Facts
and Procedural History
On
direct appeal, this Court summarized the relevant facts from
Mitchell's trial:
"At trial, the State presented evidence indicating that
on November 24, 2005, Thanksgiving Day, Mitchell went to
Jonathan Floyd's apartment where Roderick Byrd and his
sister, Hellena, were staying. Mitchell entered the apartment
to discuss his plan to rob the Airport Inn in Birmingham
(hereinafter 'the Inn') with Byrd. After Byrd agreed
to help with the robbery, Mitchell asked Floyd to take them
to the Inn. Floyd drove Mitchell and Byrd to the Inn around
2:50 p.m. When Floyd let them out of the car, Mitchell was
wearing a white sweatshirt and jeans and Byrd was dressed in
all black. After letting Mitchell and Byrd out of the car
Floyd left to visit his 'god-sister.'
"Mitchell and Byrd entered the Inn where they
encountered Kim Olney, the desk clerk, and John Aylesworth, a
truck driver who was waiting in the lobby for a ride to Texas
where he lived. Both Mitchell and Byrd were armed with
pistols. Mitchell immediately focused his attention on Olney
who was behind the front desk, while Byrd used his gun to
subdue Aylesworth, a former Marine. At some point during the
robbery, Dorothy Smith, who was traveling back to New York
after visiting her son in Alabama for Thanksgiving, entered
the hotel lobby and was also held at gunpoint. During the
robbery, Mitchell took money from a cash drawer and
unsuccessfully attempted to open a safe located behind the
front desk. Mitchell and Byrd also took various items from
the three victims, including duffel bags, clothing, and
money,
before shooting each of them behind the ear at close range
with .38-caliber pistols.
"A video from the lobby security camera shows Mitchell
shooting Olney twice, once in the arm and once in the head.
Forensic testing of the projectiles recovered from the scene
and from the victims' bodies established that Olney and
Smith were shot with the same .38-caliber pistol and that
Aylesworth was shot with a different .38-caliber pistol. The
Jefferson County Medical Examiner testified that all three
victims died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head.
"After the robbery, Mitchell and Byrd fled the scene on
foot. They traveled around the Inn and jumped over a fence
located behind the Inn, which separated the Inn from a
neighborhood. Clifford James and James Jackson, who were
sitting on the back porch of one of the houses behind the
Inn, saw Mitchell and Byrd, who were carrying several bags,
climb the fence and walk off in different directions. James
and Jackson were not able to positively identify the
individuals they saw climbing the fence, but they testified
that one of the men was wearing all black and was carrying a
book bag and the other man had lighter skin and was wearing
light-colored clothing.
"After Mitchell and Byrd separated, Mitchell telephoned
Floyd and asked Floyd to pick him up on First Avenue. Floyd
met Mitchell on First Avenue and took Mitchell to
Mitchell's 'god-sister's' house, which was
three blocks from Floyd's apartment. During the ride,
Mitchell, who was carrying a blue tote bag, told Floyd that
he had 'just hit a lick.' After dropping Mitchell
off, Floyd went back to look for Byrd. Floyd later returned
to his apartment where he found Byrd and Mitchell. Byrd
appeared nervous and was shaking and crying. At some point,
Mitchell removed his clothing and placed the clothing in
the dumpster behind Floyd's apartment. Mitchell later
told Floyd that he had killed three people by shooting them
behind the ear.
"Later that evening, Mitchell contacted his friend
Warika Gunn and asked her for a ride to the bus station in
Huntsville. Gunn, who had seen Mitchell's photograph on
the news in connection with the shootings at the Inn,
telephoned 'Crimestoppers,' an anonymous tip hotline.
Mitchell later admitted that he was wanted by the police in
connection with a robbery. While in contact with the
authorities, Gunn agreed to meet Mitchell in Fairfield at
10:00 p.m. However, Mitchell was subsequently arrested before
he could meet Gunn at the arranged location.
"At trial, Robert B[r]axton, a friend of Mitchell's,
and James Floyd III, Jonathan Floyd's nephew, testified
that they had recognized Mitchell's photograph on a news
report and that Mitchell had told them that he had been
involved in the hotel shootings."
Mitchell v. State, 84 So.3d 968, 977-78
(Ala.Crim.App.2010).
The
jury convicted Mitchell of four counts of capital murder-one
count for murdering each of the victims during a robbery,
see § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975, and one
count for murdering three persons by one act or pursuant to
one scheme or course of conduct, see §
13A-5-40(a)(10), Ala. Code 1975. By a 10-2 vote, the jury
recommended that the circuit court sentence Mitchell to life
in prison without the possibility of
parole. The trial court, however, overrode the jury's
recommendation and sentenced Mitchell to death.
The trial court found that five aggravating circumstances
existed:
(1) Mitchell committed the offense while he under a sentence
of imprisonment-he was on probation for second-degree
kidnapping, first-degree robbery, and discharging a firearm
into an occupied vehicle.
(2) Mitchell had a prior felony conviction involving the use
or threat of violence.
(3) Mitchell committed the capital offense during the
commission of a robbery.
(4) Mitchell killed two or more persons in one act or course
of conduct.
(5) The capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious, or
cruel when compared to other capital offenses.
(Trial C. 23-24.[1]) The trial court found that no statutory
mitigating circumstances existed. The court noted
Mitchell's heavy involvement in the murders and his
"extensive history with the criminal justice
system"
including his prior convictions for unlawful breaking and
entering of a vehicle, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree
robbery, and shooting into an occupied vehicle. (Trial C.
24.)
The
trial court found these nonstatutory mitigating circumstances
to exist:
(1) Mitchell was taken from his mother at a young age and
lived in multiple foster homes.
(2) While he lived with his grandmother, Mitchell was
"whipped all the time" and "hit with extension
chords and/or pans, tied to chairs, and beat for hours. ...
Mitchell had a sad and abused childhood."
(3) Mitchell had a good environment with a foster parent,
Betty Dickerson, but children bothered him at school because
he was a foster child. Mitchell's school issues led to
him being removed from Dickerson's home.
(4) The jury voted 10-2 for life without the possibility of
parole, which the trial court weighed "very
heavily."
(Trial C. 24-26.) The trial court stated, however, that,
"[a]lthough the jury's recommendation weighs heavily
in favor of [Mitchell], the court is strongly of the opinion
that 10 jurors incorrectly determined that the mitigating
factors outweighed the aggravating factors. Even with the
jury's recommendation included as an additional
mitigating circumstance, the court is of the opinion that the
aggravating circumstances still outweigh the mitigating
circumstances. The court is of the
opinion that the State resting during the penalty phase
without presenting any aggravating circumstances, but being
allowed to reopen their case, may have made the jurors
de-emphasize the weight that should have been attributed to
evidence presented in support of the aggravating
circumstances. Even if this did not [a]ffect the jury's
deliberations, the court feels strongly that the aggravating
circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances."
(Trial C. 26.)
This
Court affirmed Mitchell's convictions and death sentence.
Mitchell, supra. The Alabama Supreme Court
granted certiorari review but then quashed the writ in 2011.
Ex parte Mitchell, 84 So.3d 1013 (Ala. 2011). The
United States Supreme Court denied Mitchell's petition
for a writ of certiorari in 2012. Mitchell v.
Alabama, 568 U.S. 829 (2012).
In
November 2012, the Equal Justice Initiative filed a
"placeholder" Rule 32 petition for Mitchell. (C
169-204.) His current counsel took over the case in May 2013
and, over the next three years, filed five amended Rule 32
petitions, plus an amendment to the fifth amended petition.
(C. 334, 564, 742, 1021, 1260, 1579.) As amended,
Mitchell's petition included these claims: (1) that the
State violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83
(1963); (2) that there was juror...
