State v. Dixon
| Decision Date | 14 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 07-457.,07-457. |
| Citation | 2008 VT 112,967 A.2d 1114 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Vermont v. Jonas DIXON. |
Robert Butterfield, Caledonia County State's Attorney, St. Johnsbury, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Matthew F. Valerio, Defender General, and Anna Saxman, Deputy Defender General, Montpelier, and Kerry B. DeWolfe of Rubin Kidney Myer & DeWolfe, Barre, for Defendant-Appellant.
Present: REIBER, C.J., DOOLEY, JOHNSON and BURGESS, JJ., and PEARSON, Supr. J., Specially Assigned.
¶ 1. In this interlocutory appeal, defendant appeals from the district court's denial of his motion to transfer his trial for second-degree murder, 13 V.S.A. § 2301, to juvenile court. We conclude that the district court erred in several respects in evaluating the transfer motion. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.
¶ 2. The facts below were undisputed for purposes of ruling on the transfer motion. On January 27, 2007, shortly before 1:00 a.m., defendant, then fifteen years old, shot and killed a man in the living room of defendant's home, a trailer in Sutton, Vermont. The man, who was intoxicated at the time, had arrived around 11:30 p.m. on January 26, 2007 to have sexual relations with defendant's mother. Defendant heard the two having sex and became angry. Soon after, he loaded a twelve-gauge shotgun that he kept in his room for turkey hunting and confronted the man in the living room in an effort to get him to leave. A struggle ensued, and defendant shot the man in the chest at close range; the man died at the scene.
¶ 3. Defendant's mother has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. When defendant was approximately three years old, she was hospitalized at the Vermont State Hospital. When she took her medication, her symptoms were manageable, but when she did not, she became psychotic, delusional, and paranoid. Until 2003, she was married to defendant's father, who was verbally and physically abusive to her and defendant. Defendant's mother and father separated in 2003 after the father was charged with sexual assault. Defendant's father died in a car accident in 2004 pending sentencing. At the time of defendant's father's death, mother was taking her medication and doing well.
¶ 4. In February 2006, mother's mental health began deteriorating. She stopped taking her medication and left her job because she believed a coworker was putting chalk in her drink. Throughout the spring and summer, her mental health worsened. She was hearing voices, believed that a family was living under her trailer, and was convinced that she was nursing a number of imaginary babies. In part because of these delusions, in September 2006, defendant's grandmother took defendant's mother to the emergency room. The hospital prescribed a new drug, but her insurance would not pay for it. She promised to take the medication previously prescribed to her, but did not do so.
¶ 5. Grandmother spoke with defendant and his younger sister three or four times daily during this period. On bad days, mother was difficult to talk with, walked around the house naked, and played her music very loudly. In the fall of 2006, defendant spoke with his grandmother about men coming to the trailer to have sex with his mother. Defendant told his grandmother that he thought these men were perverts and that they were taking advantage of his mother. He also told his grandmother that he had thought about shooting bottle rockets into his mother's bedroom on one occasion when she had a man over. Defendant told his sister that he would get mad about the men coming over to have sex with his mother, and that he was going to "do something" if any of the men came to the house again.
¶ 6. During the winter, mother's behavior continued to deteriorate. She continued to believe that a family was living under her trailer, and went so far as to leave a Christmas card under the trailer for them. She also pulled the plastic insulating skirting off around the trailer, causing the pipes to freeze and the trailer's plumbing to fail. On January 12, 2007, defendant's sister called their grandmother asking her to come to the trailer. When defendant's grandmother arrived, defendant's mother had the music on full blast and was acting very aggressively. She refused to let defendant's grandmother into the house. When grandmother eventually got into the trailer, she saw defendant's mother yell at his sister, grab her, slap her, and pull her hair. After two or three hours, grandmother was able to leave with the children, and they spent the night at her house. The following day, mother went to pick up the children. When grandmother told mother that she couldn't take the children, mother flew into a rage. Grandmother called 911, and the police came to her house. The police declined to get involved, and the children reluctantly left with their mother. On the way home, defendant jumped out of the car and told his mother he was not going home with her until she took her medication.
¶ 7. The following week, defendant's sister told her grandmother that she could not take it anymore. Grandmother told her to tell a teacher about what was going on at home. On January 24, 2007, defendant's sister gave a letter to her teacher, who gave it to the school's principal on January 25, 2007. The principal contacted the Department for Children and Families (DCF). Later that day, no one came to pick up defendant's sister after school. Defendant, who was at home, called his grandmother and said that his mother was not getting out of bed. Mother eventually called the school to say that she was coming to pick up defendant's sister. The principal was concerned about the students' safety and put the school into a "lockdown." Defendant's mother, however, had already arrived at the school, and came into the principal's office to get defendant's sister. When defendant's sister refused to leave with her mother, mother became enraged and stormed out, slamming a door behind her so hard that the window in the door broke. After mother left, a DCF worker called and said that they would begin their investigation the following day. Ultimately, defendant's sister was picked up by her grandmother and again spent the night at her home.
¶ 8. Grandmother testified as follows about the events leading up to the sheeting. On January 26, 2007, a DCF worker came to grandmother's home to meet with defendant's sister. The DCF worker told grandmother that she would be speaking to mother that afternoon. After taking a call on her cell phone, however, the DCF worker changed her plan and told grandmother that she would not be going to see mother until the following week. The DCF worker also told grandmother that the courts closed at 4:30 p.m. and that there was no time to get an emergency detention order. Thus, the DCF worker told grandmother, defendant's sister would have to return to her mother's home for the weekend. A Youth Services representative had earlier told grandmother that they would "worry about [defendant] later, right now we'll worry about [his sister]." Around 5:30 p.m., grandmother brought defendant's sister home. When grandmother checked back in with the children around 8:30 p.m., everything appeared to be quiet. Just before midnight, the man arrived at the Dixon trailer to have sexual relations with defendant's mother.
¶ 9. At approximately 12:57 a.m., defendant's mother called 911, indicating that someone had been shot and that an ambulance was needed. She stayed on the phone for about a minute and was then replaced by defendant. Defendant stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until police arrived, approximately twenty-seven minutes later. Defendant was hyperventilating, moaning, and repeating, He told the dispatcher, When asked where the man had been shot, defendant stated,
¶ 10. When asked why he wanted the man out, he exclaimed, Defendant told the dispatcher that he had shot the man with a shotgun and that, At one point during the call, defendant stated "If he dies, I'm going to be in a lot of f___ing trouble." Defendant made numerous other statements during the 911 call, including several about how he became scared when he felt that the man was trying to get the gun away from him. He said over and over again, "What did I do?", "Why the f___ did I do it?", and "I can't believe I did that."
¶ 11. Defendant was charged with second-degree murder, 13 V.S.A. § 2301, and committed to the custody of Vermont's juvenile-detention facility. On March 27, 2007, he was released into his grandparents' custody, and has been on conditional release ever since. He has not violated the conditions of that release, and is receiving academic tutoring and psychotherapy at this time. Because defendant was between the ages of fourteen and sixteen at the time of the killing, the...
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