed by the court, for appellant.

Angela Schmidt, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Eric H. Holder, Jr., United States Attorney, and John R. Fisher and Eva Polin, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before TERRY, STEADMAN and SCHWELB, Associate Judges.

STEADMAN, Associate Judge:

Appellant David Rider was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder while armed for the beating to death of Kenneth Love, his acknowledged "sugar daddy," in the latter's apartment in the Kennedy-Warren complex at 3133 Connecticut Ave., N.W., in the early hours of December 19, 1992.¹ After finding as an aggravating circumstance that the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel," the trial court sentenced appellant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole in accordance with D.C.Code § 22-2404.1.

The principal issues on appeal relate to Rider's challenges to the imposition of this maximum sentence.² He contends that the trial court erred 1) in failing to set forth the reasons supporting its finding that this aggravating circumstance applied to this murder, and 2) in making such a finding within the meaning of the statutory language where the victim was not tortured or otherwise subjected to extreme pain. He also contends that the statutory notice of the government's intent to seek such a sentence was inadequate because it was served only on his attorney and not on Rider personally. We affirm.

I.

In December of 1992, appellant Rider was unemployed and lived with his friend Dawn Marshall in the 2100 block of Florida Avenue. The two were facing financial troubles, and according to Marshall were selling drugs and engaging in prostitution in order to pay the rent and support their cocaine habits. On several occasions, Rider discussed with Marshall the possibility of killing and robbing one of his "sugar daddies." One such conversation occurred about two weeks prior to the murder.

Sometime after 2 a.m. on December 19, 1992, Rider visited the apartment of Kenneth Love, an affluent man whom he had known for about a year. The two men had previously met on a regular basis at Love's apartment. On these occasions, Love provided Rider with cash in exchange for sex. The two had also frequently socialized in public. According to Rider, his "sugar daddy" would occasionally treat him to expensive dinners at restaurants in Georgetown and Chevy Chase. Love also took him to the department stores at Mazza Gallerie, where he would purchase cologne, cosmetics, and clothes for Rider.

It is unclear precisely what transpired in the apartment upon Rider's arrival on this particular occasion.³ At some point, however, Rider smashed Love on the side of the head with a fifty pound concrete decorative ornament. The blow was so powerful that it fractured Love's skull from ear to ear along the base, and inflicted numerous other fractures extending from the orbital plates above the eyes down to the jaw. According to the medical examiner, Dr. Carol McMahon, the resulting bone fragments of the skull and face resembled "eggshells." The victim's brain suffered fracture lacerations involving the right frontal lobe and the right parietal lobe. Although it is uncertain whether Love ever regained consciousness, according to Dr. McMahon the blow to the skull ultimately proved fatal.

After striking Love, Rider retreated into the kitchen. There he procured a serrated knife in order to ensure Love's death. Returning to his victim, Rider remembered "slashing his testicles and slashing his ankles so he wouldn't get up and come get me."⁴ Rider sliced open the victim's scrotum, so that, when found, his testicle was hanging out. He recalled, "I slashed him, then I cut his ankles so he'd bleed. I didn't want him — I didn't want him to, like, not die ... It looked like he was suffering." According to Rider's own testimony, he could hear Love breathing and making gurgling noises as he disfigured the man's genitalia.

After killing Love, Rider rummaged through the apartment, and, as he testified, "just started grabbing things," including money, jewelry, and clothing. He found and took the keys to the victim's car, which he loaded up with the stolen goods. Upon returning to his apartment, Rider told Marshall what had transpired. The two unloaded the items from the car, including numerous bags, shirts, ties, shoes, suits and toiletry items; a jewelry box containing watches, calling cards, and keys; a portable television, and several bottles of assorted liquors and wines.

After unloading the car, Rider told Marshall that he was "going to get rid of the car." He wiped the car clean of fingerprints and abandoned it in a nearby parking lot. When he returned, the two went upstairs and drank a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine recently acquired from Love to celebrate their newfound wealth. Appellant gave Marshall a Tiffany watch belonging to Love, which she accepted. The following evening, Rider and several friends took a trip to a nightclub in New York City. Rider wore a suit that he had taken from Love. He also gave away a bottle of perfume and a designer checkbook to his friends, boasting of having "gooked" his "sugar daddy."

Police discovered the body on December 21. Love was naked, lying face up, with his body half on and half off a couch in the bedroom. A shirt was draped over Love's head, and a bloody, serrated knife wrapped inside a cloth napkin was lying at his elbow. The backs of both of Love's ankles were cut, and small pools of blood had collected on the floor underneath his ankles. Love's scrotum also was cut and his right testicle was hanging out and had become dry as a result of air exposure. Upon removing the shirt from Love's head, police found a bloody, fifty pound concrete pineapple ornament crushing his head.

Love's apartment was otherwise in order, and there were no signs of a struggle. Given the absence of any defensive wounds on the victim's hands or body, Dr. McMahon testified that the victim was more likely than not asleep or otherwise unconscious when the fatal blow to the head was applied. The stab wounds to the victim's ankles had not severed any major blood vessels, but based on the bleeding, Dr. McMahon concluded that the victim's heart was still beating when these cuts were inflicted.

On March 18, 1993, a five-count indictment was filed charging Rider with separate counts of first-degree burglary with intent to steal and to assault, armed robbery, and separate counts of first-degree murder while armed for felony and premeditated murder. On January 14, 1994, the government filed notice that it would seek a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole should Rider be convicted of first-degree murder. Rider was tried before a jury from July 14 until July 21, 1994. He was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder while armed, and the lesser included charges of second-degree murder while armed and first-degree theft.

After determining that the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel," the trial court sentenced appellant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole on the charge of premeditated first-degree murder, with concurrent terms of fifteen years to life and nine years on the second-degree murder and theft convictions, respectively.

II.

The principal and novel issues presented in Rider's appeal revolve around the application of D.C.Code § 22-2404.1, a recent enactment which we have had occasion to review on only one prior occasion.⁵ That provision was adopted by the D.C. Council in 1992 and authorizes imprisonment for life without possibility of parole in certain cases of first-degree murder.⁶

A.

At the conclusion of the sentencing proceedings, the trial court made a simple written finding of fact stating that "this court finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder committed by the defendant, David V. Rider, was especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel." For the first time on appeal, appellant contends that this written factual finding was insufficient to comply with section 22-2404.1. He asserts that the statute requires the trial court to set forth in writing not only which aggravating circumstance it found to exist, but also the reasons supporting its determination. No objection was made below, nor was any request made for a written statement of reasons in support of the court's determination. In such circumstances, we are quite satisfied that the trial court committed no reversible error.⁷

We begin, as always, with an examination of the statutory language itself. D.C.Code § 22-2404.1(c) provides that "the court shall state in writing whether, beyond a reasonable doubt, one or more aggravating circumstances exist." (Emphasis added). In examining statutory language, "the words of the statute should be construed according to their ordinary sense and with the meaning commonly attributed to them." Peoples Drug Stores, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 470 A.2d 751, 753 (D.C.1983) (en banc); Tesfamariam v. District of Columbia Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, 645 A.2d 1105, 1108 (D.C.1994). Plainly, the statute requires the trial court to make a written finding that one of the statutory aggravating circumstances does in fact exist before life imprisonment without possibility of parole may be imposed. However, nothing in this language requires the court to detail for the record the process by which it comes to the conclusion that such a circumstance exists. The word "whether," ordinarily used to introduce alternatives, is not to be confused with the word "why," which asks for what reason.⁸See WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, UNABRIDGED 2603, 2612 (1981).

Rider argues that...