State v. Brooks
| Decision Date | 23 December 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 78396,78396 |
| Citation | 960 S.W.2d 479 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Thomas BROOKS, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Pete Carter, Asst. Public Defender, Columbia, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Becky Owenson Kilpatrick, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
Appellant, Thomas Brooks, Jr., was convicted of the class A felony of murder in the first degree, in violation of 565.020, RSMo 1994, for which he was sentenced to death, and the felonies of armed criminal action, section 571.015, RSMo 1994, kidnapping, section 565.110, RSMo 1994, and attempted forcible rape, section 566.030, RSMo Supp.1993. Appellant appeals his first degree murder conviction, his sentence, and the overruling of his Rule 29.15 post-conviction motion. Affirmed.
The evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict. State v. Kreutzer, 928 S.W.2d 854, 859 (Mo. banc 1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 752, 136 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997). On December 1, 1993, Cassidy Senter, a female child, ten years of age, returned to her home from school. She and her mother, Rhonda Senter, lived in the lower half of Michael Goldbeck's home on Tall Tree Court in Hazelwood, St. Louis County. When Cassidy arrived at home, she visited briefly with Mr. Goldbeck. Mr. Goldbeck tested Cassidy's personal alarm to make sure it was functioning properly before Cassidy left the house. Cassidy then headed up Tall Tree Court toward a friend's house at about 3:30 p.m. She was last seen at an intersection where Tall Tree Court became Spring Forest Lane.
Also at around 3:30 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Hanneke, who resided on Spring Forest Lane next door to Cassandra Quinn, appellant's sister, heard a noise and followed the sound to identify it. The Hannekes found a yellow alarm and a pen near their property line. The alarm was buzzing.
A few minutes after 5:00 p.m., Rhonda Senter returned from work. When she telephoned Cassidy's friend's house, she learned that Cassidy had never arrived. After Ms. Senter and Mr. Goldbeck searched in vain for Cassidy, Mr. Goldbeck telephoned the police. Around the same time, Mr. Goldbeck received word that Cassidy's personal alarm was found on the Hannekes' lawn. When Mr. Goldbeck told this to the police, the police instituted a ground and air search almost immediately. The search continued for days.
On December 7, 1993, a detective began to re-interview people who lived in the neighborhood where the alarm was found. At this time, the detective spoke to appellant's sister, Cassandra Quinn, and learned where appellant could be found.
On December 9, 1993, two persons walking in the city of St. Louis discovered Cassidy Senter's body in an alley. The child was wrapped in two bed comforters and a pink curtain. Her jacket and sweater were pulled up above her chest. Her jeans were pulled down over her ankles, inside out. A sheet was looped around each of her ankles and then tied in the middle to hold the ankles together.
The autopsy examination revealed decomposition in the upper portion of Cassidy Senter's body. There were at least four tears to the scalp and multiple fractures in the skull. There were bruises on Cassidy's chin, right cheek, right shoulder, breast bone, abdomen, each side of her chest wall, and on the upper back at the base of the neck. Numerous other bruises were found over her body.
The condition of Cassidy Senter's scalp indicated that she was alive when she received many of her injuries. The physician who performed the autopsy opined that there were at least five blows to the head and that the blows were significant enough to have caused her death. The physician concluded that Cassidy died from the head injuries. It appeared that Cassidy lived less than an hour after the blows were sustained.
Examination of tire tracks left at the scene where the body was found revealed a unique tire pattern that could have been made only by a Goodyear Work Horse Light Tire Truck. Police investigation revealed that appellant had arranged a local rental from a U-Haul rental company in Hazelwood on December 8 for a twenty-four hour period. On December 9, a neighbor of Cassandra Quinn, appellant's sister, saw a U-Haul truck backing out of the driveway at Cassandra Quinn's home. The body was discovered that day. A comparison of the tire tracks left where the body was discovered to the tires on the U-Haul truck that appellant rented revealed a positive match between several of the tires and the tracks.
Police also discovered that Denise Johnson, who had occupied Quinn's home prior to Quinn's occupancy, had left behind a pink floral comforter and pink curtains similar to the ones found on Cassidy's body when Ms. Johnson moved from the house.
Appellant was arrested on February 3, 1993. Police conducted a search of appellant's sister's home. Hair and fiber evidence taken from the home and from Cassidy's body and the wrappings in which she was found revealed several matches. Fibers from the residence matched fibers taken from morgue sheets, both comforters, the curtain, and the victim's panties, socks, jacket, and blouse. DNA testing revealed that Cassidy's blood matched that found in stains on the basement floor at Cassandra Quinn's home. A bed slat taken from the basement of Quinn's home was consistent with having caused the injuries suffered by Cassidy. Testing revealed that paint from the U-Haul dolly matched paint samples taken from the sheets, comforters, and clothing found on Cassidy in color, texture, chemical composition. The forensic evidence recited here represents only a portion of the forensic evidence presented at trial.
Appellant agreed to talk to a detective. Appellant initially denied any involvement in Cassidy's death. Eventually, he responded to certain questions from the detective. He changed his statement more than once. Ultimately, he stated that he had been on the telephone when he noticed Cassidy walking up the yard to his sister's house. When he opened the door, Cassidy asked appellant if his nephews were at home. Appellant stated that he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her down the basement steps. Cassidy fell down the steps. The fall activated the personal alarm, which appellant stated he picked up, took back upstairs, and threw into the street. He then returned downstairs where he told Cassidy to pull her pants down. She was screaming and searching for a way out of the house. Appellant stated that he decided to kill Cassidy because he realized that if he let her go, she would say that he tried to rape her. He found a bed slat on the floor and hit Cassidy in the head four times until she dropped. He covered the body with bedding and drapery, then left for work.
Appellant stated that Quinn told him the next day that she did not want to know anything about the body in her basement; she just wanted him to get rid of it. Some time later, appellant returned to Quinn's house and moved the body from where it had fallen to behind the freezer, in an attempt to conceal it. On December 8, appellant rented the U-Haul truck, drove it to work, worked his shift, then went to Quinn's house where he removed the body with the two-wheel dolly and drove it to the place where the body was later recovered.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts charged. In the penalty phase, the state introduced additional evidence of prior convictions along with the testimony of Cassidy's mother and Cassidy's elementary school principal.
Appellant did not testify at trial or at the penalty phase. During the penalty phase, appellant's relatives testified regarding abuse, neglect, and trauma he suffered as a child. Two psychologists explained the manner in which childhood abuse and appellant's low intelligence contributed to appellant's commission of the crime.
The jury returned a verdict finding that the death penalty was the appropriate punishment for the murder of Cassidy Senter.
Appellant brings this appeal from his conviction and sentence of death, as well as from the motion court's denial without evidentiary hearing of appellant's Rule 29.15 motions.
Appellant alleges that the trial court erred in ordering "change of venue" from St. Louis County to Greene County, thereby depriving him of his rights under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and art. I, section 10, 18(a) and 22(a) of the Missouri Constitution. He contends that as an African-American, he has a right to a venire that fairly represents a cross-section of the community where the crime was committed and that St. Louis County has a population with a much higher percentage of African-Americans than Greene County. He alleges that Jackson County, also available, has demographics that more closely resemble St. Louis County and that no compelling reason required transfer to Greene County.
Appellant filed a motion requesting that the court change venue to another county or impanel a jury from another county. His motion was based principally upon the fact of extensive media coverage of the crime at the time the victim was found to be missing. Appellant requested that venue be within a circuit having a demographic make-up similar to that of St. Louis County. The trial court sustained the motion and ordered venue changed to Greene County "under the provisions of section 494.505 RSMo." Because Greene County is neither in the same circuit as St. Louis County nor in the circuit adjoining St. Louis County, "the chief justice of the supreme court of the state of Missouri" is required to name the county from which the jury is drawn. By order of May 16, 1995, the chief justice designated Greene County as the county from which jurors would be summoned.
At the commencement of trial, as the general venire panel was seated, appellant objected to the choice of Greene County as the county from which the...
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