State v. Johnson, 78282
| Citation | 968 S.W.2d 686 |
| Decision Date | 26 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 78282,78282 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Ernest Lee JOHNSON, Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
Loyce Hamilton, St. Louis, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Christine M. Blegen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
A jury convicted defendant Ernest Lee Johnson of three counts of murder in the first degree. The jury recommended the sentence of death for each of the three convictions. The trial court sentenced Johnson in accordance with the jury's recommendation. Johnson's pro se Rule 29.15 motion for postconviction relief and the amended motion filed by appointed counsel were overruled after an evidentiary hearing. This Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the consolidated appeal. 1 We affirm the convictions and the denial of postconviction relief as to the convictions. We reverse the denial of that part of the Rule 29.15 motion pertaining to the penalty phase trial, vacate all three sentences of death, and remand for new penalty phase proceedings.
This Court reviews the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict. 2 At eleven o'clock, the morning of Saturday, February 12, 1994, Ernest Johnson bought a bottle of beer and a package of cigarettes at a Columbia, Missouri, convenience store of which he was a frequent customer. He went to the store a second time later that day, but did not make a purchase. On one of these trips, he questioned the cashier about who would be working the next shift. The cashier told Johnson that she would be relieved at 5:00 p.m. by Mabel Scruggs and that the store would close at 11:00 p.m. Johnson left and returned a short time later, but stayed only a few minutes before leaving again. Just before the shift change at 5:00 p.m., Johnson went to the store a fourth time, this time carrying a book bag over his shoulder. The cashier noticed Johnson staring at her while she deposited the money from her shift into the store safe. He did not buy anything.
Johnson went to his girlfriend's house and purchased a twenty-dollar rock of crack cocaine from his girlfriend's eighteen-year-old son, Rodriguez Grant. Johnson left and then later returned to buy two more rocks. He asked Rodriguez to lend him the .25 caliber pistol Johnson had given to him a couple of weeks earlier in exchange for crack cocaine. Rodriguez agreed, and he and Johnson test-fired the pistol in the back yard. Johnson returned the gun a while later, claiming that it did not work. Still later, Johnson retrieved the gun and left again, wearing layers of clothing, a mask over his face, and black tennis shoes. Since January of 1994, Johnson had confided to Rodriguez his plans to hold up the convenience store, locking all but one employee in the back room and having the remaining employee open the safe.
The next time Johnson returned to the house, from the direction of the convenience store, around 11:45 p.m., his face and clothes were spattered with blood. He came in through the back door and went downstairs to Rodriguez's room. Johnson gave the pistol back to Rodriguez. Johnson then cleaned his tennis shoes, took off his clothes, put the clothes into a trash bag, and told his girlfriend's sixteen-year-old son, Antwane Grant, to get rid of the bag. Johnson had a large amount of money sorted by denomination, and he and Rodriguez counted it. Johnson then hid the money in an air vent. Rodriguez went back upstairs and soon smelled At 1:12 a.m. the following morning, a deputy sheriff responded to a call to check on the convenience store for the possibility of a disturbance involving weapons. The store lights were still on. Through the windows, the officer saw that the cash register was open and the money vault was out and in the middle of the floor. He observed blood smears on the front door lock. City police officers arrived with keys. Upon entering, they discovered two dead bodies and a .25 caliber shell casing in the bathroom. Another body and another .25 caliber shell casing were found inside the walk-in cooler. The safe was empty.
something burning. On returning downstairs, he found Johnson burning paper.
All three victims were store employees: Mary Bratcher, age 46; Fred Jones, age 58; and Mabel Scruggs, age 57. Each victim died from head injuries that were consistent with a bloody hammer found at the scene. In addition, Mary Bratcher suffered at least ten stab wounds to her left hand consistent with a bloody flat-head screwdriver found in a field near the store, and Fred Jones suffered a nonfatal, facial gunshot wound. Police officers also found a bloody Phillips screwdriver, a pair of gloves, a pair of jeans, and a brown jacket in the field next to the store.
Hair on the gloves was consistent with that of Mabel Scruggs. Blood on the gloves was consistent with that of Mabel Scruggs or Fred Jones. Hair on the jacket was consistent with that of Fred Jones. Blood on the jacket was consistent with a mixture of the blood of all three victims.
Later the same morning that the bodies were discovered, Johnson went to a shopping mall and made over $200 in cash purchases. After he returned to his girlfriend's house, police officers arrived asking for any information about the murders. Johnson initially refused to speak with the officers, but eventually agreed to accompany them to the police station. The interviewing officer did not believe Johnson's alibi and read him his Miranda 3 rights. Johnson then gave conflicting versions of his alibi and became depressed whenever the convenience store was mentioned. He stated that he did not care if the officers shot him. At one point he said, "It took more than one man to do that job."
A search warrant for his girlfriend's house was obtained. The police found a bag containing $443; coin wrappers; partially burned checks, coupons, and a cash register receipt--all bearing the convenience store's name; a live .25 caliber bullet; and a black pair of tennis shoes with the same company logo as the bloody shoeprints found inside the store.
Johnson was placed under arrest and taken to the booking room. Upon seeing Rodriguez Grant in a holding cell, Johnson stated, When asked how he knew this information, he responded, "I know they weren't there."
Antwane Grant leaded the police to the park where he had hidden, at Johnson's direction, a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, 17 live rounds of .25 caliber ammunition, a sweat shirt, a pair of sweat pants, a hooded jacket, two stocking caps, and two pairs of socks. Antwane identified the clothes--and the black tennis shoes found at the house--as those Johnson had been wearing the evening of the murders.
Blood found on the sweat shirt was consistent with that of Fred Jones. Blood on the hooded jacket was consistent with that of Fred Jones or Mabel Scruggs. Some hair on one of the stocking caps was consistent with Fred Jones's hair and some was consistent with Johnson's hair.
Johnson argues that the trial court erred in allowing the State to question the veniremembers as to their feelings regarding the credibility of State witnesses that testify pursuant to a plea agreement. The State Ladies and gentlemen, two of the State's witnesses in this case, Antwane Grant and Rodriguez Grant, were charged with different but related offenses due to activities they engaged in before and after the murders for which the defendant is charged.
made the following remarks during the general voir dire:
In exchange for Rodriguez Grant's truthful testimony in this case, the State has agreed to recommend a sentence of 10 years in prison for aiding and abetting Ernest Johnson before the defendant allegedly committed a robbery....
And in exchange for Antwane Grant's truthful testimony in this case, the State has agreed not to prosecute him for two charges of tampering with evidence committed after the defendant allegedly perpetrated the offenses....
[Is] there any member of this panel, just based on that, [who] would refuse to listen to and consider the testimony of these two witnesses because of feelings that the State should never make such agreements in return for testimony?
Rulings on voir dire questions will not be disturbed absent a showing of abuse of the trial court's discretion. 4 Johnson concedes that review of this issue is further restricted to that of plain error, due to the lack of a timely objection. He must, therefore, demonstrate that "the action of the trial court was not only erroneous, but that the error so substantially impacted upon his rights that manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice will result if the error is left uncorrected." 5 The general rule is that it is error to tell a jury about codefendants who have pleaded guilty because it taints the trial with the unfair implication of guilt by association. 6 Under certain circumstances, however, such a disclosure during voir dire may not be prejudicial, especially where the defendant has opportunity to cross-examine the codefendants during the trial. 7 The determination of prejudice is necessarily made on a case-by-case basis. 8
Voir dire is the "most practical method for probing the minds of the prospective jurors to ascertain those who are fair and impartial and those who are biased and prejudiced." 9 The State is entitled to elicit from prospective jurors any preconceived notions that they might have concerning the law and to ask specifically whether they would refuse to consider the testimony of State witnesses with the benefit of a plea agreement. 10
As Johnson's codefendants gave eyewitness testimony concerning Johnson's actions immediately before and after the murders took place, the State had the right to discern any prejudice on the panel against testimony procured by the terms of a plea agreement. Once the jury was...
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