State v. Brewer
| Decision Date | 26 August 2020 |
| Docket Number | 2020-UP-255 |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The State, Respondent, v. Angela D. Brewer, Appellant. Appellate Case No. 2017-002563 |
THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.
Submitted June 1, 2020
Appeal From Pickens County Perry H. Gravely, Circuit Court Judge
Appellate Defender Susan Barber Hackett, of Columbia, for Appellant.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General William M. Blitch, Jr., both of Columbia and William Walter Wilkins, III, of Greenville, all for Respondent.
Angela Brewer appeals her conviction for homicide by child abuse for which she was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Brewer argues the circuit court erred (1) in admitting her statement to law enforcement because she was too intoxicated to give the statement and to knowingly and voluntarily waive her Miranda rights; (2) in allowing a pathologist to testify to the results of a toxicology blood test he did not conduct and (3) in denying her request for a continuance. We affirm.
The State alleged Brewer caused the death of her 13-month-old grandson (Victim) by giving him lemonade laced with OxyContin to help him sleep. Brewer and her husband shared a residence with Brewer's daughter (Daughter), Daughter's fiancé (Son-in-law), and Daughter and Son-in-law's four children-including Victim. Son-in-law was the adoptive father of Victim.
On the day of Victim's death, October 17, 2014, Husband left for work around 5:00 a.m. He was scheduled to work the entire business day. Daughter and Son-in-law took two of their four children to school, but the school would not allow one of the children to stay due to the child's recent fever. Daughter and Son-in-law then returned to the residence intending to drop the child off, but the child wanted to go with them. Son-in-law and the child accompanied Daughter to her place of work at approximately 10:30 a.m. and then to Georgia around 12:00 p.m. At that point, Brewer was alone at her residence with Victim and the youngest child. Brewer told authorities that: while home with Victim and the youngest child, she fed Victim and gave him lemonade around 11:00 a.m.; Victim played in the living room area and drank more lemonade until he fell asleep while she held him around 1:15 p.m.; and she laid him down in a Pack 'n Play before feeding the other child and watching television. Brewer alleged that sometime between 2:45 and 3:00 p.m., Victim woke up and smiled at her before falling back asleep.
Sometime after 4:00 p.m., Husband got off work and telephoned Brewer while driving home. During their discussion, Brewer informed Husband that Victim was still asleep, at which point Husband responded that she should wake him up so that Victim would be able to sleep that night. Brewer then tried to wake Victim up, but he was unresponsive. Husband then rushed home arriving to the house at approximately 4:30 p.m. When Husband arrived home, Brewer handed him Victim and Husband began performing CPR on him. Brewer then telephoned 911 for assistance and Victim was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Brewer also telephoned Daughter and Daughter rushed from Georgia to the hospital.
Tragically, emergency personnel were unable to resuscitate Victim and he was subsequently pronounced dead. Authorities from the Pickens County Sheriff's Office, Pickens County Coroner's Office, the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS), and the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) all responded to the hospital. Brewer cooperated with authorities at the hospital and advised that Victim had been "sickly" and "fussy" all day. However, due to her emotional state, law enforcement officials chose not to take a written statement from Brewer that night. No one was arrested or Mirandized[1] on this date. Further, Husband gave the Sheriff's Office written permission to search the residence. Law enforcement took pictures of the residence and retrieved bedding from the crib that Victim had been in, a can of formula, an empty bottle, and two sippy cups that were located either in or beside the Pack 'n Play. The sippy cups contained two different liquids-one reddish in color, the other yellow-brownish in color. Victim's autopsy was conducted the next day on October 18, 2014.
Subsequently, law enforcement officials sought a follow-up interview with Brewer to get a better timeline of the events that transpired because the atmosphere at the hospital the night of Victim's death was too emotional. On November 6, 2014, Brewer agreed to meet with a Pickens County detective for an interview. The detective questioned whether Victim could have gotten access to Brewer's OxyContin, but Brewer became argumentative and stated that was not possible because she kept her pills with her at all times in a child-proof container and counted them daily. Brewer was again not given Miranda warnings before this interview. After approximately thirty-five minutes of questioning, Brewer provided a written statement[2] to the detective.
On November 17, 2014, the autopsy report was completed and signed by the attending pathologist, Dr. James Fulcher. The report showed that Victim died from the presence of a high concentration of Oxycodone[3] in his blood. Dr. Fulcher's report included the results of a toxicology blood test done by the National Medical Services laboratory (NMS) on November 2, 2014. At some point, items from the residence- including the liquids recovered from the sippy cups-were taken to SLED for chemical testing. On December 12, 2014, SLED published its chemical report on the liquids. The yellow-brownish liquid tested positive for methamphetamine[4] and caffeine, and the reddish liquid tested positive for Oxycodone.
On December 18, 2014, Lt. Rita Burgess with the Pickens County Sheriff's Office and SLED Agent Christine Cauthen met with Brewer for a subsequent interview. This interview was held at the Sheriff's Office in a formal interview room and was audio and video recorded. Lt. Burgess provided Brewer with a formal Miranda rights and waiver form that Brewer signed without incident. During the interview, Brewer stated that Victim did not act sick that day, that she woke up around 3:30 or 4:00 (a.m.) to watch the ID channel, that she usually sleeps during the day because she wakes up so early, and that she made lemonade in a container that morning. She also advised it was the first time that she had made lemonade for Victim. When Lt. Burgess and Agent Cauthen pressed Brewer about the death being an accident-comparing it to a case involving an accidental Benadryl overdose- Brewer hung her head and replied, "That was my baby." Brewer asked for a lawyer about forty-five minutes to an hour into the interview. The interview then ended, Lt. Burgess obtained a warrant, and Brewer was arrested that day. Brewer was eventually indicted for homicide by child abuse on October 11, 2016.
Brewer's trial took place over the course of four days in 2017. On December 11, 2017, a preliminary Jackson v. Denno[5] hearing was conducted to determine the admissibility of Brewer's interview statements. Brewer argued her December statement to Lt. Burgess and Agent Cauthen should be excluded. Both law enforcement officials provided testimony regarding the statement and Brewer's physical state. Lt. Burgess testified that she and Agent Cauthen gave Brewer a ride to the Sheriff's Office at approximately 10:00 a.m. because she did not have transportation. Lt. Burgess stated that Brewer advised that she had taken her Oxycodone medication at 6:00 a.m. that morning but appeared coherent at the beginning of their discussion. However, Brewer became incoherent during the interview, at which point the interview was stopped and Lt. Burgess spoke with a judge about obtaining an arrest warrant for Brewer. Agent Cauthen also testified that Brewer appeared coherent and able to comprehend their questions at the beginning of the interview. Agent Cauthen testified that when Brewer appeared to fall asleep, they took a break to get something to drink. When they returned from break, Brewer advised that she had taken a Valium and that she had not informed them of that fact because the Valium did not affect her. Agent Cauthen stated that Brewer admitted she had taken the Valium around the time they arrived to pick her up for the interview.
After the circuit court had an opportunity to view the video of the statement, Brewer asserted the video should be excluded in its entirety because she was clearly intoxicated from her prescription medication and was unable to knowingly waive her Miranda rights. The State argued that Brewer validly waived her Miranda rights but conceded that around the 12:28-minute mark in the video, when the parties went on a break, the influence of the Valium took over and Brewer become visibly different. The State argued this latter portion of the video was nevertheless admissible under Rule 404(b), SCRE, to show intent and lack of accident or mistake. The circuit court ruled that at the beginning of the video, Brewer's responses to questions and general conversation appeared voluntary but acknowledged that later in the video, particularly after the break, "the influence of the Valium seem[ed] to kick in" and Brewer became "almost incoherent." The circuit court redacted any portion of the video taken before Brewer signed the Miranda waiver at the 11:49-minute mark, the portions after the parties returned from the break, and a few portions in between that the circuit court also found inadmissible on unrelated grounds.
On December 13, 2017, the third day of trial, the State called upon SLED Agent ...
To continue reading
Request your trial