State v. Lyons, 79129
| Citation | 951 S.W.2d 584 |
| Decision Date | 19 August 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 79129,79129 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Andrew LYONS, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
D. Terrell Dempsey, Hannibal, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Stacy L. Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
A jury convicted defendant Andrew Lyons of two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of involuntary manslaughter. Lyons was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of his girlfriend, Bridgette Harris. He was also sentenced to death for the murder of Bridgette's mother, Evelyn Sparks. Lyons was sentenced to seven years in prison for causing the death of his son, Dontay Harris. This Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the appeal. Mo. Const. art. V, § 3. We affirm the judgments.
This Court reviews the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict. State v. Shurn, 866 S.W.2d 447, 455 (Mo.banc 1993).
As of September 1992, Andrew Lyons and Bridgette Harris had been living together for three years in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Their eleven-month old son, Dontay, lived with them, as did Bridgette's two children from a previous relationship, seven-year-old Demetrius and four-year-old Deonandrea. Approximately one week before the murders, Lyons told a longtime friend that he was having problems with Bridgette. Lyons told the friend that "he just felt like killing" and that the "best thing for [Bridgette] to do ... was to get killed...." Around the same time, Bridgette moved out of the house she shared with Lyons. She and the three children moved in with Bridgette's mother, Evelyn Sparks.
Two days before the murders, Lyons drove his truck alongside Bridgette and her older sister while they were walking on a sidewalk. He stopped the truck and pulled forward the passenger's seat, revealing a shotgun. The women ran away and reported the incident to the police.
The day before the murders, Lyons told another friend that Evelyn was interfering with his relationship with Bridgette and that "she should leave them alone or he would kill her." That night, he told Bridgette's best friend that "I am going to end up killing [Evelyn]." Around midnight, Lyons told yet another friend that he was going to shoot Evelyn with his shotgun and "catch a train out of here."
On the morning of Sunday, September 20, 1992, Lyons went to Evelyn's house, where Bridgette was staying. He and Bridgette argued. Lyons left, went back to his house, and grabbed his shotgun and a duffel bag packed with clothes and ammunition. Shortly after 10 a.m., Lyons returned to Evelyn's house. Evelyn was in the kitchen. Bridgette, Demetrius, Deonandrea, and Dontay were downstairs in the basement. Demetrius heard a loud noise from upstairs and went to see what had happened. On his way, he passed Lyons coming down the stairs carrying a shotgun. Demetrius saw his grandmother lying on the kitchen floor and ran to his room. In the basement, Lyons shot Dontay once and shot Bridgette once.
Lyons then drove to the house where his half-brother, Jerry DePree, was staying. Lyons asked DePree to follow him to the house of his friends John and Gail Carter so that he could drop off his truck. Upon arriving at the Carters's house, Lyons went in to talk to Gail. He told her that he had killed Bridgette and Evelyn and that he had shot Dontay by accident. Lyons went back outside and transferred the shotgun and duffel bag from his truck to DePree's car. Lyons got into DePree's car and told him to drive away. DePree asked him what was wrong, and Lyons told him that he had shot some people and that the police would probably be looking for him. DePree dropped Lyons off at Trail of Tears State Park. Lyons left his shotgun in DePree's car.
Back at Evelyn Sparks's house, another of Evelyn's daughters arrived around 11 a.m. She found her mother on the kitchen floor and called the police. The police discovered Bridgette and Dontay in the basement. All three were dead. Evelyn died from massive hemorrhaging and tissue destruction caused by a gunshot wound above her left hip. Bridgette died from massive hemorrhaging and tissue destruction caused by a gunshot wound below her right shoulder. Dontay died from extensive brain tissue damage secondary to a contact gunshot wound to the left eye.
When DePree learned later in the day that Evelyn, Bridgette, and Dontay had been shot to death, he turned over Lyons's shotgun to the police. The shell casing found in the shotgun and the two shell casings found at Evelyn's house matched the shell casings of cartridges fired from the shotgun by the State's firearms examiner.
Lyons was arrested in the afternoon and confessed to shooting Evelyn, Bridgette, and Dontay that morning. At trial, the jury found Lyons guilty of murder in the first degree for the deaths of Evelyn Sparks and Bridgette Harris and guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Dontay Harris. The jury could not agree on a punishment for the murder of Evelyn Sparks. The jury recommended a sentence of death for the murder of Bridgette Harris and seven years incarceration for the death of Dontay Harris. The trial court sentenced Lyons to death for the murder of Evelyn Sparks and accepted the jury's recommendations as to the deaths of Bridgette and Dontay. This appeal follows.
Lyons claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress the audiotaped interrogation conducted at the police station following his arrest. A trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress will not be upset on review if the ruling is supported by substantial evidence. State v. Feltrop, 803 S.W.2d 1, 12 (Mo. banc 1991).
Lyons maintains that his statement was not voluntary as he was interrogated without an attorney present after invoking his right to counsel. Once the voluntary nature of a statement is challenged, the State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it was freely given. Id. Specific to Lyons's challenge, the State had to prove that after Lyons invoked his right to counsel, he initiated further discussions with the police and knowingly and intelligently waived the right he had invoked. See Smith v. Illinois, 469 U.S. 91, 95, 105 S.Ct. 490, 492-93, 83 L.Ed.2d 488 (1984). The evidence is reviewed in the light most favorable to the ruling. State v. Bittick, 806 S.W.2d 652, 654 (Mo. banc 1991).
Acting on a tip from Lyons's brother, officers of the Cape Girardeau police department found Lyons in Trail of Tears State Park the afternoon of the murders. Deputy Sheriff Vince Diebold read him his Miranda 1 rights. Deputy Diebold asked Lyons if he understood his rights and Lyons stated that he did. In the patrol car, Lyons asked for a lawyer, invoking his right to counsel. See Smith, 469 U.S. at 97-98, 105 S.Ct. at 493-94. Deputy Diebold did not speak to Lyons again.
Once at the police station, Lyons was taken to the area where gunshot residue tests were performed. Detective Judy Gentry recognized Lyons and called him by name. They had met approximately ten years earlier while working at the same hotel. Det. Gentry told Lyons that she would be performing the gunshot residue test on him. Lyons asked Det. Gentry if he could call an attorney and she told him that he could do so after the test.
After the test, without prompting, Lyons stated that "he had just snapped." At this point, Det. Gentry introduced Sergeant Dennis Overbey of the Missouri Highway Patrol to Lyons as the officer who would be handling the case. Lyons then volunteered that he and Bridgette had recently been having relationship problems. Det. Gentry asked Lyons if he wanted to call an attorney and gave him a phone book. Lyons said he did not know an attorney to call. When Gentry told him that she could not advise him to call any specific attorney, Lyons stated that he did not want to call an attorney.
Lyons asked to see his sister Lily Mae. After forty-five minutes alone with his sister, Lyons stated that he needed to talk to an attorney, but did not have any money. Det. Gentry informed Lyons that he "could still call an attorney for advisement." Lyons stated that he would wait for a court-appointed attorney.
Overbey then told Lyons "that we weren't going to talk to him any more and that if he wanted to talk to us he would have to ask for us since he had mentioned he thought he needed to talk to an attorney." As Sergeant Overbey led Lyons away to the holding area, Lily Mae told Det. Gentry to tell Lyons that she would sit with him should he decide to talk to the officers. Det. Gentry stopped Lyons in the hall. Det. Gentry's testimony was that she then brought Lily Mae into the hallway so Lyons "would know that [Lily Mae] had said that [she would sit with him], and I repeated what she had said, and then she also repeated it to him." Sgt. Overbey continued with Lyons down the hall. Sgt. Overbey testified at the motion hearing that
Lyons claims that when Det. Gentry told him that his sister would sit with him if he spoke with the police, she initiated interrogation in violation of Miranda: "If the individual states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present." 384 U.S. at 474, 86 S.Ct. at 1628. Lyons also relies on Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1884-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), "an accused ... having expressed his desire to deal with police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police."
Lyons's argument is that his taped confession is...
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