State v. Middlebrooks
| Decision Date | 06 July 1999 |
| Citation | 995 S.W.2d 550 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Donald Ray MIDDLEBROOKS, Appellant. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Lionel R. Barrett, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee, Richard McGee, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellant.
John Knox Walkup, Attorney General & Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General, Kathy Morante, Deputy Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, At Trial: Victor S. Johnson III, District Attorney General, Roger D. Moore, Assistant District Attorney General, John C. Zimmerman, Assistant District Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellee.
O P I N I O N
This case is before us for automatic review of the Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance of a death sentence imposed upon Donald Ray Middlebrooks in a Davidson County resentencing hearing for first degree murder. 1
Middlebrooks initially was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death based on the jury's finding that evidence of two aggravating circumstances--that the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind," Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(5) (1982) (now codified in Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(i)(5) (1997 & Supp.1998)), and that the victim was killed in the commission of a felony, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(7) (1982) (now codified in Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(i)(7) (1997 & Supp.1998))--outweighed evidence of mitigating circumstances.
On appeal, this Court affirmed Middlebrooks' conviction but remanded the case for resentencing because the (i)(7) felony murder aggravating circumstance used to impose the death sentence duplicated the offense of felony murder and therefore failed to narrow the class of death-eligible defendants under Article I, Section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution. State v. Middlebrooks, 840 S.W.2d 317 (Tenn.1992), cert. dismissed, 510 U.S. 124, 114 S.Ct. 651, 126 L.Ed.2d 555 (1993). 2
At the resentencing hearing, the jury again sentenced Middlebrooks to death based on the aggravating circumstance that "the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind." Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(5). The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Middlebrooks' sentence. After the case was docketed as a death penalty appeal in this Court, we entered an order specifying three issues for oral argument: (1) whether Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(5), the aggravating circumstance applied in this case, was constitutional; (2) whether the prosecutor's closing argument violated Middlebrooks' right to due process; and (3) whether the sentence of death is disproportionate. 3
After reviewing the record, the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision, the issues raised, and the applicable law, we have determined beyond a reasonable doubt that none of the alleged errors affected the sentence imposed by the jury; moreover, the evidence supports the jury's sentence of death, and the sentence is not disproportionate or arbitrary as applied to the defendant. We have also determined that the aggravating circumstance, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(5), was constitutionally applied in this case. Accordingly, we affirm the sentence of death by electrocution.
We begin by reviewing the evidence introduced at the resentencing hearing. On the day of the murder, April 26, 1987, Donald Ray Middlebrooks, a twenty-four-year-old white male, his wife, Tammy Middlebrooks, a seventeen-year-old white female, and their friend Roger Brewington, a sixteen-year-old white male, had set up a make-shift flea market in East Nashville. When Kerrick Majors, the fourteen-year-old black male victim, and four of his friends walked over and began looking at the items on the table, Tammy Middlebrooks yelled "Hey, ya'll niggers leave our stuff alone."
Donald Middlebrooks and Brewington chased after Majors and the other boys. Shannon Stewart testified that as he fled from the scene, he saw Brewington grab Majors and drag him toward the table, where Middlebrooks struck Majors in the face and knocked him down. Stewart heard Middlebrooks order Majors to "shut up nigger." The boys who made it to safety told Majors' mother what had happened. Majors' mother called the police and also searched for her son. The next day Majors' naked body was found lying face up in a dry creek bed under a foam mattress in the woods near the area where Majors had been abducted.
Bruises, scrapes, abrasions, and burns covered Major's body. A woven belt was strapped around his left wrist. A large laceration was sliced across his right wrist. Two large lacerations made by a sharp instrument formed an "X" across his chest. A bloody and swollen gash was above his left eye. His nose was bloody, red, badly burned, and had pieces of skin missing. His lips were swollen and lacerated, and the inside of his mouth was bloody and lacerated. His testicles were badly swollen, and his legs were covered in blood down to his feet. There was urine on different parts of his body and on a rag tied in a tight knot around his neck that had been used as a gag in his mouth. A bloody stick lay next to his head. Finally, there were two deep stab wounds in his chest a couple of inches apart.
The autopsy indicated that the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest and that the murder weapon had been plunged to a depth of 3.3 inches. The "X" carved into Majors' chest was inflicted before the stab wounds, and at least one of the stab wounds was made prior to his death. Majors was alive and conscious throughout the infliction of the injuries and wounds. Majors lived a minimum of five to six minutes and a maximum of thirty minutes from the time of the stab wounds. He also would have been conscious part of the time while bleeding to death after being stabbed.
Two days after the murder, Brewington voluntarily notified the police that Donald Middlebrooks and Tammy Middlebrooks were involved in the murder. He showed the officers a bloodstained knife with a brass knuckle handle that had been used on Majors. Brewington also told the officers where to find Middlebrooks and his wife. 4
After being arrested, Middlebrooks gave a video-taped confession to the police in which he admitted his own involvement but described Brewington as the leader. According to Middlebrooks, after dragging Majors into the woods, Brewington tied Majors' hands and then slapped him, beat him with brass knuckles, urinated in his mouth, and made him swallow. Middlebrooks said that Brewington also beat Majors' testicles, threatened to cut "it" open, beat his mouth and tongue with a stick, and stuck a stick in Majors' anus. Whenever Majors resisted or screamed, Brewington continued to beat and slap him. Brewington told Majors he was taking him "back to the days of Roots." Brewington "dropped" the knife repeatedly on top of Majors, gagged him, and slashed his wrist. Middlebrooks stated that Tammy Middlebrooks also slapped Majors and burned his nose with a cigarette lighter.
Middlebrooks said that Majors was crying and begging them to stop. When Majors pleaded that all he wanted to do was to "go to school and get an education," Brewington replied "F--- you, nigger." Middlebrooks also said that Majors' cries were getting on his nerves so he asked Brewington to stop. According to Middlebrooks, Brewington then kissed Majors on the forehead and told him that it was "the kiss of death."
In the video-taped confession, Middlebrooks admitted stabbing Majors once and striking him across his legs with a switch. Middlebrooks explained that both he and Brewington stabbed Majors once. In a prior statement, however, Middlebrooks claimed to have inflicted both stab wounds. He also claimed he did not stop the torture because he was afraid of Brewington and is "scared to fight." At another point, Middlebrooks contended that he stabbed Majors to prove he was "cooler" than Brewington.
According to the State's proof, fourteen-year-old Majors was small for his age. 5 He was described as a good student who loved school. He was not a violent person, nor did he carry a weapon. Since his murder, his mother's health has deteriorated. She has been on medication and will not leave the house except for doctor appointments. She has had a nervous breakdown, suffers from panic attacks, and has not been able to sleep at night since the murder. Majors' older brother blames himself for Majors' death and now suffers from mood swings.
Shannon Stewart testified that he had spoken with Middlebrooks the morning of the murder. Middlebrooks had told Stewart that he was a member of the KKK, that he "hated niggers," and that he punched a black man just for saying hello. Stewart also testified that he overheard Middlebrooks order Majors to "shut up nigger."
The defense introduced mitigation evidence as follows: Middlebrooks' cousins, James and Carol Sue Little, and his half-sister, Sharon Fuchs, testified about Middlebrooks' childhood. Middlebrooks grew up in Texas. His father died when he was four. His mother remarried and had another child, Ms. Fuchs, before she again divorced. Middlebrooks' mother either left the children at night with relatives or else would take them to bars with her.
According to the proof, Middlebrooks' mother would often bring men to the house, and the children sometimes heard or saw their mother having sex. Ms. Fuchs testified that sometimes these men would molest her while her mother watched. She further testified that she, Middlebrooks, and other children in the family were molested by different family members. For example, Middlebrooks was often left alone with a male relative who had sexually abused him, and Middlebrooks' mother would grab him between his legs and also watch him use the bathroom. According to Sharon Fuchs, the small town in which they grew up lacked counseling services or social service agencies where they could seek help for sexual abuse. According to her, no one in the family...
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