State v. Gillespie

• Decision Date: 03 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2006-337-C.A.,2006-337-C.A.
• Citation: 960 A.2d 969
• Parties: STATE v. Clyde GILLESPIE.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

960 A.2d 969

STATE v. Clyde GILLESPIE.

No. 2006-337-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

December 3, 2008.

Lauren S. Zurier, Providence, for Plaintiff.

Paula Rosin, Providence, for Defendant.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice WILLIAMS, for the Court.

The defendant, Clyde Gillespie (defendant), appeals his convictions for second-degree murder and for failing to report a death with the intention of concealing a crime. He alleges that the trial justice erred in: (1) instructing the jury that premeditation is not an element of second-degree murder; (2) instructing the jury on second-degree murder where, as the defendant contends, such a charge was not supported by the evidence; and (3) excluding evidence of the prior conviction of a state's witness. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

I Facts and Travel

On November 24, 1998, police responded to an unoccupied apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, where a cleaning crew had discovered a decomposing body wrapped in bedding and curtains in an attic crawl space accessible through a padlocked closet. Further investigation by the police revealed that defendant and his wife, Betty Sue Gillespie, were the last tenants to occupy the apartment.

After locating defendant, the police initially questioned him about his wife's whereabouts without disclosing that a body had been found in his former apartment. The defendant claimed that he had not seen Betty Sue since July, when she left him following an argument over another woman. He admitted, and bank records confirmed, that he since had been using Betty Sue's ATM card to withdraw money from her credit-union account. After the police informed him that they had discovered a body in the apartment, defendant acknowledged that the body was indeed that of Betty Sue. He explained that he had found her dead in bed one morning in July after a night during which she had been smoking crack cocaine. According to defendant, he wrapped Betty Sue's body in bed sheets, hid it in the attic crawl space, and padlocked shut the closet door after panicking over the thought that he would be held accountable for her death. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that the body was that of Betty Sue, but it also indicated that the cause of death was manual strangulation.

On April 16, 1999, a grand jury indicted defendant for the murder of Betty Sue and for failing to report a death with the intention of concealing a crime. See G.L. 1956 § 11-23-1 (murder) and G.L. 1956 § 23-4-7 (failing to report a death with the intention of concealing a crime). A jury trial followed in January 2006,¹ during which the state presented several witnesses, including Betty Sue's sister, Estelle Woods, and the chief medical examiner, Elizabeth Laposata, M.D., who had conducted the autopsy on Betty Sue.

At the start of trial, the state moved in limine to prevent defendant from impeaching Ms. Woods with a 1989 conviction for loitering for indecent purposes. See G.L. 1956 § 11-34-8. Citing the remoteness of the conviction and the fact that it did not involve dishonesty or false statement, the trial justice granted the motion in limine without prejudice to the issue being reconsidered if the trial testimony of Ms. Woods ended up making the conviction relevant.²

After the state's direct examination of Ms. Woods, defendant renewed his request to impeach her with her 1989 conviction. However, the trial justice affirmed her earlier ruling excluding the conviction on the same grounds she previously had articulated—viz., that the conviction was too remote and was not relevant to Ms. Woods's character for truthfulness. The trial justice concluded that the likelihood that the jury would use the conviction as improper character evidence "tip[ped] the balance toward being unduly prejudicial as compared to any probative value for impeachment purposes."

Doctor Laposata testified for the state regarding the condition of Betty Sue's body. She described the body as having been wrapped in three layers of sheets and draperies and noted the peculiar manner in which it was clothed: both the bra and underwear were inside out. Doctor Laposata testified that her examination of Betty Sue's body had revealed that Betty Sue had sustained injuries to her neck contemporaneously with her death, including a fractured hyoid bone and hemorrhaging in the upper neck tissue. According to Dr. Laposata, a fractured hyoid bone is "a classic marker for death by manual strangulation." She also testified that any other potential physical injuries were obscured by the body's advanced state of decomposition. Although toxicology tests had revealed the presence of cocaine and alcohol in Betty Sue's system, Dr. Laposata concluded to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that the cause of death was asphyxia caused by manual strangulation.

The defendant did not testify or present any evidence at trial. The trial justice instructed the jury on both the crime of first-degree murder and the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder.³ The trial justice's jury instructions stated in relevant part:

"I will now address the elements of the crime of murder and you must know that to convict of murder, the State must prove each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Murder generally is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. A willful, malicious and premeditated killing is murder in the first degree. In order to convict the defendant of first degree murder, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that within the dates in question, the defendant, Clyde Gillespie, killed Betty Sue Gillespie by manual strangulation and that he did so willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation. An act is done willfully if done voluntarily and intentionally and not by mistake or accident. The terms `deliberate' and `voluntary' are actions resulting from the defendant's prior consideration of the act of killing itself. Such a prior consideration, however, must have existed in the mind of the defendant for more than simply a moments [sic] duration. In other words, the defendant must have deliberated and already fixed in his mind for more than a mere moment an intention to kill before the killing occurred. Perhaps, the best that can be said of deliberation is that it requires a cool mind that is capable of reflection and premeditation, that it requires that one with a cool mind did in fact reflect for more than a moment before the killing. Malice may be expressed or implied. Malice can arise from either an expressed intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. Malice may be implied or inferred from all the surrounding circumstances.

"* * *

"Our law also recognizes murder in the second degree as a lesser included offense to the charge of murder. To prove the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed Betty Sue Gillespie by manual strangulation within the dates in question and that he did so intentionally and maliciously. Unlike first degree murder, however, second degree murder does not require the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant killed with premeditation and deliberation. If a person's conscious intent or design to kill existed only amount [sic] momentarily or fleetingly, or if you are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that it existed for more than a moment or deliberately, it is second degree murder. On the other hand, if such a conscious design or intent existed for more than a mere moment and was a product of the deliberation, then the crime rises to the level of first degree murder. Just as with the instructions that I have given you as to first degree murder, as with second degree murder as well, there must be proof of malice and that malice may be expressed or implied.

"* * *

"In this case, therefore, if the State satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Clyde Gillespie, killed Betty Sue Gillespie, between the dates of June 1st, 1998 and November 24, 1998 by manual strangulation and that he did so intentionally and maliciously and with deliberation and premeditation, then you may return a verdict of guilty on the charge of first degree murder. If you find that the State has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that such a killing was premeditated or deliberate, but you nonetheless determine that Clyde Gillespie intentionally and maliciously killed Betty Sue Gillespie, then you may return a verdict of guilty on the lesser included offense of second degree murder."

The defendant then proceeded to object on two grounds to the jury instructions cited above. First, defendant argued that it was improper to instruct the jury on second-degree murder because the proposed cause of death was manual strangulation, which he argued required the deliberation and premeditation that occurs only with first-degree murder. Secondly, defendant contended that the trial justice erred in instructing the jury that premeditation is not an element of second-degree murder. Rejecting both objections, the trial justice declined to amend her jury instructions.

On January 13, 2006, the jury convicted defendant of second-degree murder and of failing to report a death with the intention of concealing a crime. The defendant subsequently filed a motion for a new trial, in which he again challenged the second-degree murder jury instructions. The trial justice denied defendant's motion for a new trial and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder conviction and five years imprisonment for the conviction on failing to report a death, to be served consecutively.

II Analysis

A Elements of Second-Degree Murder

The defendant argues that the trial justice committed reversible error when she declined to instruct the jury that premeditation is an element of second-degree...