Saunders v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 2007
• Docket Number: CR-05-0281.
• Citation: 10 So.3d 53
• Parties: Timothy W. SAUNDERS v. STATE of Alabama.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

10 So.3d 53

Timothy W. SAUNDERS v. STATE of Alabama.

CR-05-0281.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

December 21, 2007.

Rehearing Denied January 25, 2008.

Certiorari Denied November 26, 2008 Alabama Supreme Court 1070675.

Joe W. Morgan III, Birmingham, for appellant.

Troy King, atty. gen., and Kevin W. Blackburn, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

SHAW, Judge.

Timothy W. Saunders was convicted of two counts of capital murder in connection with the murder of 77-year-old Melvin Clemons, and one count of attempted murder with respect to 74-year-old Agnes Clemons,¹ Mr. Clemons's wife.² The murder of Mr. Clemons was made capital because it was committed during the course of a robbery in the first degree, see § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975, and because it was committed during the course of a burglary in the first degree, see § 13A-5-40(a)(4), Ala.Code 1975. The jury unanimously recommended that Saunders be sentenced to death for his capital-murder convictions. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Saunders to death. In addition, the trial court sentenced Saunders to life imprisonment for the attempted-murder conviction.

The evidence adduced at trial indicated the following. In 1974, the Clemonses had purchased a 20-acre parcel of land in Foley and had built a house on the property. They operated a business known as Curly's Pecans³ on Underwood Road. Mrs. Clemons testified that on July 9, 2004, she and her husband spent part of their day working on a house-remodeling project and then worked in the yard together. When they stopped working outside, it was not yet dark. After he came inside, Mr Clemons took off his shirt and cooked a frozen pizza for them to eat. While he was eating, Mr. Clemons was unusually quiet, and he kept looking outside. Mrs. Clemons testified that her husband told her that a man had borrowed a crowbar from him earlier that day to "pry his motorcycle from around a tree" in the area behind the Clemons's property. (R. 391.) According to Mrs. Clemons, her husband said that the man had told him that someone had stolen his truck and had left it in the woods behind the Clemonses' house, and that the thieves had "wrapped his motorcycle around a tree," so the man asked to borrow Mr. Clemons's crowbar to pry his motorcycle loose. (R. 391.) Mr. Clemons was watching for the man because he expected the man to return the crowbar. Mrs. Clemons testified that it was dark by that time because the porch light by the back porch had been turned on. However, Mrs. Clemons said, beyond the back porch it was "pitch dark" because they had so many trees in the back part of their property. (R. 392.)

Mrs. Clemons testified that she looked out the window toward the back of the property because her husband was standing at the window looking out. She saw what appeared to be two flashlight beams on the road she and her husband used to travel to the back of the property. Mrs. Clemons told her husband that she could see the flashlight beams and that the man was bringing the crowbar back. Mrs. Clemons said that Mr. Clemons opened the back door and looked out; however, the man never arrived with the crowbar, and her husband continued to stand at the door looking out. Mrs. Clemons testified that she begged her husband not to go outside, but to wait for the man to bring the crowbar back to him, and that if the man did not bring the crowbar back, they could buy another crowbar. However, Mrs. Clemons said that her husband was "funny about his tools" and that when she turned around after putting some items into the dishwasher, Mr. Clemons had gone outside. (R. 393.)

Mrs. Clemons testified that, after her husband went outside, she looked out the back door several times but saw nothing. The last time she looked out the door, however, Mrs. Clemons saw a man, who she later positively identified both in a photographic lineup and at trial as Saunders, sitting on the back porch. Saunders was sweating profusely, and Mrs. Clemons thought that he was having some kind of attack, so she opened the door and asked him if he was all right. Saunders told her that he was having an asthma attack. Mrs. Clemons took a glass of water and a wet washcloth to Saunders, and Saunders asked Mrs. Clemons if he could use her bathroom; although she was frightened, Mrs. Clemons permitted Saunders to come into the house.

Saunders went into the bathroom, and when he came out he asked Mrs. Clemons if she would telephone his mother. Mrs. Clemons said that she picked up the wall-mounted telephone to dial the number Saunders had given her and that she had dialed all but the last digit when Saunders attacked her. Mrs. Clemons testified:

"So he had come up behind me and he put his arm around my neck like this and jerked my head back and told me, `Drop the phone.' And I dropped the phone. And I won't ever forget it as long as I live. I just thought I'm going to die. And I won't get to see my family anymore. I won't ever forget that feeling."

(R. 395.)

According to Mrs. Clemons, Saunders told her that he had handcuffed Mr. Clemons to the steering wheel of the car, and that Mr. Clemons had said to tell Mrs Clemons to give Saunders all the money in the house. Saunders told Mrs. Clemons that if she gave him all the money in the house, he would not hurt her or her husband. Mrs. Clemons then opened the kitchen drawer where her husband kept his wallet and she took out the three $1 bills inside and gave them to Saunders. Saunders then told her that he wanted the keys to their automobiles. Mrs. Clemons refused to give him the keys to their daughter's Ford Mustang, but she gave him the keys to Mr. Clemons's 1989 Lincoln. Saunders then picked up a steak knife and walked toward her. Mrs. Clemons told Saunders to put the steak knife down, to throw it behind the table, and he did so. Saunders then picked up a screwdriver and walked toward her; again, Mrs. Clemons told him to put it down, and he did so. Mrs. Clemons testified that Saunders next picked up an electrical cord and wrapped it around his hands, but that when she told him to put the cord down, he again followed her instructions. Mrs. Clemons then asked Saunders why he was doing this and told him that they had nothing. Saunders responded that he wanted money to buy crack cocaine.

At this point, Mrs. Clemons realized that she knew Saunders, and she told him that she recognized him and that she knew that he lived in a nearby mobile home park. Saunders initially denied living in the area, but when Mrs. Clemons said that she knew that he lived with his mother and brother in a mobile home because she had once seen him on the back of their property with a dog, Saunders admitted that he lived in the mobile home park. Mrs. Clemons testified that Saunders then told her that before he left her house, he was going to give her his name so that she could call the police and report him because he knew that what he was doing was wrong and that he needed to be punished. Mrs. Clemons said that she then asked Saunders why he would not let her and her husband go, and why he was doing this to them. Saunders told Mrs. Clemons that he wanted to be like them, and that he had been watching the Clemonses for more than two months.

Mrs. Clemons testified that Saunders then put his arm around her neck and she "started making a noise." (R. 400.) Saunders put his hand over her nose and mouth, jerked her head back, and repeatedly told her to shut up. Saunders then struck Mrs. Clemons in the face with his fist and knocked her onto the hardwood floor. Mrs. Clemons testified that she remembered her "head bouncing off the floor" when she landed. (R. 400.) Mrs. Clemons then got up and Saunders again placed his arm around her neck, and dragged her into various rooms of the house, looking for items of value. At one point as Saunders was dragging Mrs. Clemons around the house, Mrs. Clemons told Saunders to get his arm away from her neck and he did. When Saunders turned away from Mrs. Clemons, she ran out the front door and screamed for her husband. When Mr. Clemons did not answer, she screamed for her neighbor. Saunders then came outside, grabbed her, and told her to shut up. Mrs. Clemons testified that she could not be quiet, so Saunders struck her again with his fist and knocked her to the ground, causing her glasses to fall off.⁴ When she got up, Mrs. Clemons said, Saunders put his arm around her neck again and dragged her back into the house.

Mrs. Clemons testified that after Saunders brought her back into the house, he asked her to pour him a glass of milk. After she poured him the milk and he drank some of it, he took her to the dining room, where he smoked crack cocaine. They then returned to the kitchen where he sprayed the glass he had used with Windex brand glass cleaner. Mrs. Clemons testified that she did not know what other surfaces Saunders sprayed with the Windex cleaner, but that Saunders had been very careful not to touch items in the house and that he had made her pick everything up for him. Saunders then dragged Mrs. Clemons to one of the bedrooms in the house and, when he saw her purse on a bed, he told her to empty her purse and give him the money from her wallet. Mrs. Clemons complied with Saunders's instructions and gave Saunders $57 she had in her wallet. When Saunders saw a bag of Mrs. Clemons's prescription medication, Saunders told Mrs. Clemons to give the bag to him. According to Mrs. Clemons, Saunders then took two or three of her "water pills," two or three of the pills prescribed for her cholesterol, and at least one of her sleeping pills. (R. 406.)

Saunders then took Mrs. Clemons down the hall and into the bathroom and blocked the bathroom door with his leg so that Mrs. Clemons could not leave. He then smoked more crack cocaine. Mrs. Clemons said that Saunders then took some playing cards out of his pocket; each card contained a picture of a naked woman in a suggestive pose. Saunders...