Sexton v. Commonwealth
| Docket Number | 2022-SC-0031-MR |
| Decision Date | 24 August 2023 |
| Parties | FLOYD J. SEXTON APPELLANT v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Floyd J. Sexton appeals as a matter of right[1] from the Floyd Circuit Court judgment sentencing him to life in prison for his murder conviction. On appeal, he raises numerous evidentiary errors which he claims warrant reversal of his conviction. After thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm.
Sexton was convicted by a Floyd County jury for murdering Bill Collins with a .45 caliber pistol on November 5, 2014. Sexton's motivation for the murder allegedly stemmed from a falling out between him and Collins, which led to Collins being kicked out of the Anarchy Militia motorcycle club to which they both belonged, and of which Sexton was the president. After ejecting Collins from the biker club, Sexton gave Collins' Anarchy Militia vest to the club's prospective member, John Maggard. Sexton's animosity toward Collins persisted, and he badgered a mutual friend of theirs, Jessica Battaglia, to bring Collins to him for a meeting. At one point before the meeting, Sexton told Battaglia that he had a "45 and a shovel" for Collins.
On the morning of November 5, Collins and Battaglia met up with plans to spend the weekend together. Sexton messaged Battaglia, directing her to ask Collins if he had a gun. She did, and Collins indicated that he had a gun, but refused to show it to her. Battaglia continued to ask him to show it to her and Collins got angry, got out of her vehicle, and set out on foot.
Thereafter, Battaglia convened with Sexton, Maggard, Jennifer Jernigan (Sexton's girlfriend), and another mutual friend, Liz Robertson. Battaglia informed them that Collins had set out on foot. It had begun to rain, and Battaglia contacted Collins and convinced him to let her pick him up. Battaglia and Robertson picked up Collins, and Battaglia told him she wanted to stop at an abandoned office building to pick up some drugs. This story about picking up drugs was a ruse concocted by Sexton to surreptitiously lure Collins to the building, where he would be waiting inside. Battaglia and Robertson both testified that Maggard never participated in the discussion to trap Collins.
Battaglia entered the building first, followed by Robertson, then Collins. Jernigan stayed in the car after seeing Sexton go into the building with his gun. When Collins spotted Sexton he said, "Oh it's going to go like this," and ran for the door. Maggard grabbed Collins by the shirt as he tried to run away but Collins wriggled free and ran out the door into the parking lot. Sexton stood in the doorway and fired two shots from his .45 caliber pistol, striking Collins in the leg and torso. The shot to Collins' torso was fatal. The bullet that passed through his chest was caught in his shirt and was discovered during the ensuing investigation. Two shell casings were found, both CCI brand .45 caliber, one of which had the initials "BC" written on it in black marker ink. Jernigan said that after the shooting, Sexton had told her he put Collins' initials (BC) on the bullets. The bullet that passed through Collins' leg was not found, but a hole in a nearby trailer indicated that it may have been caused by the bullet.
After shooting Collins, Sexton ordered everyone to get into Jernigan's car and threatened them not to tell anyone what happened. Sexton smacked Jernigan in the head and told her if she ever ran again, he would kill her. He ordered Jernigan to drop off Battaglia and Robertson at the Coyote Den, a bar in Prestonsburg that they all frequented. Scared and frantic, Battaglia told the bartender what had happened. Battaglia later returned to the crime scene and talked with the police.
Meanwhile, Sexton, Jernigan and Maggard proceeded to a friend's house. There, Sexton told Jernigan, "You know what kind of man you have - I'm a monster." Maggard and his girlfriend left to retrieve some of Sexton's and Jernigan's belongings but were arrested at Jernigan's house. When Sexton caught wind of the arrest, he and Jernigan picked up her son and fled the state, with Sexton's son in tow. For months they traveled to numerous states relying on Sexton's biker contacts to help them remain at large. Sexton repeatedly threatened to kill Jernigan and her son if they tried to leave. Jernigan testified that while at large, she and Sexton smoked large quantities of methamphetamine.
While on the run, Sexton devised a plan to cast another individual, Jody Gibson (who had the same type of gun as Sexton), as the perpetrator and persuaded Jernigan to adopt the story as well. Jernigan testified that Sexton used her phone to send Facebook messages from his "Jay Militia" Facebook account to his mother relaying that Gibson was the murderer and asking his mother to pass that information on to Detective Petrie. Apparently, Gibson had been arrested on unrelated charges in Virginia. Sexton told his mother that the .45 caliber pistol Gibson had on him was the murder weapon. However, at that point, information about the caliber of the murder weapon had not yet been released to the public. The weapon retrieved from Gibson was tested and later determined not to be the murder weapon.
Sexton's last stop was a trailer hideout in Arizona. When Sexton left, he hid his .45 caliber pistol under the trailer and set the trailer on fire. Nearly two years later when police searched the remnants of the trailer, they were unable to locate the gun but found some of Sexton's and Jernigan's belongings, as well as live .45 caliber CCI brand ammunition which had the same markings and was factory-stamped by the same machine as the casings found at Collins' murder scene.
In March 2015, Sexton was pulled over in Texas for a traffic violation and gave the officer a false name before correcting himself. After learning that Sexton was wanted for homicide in Kentucky, the officer placed him in custody where Sexton began divulging that he was part of a biker gang and wanted to speak with federal law enforcement to inform on the gang's involvement in murders, drug trafficking and explosive trafficking. Sexton and Jernigan were extradited back to Kentucky, where Jernigan pled guilty to hindering prosecution. Up to his trial, Sexton maintained the Jody Gibson alternativeperpetrator story but after Jernigan refused to adopt it, he moved on to a theory that Maggard shot Collins.
In a joint trial, the jury was tasked with determining whether Sexton or Maggard shot Collins. At trial, Sexton, Battaglia, Robertson and Jernigan testified. Sexton's defense was that Maggard shot Collins and that Sexton only fled the state to avoid an arrest warrant stemming from his parole violation, not to elude a murder investigation. However, Battaglia and Robertson both testified to witnessing Sexton shoot Collins twice. Jernigan also pinned the murder on Sexton, although she did not witness the shooting. Jernigan testified that shortly after she heard two shots fired, everyone ran to her car and Sexton still had the gun in his hand. Battaglia said that after Sexton got into Jernigan's car, she saw him place the gun under the seat. Maggard exercised his constitutional right to remain silent.
Ultimately, the jury convicted Sexton of murder and acquitted Maggard of facilitation to murder. The trial court sentenced Sexton to life in prison, in accordance with the jury's recommendation. This appeal followed.
This issue is preserved in part. The portion of Sexton's mother's testimony discussing his incarceration was not objected to and thus Sexton requests palpable error review of its admission.[2] As to Sexton's own testimony on cross-examination about why he lost custody of his child, defense counsel did object to that and thus we review its admission under the abuse of discretion standard.[3]
At trial, the Commonwealth called Sexton's mother, Lillie Adams, as a witness. On re-direct examination, the Commonwealth asked if she was unhappy about Sexton's son living with Sexton and Jernigan, and away from her, even prior to the shooting. Adams responded that a court had awarded Sexton custody of his son after not having custody "because he had got out of jail." Adams elaborated that she had third-party custody because Sexton and his son were living with her while "he was on probation" and Sexton "was not allowed to leave for six months." When Jernigan came and took Sexton and his son with her, "that broke his probation." Defense counsel did not object to this testimony.
During direct examination of Sexton, he testified that Jernigan had ordered him to flee and that he had followed her orders because he feared she would cause him to lose custody of his son again if he did not. On cross, the Commonwealth asked why he had previously lost custody of his son, to which defense counsel objected. During the bench conference, defense counsel argued the Commonwealth was delving into matters that had nothing to do with this case and served only to cast Sexton in a negative light. The trial court overruled the objection, stating "I think he's [the prosecutor] allowed to ask, if he's [Sexton] concerned about losing custody, why he lost custody to begin with." When the...
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