State v. Adams, 90,318.
| Decision Date | 09 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 90,318.,90,318. |
| Citation | 124 P.3d 19 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Jearl W. ADAMS, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Korey A. Kaul, assistant appellate defender, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellant.
Darrin C. Devinney, assistant county attorney, argued the cause, and Jan Satterfield, county attorney, and Phill Kline, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
This is a direct appeal from defendant Jearl Adams' conviction of first-degree felony murder and his resulting life sentence for the death of 11-month-old Hailey O'Roke.
Adams raises seven issues: (1) Whether the district judge erred in rejecting his motion for new trial; (2) whether the district judge erred in refusing to admit evidence of earlier child abuse allegations made against the victim's mother; (3) whether the district judge erred in allowing use of a PowerPoint exhibit as a demonstrative exhibit explaining Shaken Baby Syndrome without giving a cautionary jury instruction; (4) whether the district judge erred by failing to instruct on the lesser included offenses of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter; (5) whether the district judge erred in admitting autopsy photographs depicting Hailey's injuries; (6) whether the admission of Adams' confession at trial violated his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation; and (7) whether cumulative error deprived him of a fair trial.
We affirm.
Adams was the husband of Hailey's daycare provider. Hailey was born on June 5, 2001. She was declared dead early on the morning of May 11, 2002, after being brought to the hospital the previous afternoon from the daycare site.
On May 9, 2002, Hailey's mother, Lori, had taken Hailey to the doctor because of vomiting and slight lethargy. The doctor diagnosed mild dehydration and noted that Hailey would need to be admitted to the hospital for fluid replacement if her condition did not improve within the next 24 hours.
The next day, Hailey arrived at daycare at Adams' home at approximately 9:45 a.m. Adams' wife, Rosie, described Hailey's behavior during that day as fussy, listless, clingy, and generally not like herself. Rosie was aware of Hailey's dehydration and tried to coax Hailey to drink and eat at various times; Hailey showed little interest in doing either. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Rosie gave Hailey liquid ibuprofen and laid her down on the floor of the living room.
When another daycare client arrived a short time later to pick up her child, she witnessed Adams holding and attempting to comfort Hailey, who was crying. When the client approached to pat Hailey on the back, Adams commented that Hailey did not like him (Adams) very much.
A short while later, Rosie went into a nearby laundry room with two of her children, leaving Adams, Hailey, and Adams' 3-year-old son in the living room. Shortly thereafter, Adams called out to his wife, saying something was wrong with Hailey. When Rosie entered the living room, Hailey was lying on the couch with Adams standing beside her. Hailey was not responsive and did not appear to be breathing, so Rosie instructed Adams to call 911.
When emergency medical technicians arrived at Adams' home, Hailey was not breathing and her heartbeat could not be detected. The technicians noticed no bruising on Hailey's head or face. They assessed her condition as cardiac arrest, inserted a breathing tube, and transported her to the hospital. Adams asked to ride with Hailey in the ambulance.
Hailey was declared dead at 3:01 a.m. the next day.
Dr. Keith Kerr, who treated Hailey in the pediatric intensive care unit when she reached St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, ordered a CT scan. The results of the scan were "grossly abnormal," showing blood in several areas of brain matter. Kerr also found evidence of retinal hemorrhages in Hailey's eyes. A prominent bruise had developed on Hailey's forehead, and her pupils were fixed and dilated. Dr. Kerr testified that Hailey "probably either was very close to it or was brain dead on arrival" at the hospital.
The coroner later ruled Hailey's cause of death a homicide by blunt force trauma and noted evidence of acceleration and deceleration of the brain, typically associated with severe shaking. According to the coroner, Hailey's death was "not due to any accidental injury." The coroner ultimately testified that Hailey's injuries occurred approximately 12 hours before she was declared dead and that the injuries would have made her unconscious immediately after their infliction.
Dr. Michael Handler, a forensic neuropathologist who examined Hailey's body after her death, opined that Hailey's injuries were 10 hours to 14 hours old at the time she was declared dead, noting that "[t]he symptomology in this case would have immediately followed the assault" with "no conscious interval." Dr. Handler found no evidence of a "significant preexisting injury," and he said that dehydration could not have led to the conditions he observed.
Adams first told officials that, before the 911 call, Hailey had not been coughing or screaming; had not fallen, bumped, or run into anything; and had not been pushed, stepped on, or thrown. In his initial interview with Butler County Sheriff's officers early on May 11, before Hailey was pronounced dead, Adams said that, because Hailey had been lying on the floor near where his son was playing, Adams decided to pick her up and lay her on the couch. At about that moment, Hailey's head fell back; her eyes rolled backward; and she went limp, prompting him to call out for his wife.
Officers attempted to make a video recording of a second interview with Adams the evening after Hailey was declared dead, but a technical malfunction meant the interview was not recorded as planned. The officers ultimately testified Adams said that evening that he did not know what had happened to Hailey.
On May 14, 2002, Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Agent Ricky Atteberry interviewed Adams. During that interview, which was successfully recorded, Adams told Atteberry that a remote-controlled toy car operated by one of Adams' children may have hit Hailey in the head. Adams said he then picked up Hailey and accidentally dropped her. He then picked her up again and shook her to get her attention, because she was not responding and had a starry look in her eyes. Adams wrote out this sequence of events in a statement signed by himself and Atteberry. The portion of the statement having to do with shaking Hailey was added at the end of the statement; Atteberry acknowledged he may have told Adams that Adams must have shaken Hailey, something Adams eventually acknowledged having done.
Approximately an hour after the written statement was finished, Adams gave KBI officials another statement. In this statement, Adams said Hailey had been crying on the floor when he picked her up. Hailey's crying had made Adams mad; so he held her approximately level with his head and threw her hard onto the floor. He said he then picked her up and shook her to get her attention; then he called for his wife. Adams demonstrated this final version of events several times for the KBI officials. Atteberry testified that Adams' reason for throwing Hailey to the floor was to make the infant "mind."
The district judge ruled pretrial that Adams' statements to law enforcement were freely and voluntarily given and thus admissible at trial.
Just before the start of Adams' trial, the prosecutor met with each of Hailey's parents, Jerry and Lori O'Roke. The prosecutor had been in contact with both of them at various times before that point regarding Hailey's death and the progress of the case, and whether her office had provided victims' counseling, notice of hearings, and information about victims' compensation. The prosecutor's conversations with Hailey's parents just before trial, however, concerned her knowledge that Jerry had been at the courthouse to file a restraining order against Lori, and that Lori, in response, had come to the courthouse to file a restraining order against Jerry.
In her conversation with Jerry, the prosecutor learned that the couple had been in conflict since Hailey's death. Neither Jerry nor Lori had accused the other of physical abuse. The prosecutor briefly looked over a Protection from Abuse Act (PFA) petition Jerry had filled out. The petition stated Lori had placed Jerry in fear of imminent bodily injury and that Lori had been "acting crazy," lying to family and friends, making threats to kill herself, screaming, and acting physically aggressive towards her husband.
The prosecutor told both Jerry and Lori that they needed to focus their attention on the upcoming trial. She also said that a restraining order could pose logistical problems, because the couple would not be able to be together in certain instances. She advised the O'Rokes of their options, encouraged them to seek counseling, and told them it was their choice as to whether they would continue to pursue the restraining orders. Yet, after talking to Jerry and Lori, the prosecutor told a court clerk that Jerry's petition might be withdrawn. It eventually was.
Before Adams' trial began, the defense was aware of Jerry's PFA petition and knew of its withdrawal. The defense was not aware the prosecutor had discussed the PFA filings with Jerry and Lori, and defense counsel made no effort to introduce evidence of the couple's conflict or Jerry's PFA petition during trial.
Several years before Hailey was born, Lori had been married to another man, with whom she had three children. One of Lori's daughters from that union had made allegations that Lori was physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive toward her children. Custody of the three children had been awarded to the children's father in the divorce decree, with Lori...
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