State v. McLemore
| Decision Date | 23 March 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. S-99-1323.,S-99-1323. |
| Citation | 623 N.W.2d 315,261 Neb. 452 |
| Parties | STATE of Nebraska, Appellee, v. Michael E. McLEMORE, Appellant. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Karen A. Bates-Crouch, Omaha, for appellant.
Don Stenberg, Attorney General, and Martin W. Swanson, Lincoln, for appellee.
A jury convicted Michael E. McLemore of first degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in connection with the September 2, 1997, death of Marcella Lynn Estes Torres (Torres). McLemore was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge and not less than nor more than 20 years' imprisonment for use of a weapon. McLemore appeals.
Torres was a real estate agent who lived in Omaha with two of her children and her brother, Edward Mentzer. Torres was married, but the marriage was troubled. Torres' husband was incarcerated at the time of Torres' murder.
On July 25, 1997, Torres met McLemore, and the two began a dating relationship. Soon after the two met, McLemore developed strong feelings for Torres. However, by the end of August 1997, Torres had expressed a desire to end her relationship with McLemore.
On the afternoon of September 1, 1997, McLemore accompanied Torres to a real estate appointment. After the appointment had concluded, Torres dropped McLemore off at his apartment and told him she would return to his apartment around 7 p.m.
Corine Alvarado, one of Torres' older daughters, was babysitting Torres' two younger children at Torres' residence that afternoon and evening. Between 5 and 6 p.m., Torres returned to her home to get ready to go out for the evening. She told Alvarado that she was going to the Anchor Inn. When she left the house that evening, Torres was wearing blue jeans, a black belt, a white tank top, and white pumps.
Thereafter, Torres went to the residence of Frank Szeliga and his girl friend, Kerri Cullinane. Torres had previously dated Szeliga. Torres asked Szeliga and Cullinane if they would like to go with her to the Anchor Inn. Szeliga and Cullinane declined. Torres then picked up her friend Epifanio Barrientos, and he accompanied her to the Anchor Inn. Torres dropped Barrientos off at his residence at approximately 11 p.m.
McLemore waited until approximately 8 p.m. for Torres to arrive at his residence. Between 8 and 9 p.m., Alvarado received a telephone call from McLemore, asking where Torres was. Alvarado received two more calls from McLemore that evening, asking where Torres was and sounding angrier with each call.
Between 8 and 10 p.m., Mentzer, Torres' brother, returned to Torres' residence, and Alvarado informed him she would be leaving once the children were asleep. Mentzer then went to his downstairs bedroom and went to sleep at approximately 10:30 p.m.
McLemore's attempts to reach Torres having proved unsuccessful, McLemore decided to walk to her house, a distance of 5 miles. McLemore took a knife with him. Alvarado left Torres' residence at 12:04 a.m. on September 2, 1997. As she was leaving, she saw McLemore walking toward the residence with a bottle of beer in his hand. McLemore, wanting to make sure Alvarado was not coming back, waited outside Torres' residence for 20 minutes. He then entered Torres' residence and was inside the residence for approximately 20 minutes. During that time, McLemore was angry and began slicing up Torres' living room furniture with his knife and strewing the stuffing over the living room floor.
At 12:45 a.m. Torres' neighbors, Rodney and Joanne Givens, were awakened by a woman's screaming for help. Looking out their bedroom window, the Givenses saw a woman they recognized as Torres struggling with a man whom they did not recognize. Joanne Givens went to the kitchen and called the police. The Givenses then saw the man putting Torres into the passenger side of Torres' car and driving away. The Givenses' son Drew, who also witnessed the incident, heard a woman screaming for help and a man saying, "[H]ow could you do this to me, bitch?" When Drew looked out the window, he witnessed the man and woman struggling. All three of the Givenses noticed that the man was holding a shiny object which he eventually put behind his back, into his belt or pants. It was dark and raining at the time the Givenses witnessed this incident, and the Givenses gave varying physical descriptions of the male they saw struggling with Torres.
Louisa Smith, another of Torres' neighbors, was also awakened at 12:45 a.m. by a woman screaming for help. Upon looking out her window, Smith witnessed a man chasing a woman in the street, both falling to the ground, and the man putting the woman into a car and driving away. Smith could not identify either of the people involved in the struggle because they were too far away and it was dark outside.
At approximately 2 a.m., Mentzer awoke and went upstairs. At that time, he noticed the living room furniture had been cut up and the stuffing strewn around the room. He also noticed a pair of black tennis shoes in the living room, which he recognized as belonging to McLemore. Mentzer later called the police and several family members.
Police discovered Torres' purse in the front yard of Torres' residence. The purse had a small amount of blood on it. Small amounts of blood were also found in the entryway to Torres' house.
At approximately 5 a.m. on September 2, 1997, several of Torres' family members went to McLemore's apartment complex looking for Torres. At that time, they encountered McLemore outside and asked him if he knew where Torres was. McLemore responded that he would "check [his] Caller I.D." and then ran behind the apartment complex and did not return while Torres' family members were outside.
On the morning of September 3, 1997, McLemore was arrested in connection with Torres' disappearance. At noon on September 3, Det. Michael Hoch was called to the Omaha police station to interview McLemore. During the interview, McLemore stated that Torres was supposed to come to his residence on the evening of September 1 but that she did not arrive. He admitted that he called Torres' residence three times looking for her. He stated that he became angry and decided to walk to Torres' house, taking a knife with him and stopping along the way to purchase a bottle of beer. A bottle of beer was found on a picnic table in Torres' backyard. McLemore admitted that he had been at Torres' residence from 12:04 to 12:45 a.m. on September 2 and that he had sliced up Torres' furniture, cutting his finger in the process. He stated that he left the residence at 12:45 a.m. and began walking home, discarding the knife along the way.
McLemore also told Hoch that later in the day on September 2, 1997, while at a schoolyard drinking alcohol and looking at a photograph of Torres, McLemore became despondent and attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. However, the wounds stopped bleeding, and McLemore then walked back to his apartment complex, where he was later arrested. After the interview with Hoch, McLemore was booked by detention technician Brenda Rocha. During the process of booking McLemore, Rocha asked McLemore what brought him to town. McLemore responded, "This girl." McLemore then stated, referring to "this girl," that he drove her car, that his fingerprints would be in her car, and that his hair would be on her. Upon noticing the cuts on McLemore's wrists, Rocha asked McLemore why he did that. McLemore responded, McLemore did not identify by name the "girl" he was referring to.
After McLemore was arrested on September 3, 1997, police searched McLemore's apartment, taking certain items into evidence, including a black belt and several items of McLemore's clothing retrieved from a closet area. The black belt was later identified by Alvarado as the belt Torres was wearing when she went out on the evening of September 1.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on September 3, 1997, Torres' car was found in the parking lot of a dentist's office located a few blocks from McLemore's apartment complex. The car had been in the parking lot since the morning of September 2. The car was towed to police headquarters where the trunk was opened. Torres' body was found inside the trunk.
Torres' death resulted from internal and external bleeding due to 54 to 56 cutting and stabbing wounds to the left side of the face, neck, chest, abdomen, and upper extremities. These wounds included a stab wound to the chest which penetrated Torres' heart, several stab wounds to the abdomen which penetrated her intestines, and a significant cutting wound to the neck which cut into the larynx. The wounds to the arms and hands were "defensive wounds," which Torres sustained while trying to defend herself from the assault.
On January 9, 1998, McLemore was charged with first degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony in connection with Torres' murder. On January 14, 1999, McLemore filed a motion to preclude the State from making any reference at trial to his previous conviction and incarceration which had occurred in another state. The trial court sustained the motion on January 19.
On June 21, 1999, the day trial was scheduled to begin, McLemore made a motion for continuance to allow McLemore to secure testimony from Roxanne Berres, a former girl friend of Szeliga, in order to establish a "pattern of violence against women" by Szeliga. The trial court overruled the motion and determined that Berres' testimony was not relevant and was inadmissable under Neb.Evid.R. 404, Neb. Rev.Stat. § 27-404 (Reissue 1995). The State then made a motion in limine with respect to Berres' anticipated testimony, claiming the testimony was irrelevant. The trial court sustained the motion.
The case proceeded to trial, beginning on June 21, 1999. Evidence admitted at trial showed that blood found in Torres' house, in Torres' car, and...
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