State v. Prather
| Citation | 840 S.E.2d 551,429 S.C. 583 |
| Decision Date | 11 March 2020 |
| Docket Number | Opinion No. 27954,Appellate Case No. 2018-000753 |
| Parties | The STATE, Petitioner, v. Robert Jared PRATHER, Respondent. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Melody Jane Brown, Assistant Attorney General Susannah Rawl Cole, and Assistant Attorney General J. Anthony Mabry, all of Columbia; and Solicitor Samuel R. Hubbard III, of Lexington, all for Petitioner.
Elizabeth Anne Franklin-Best, of Blume Norris & Franklin-Best LLC, of Columbia, for Respondent.
Robert Jared Prather was convicted of murder and strong arm robbery. The trial court sentenced Prather to concurrent prison terms of thirty years for murder and ten years for strong arm robbery. Prather appealed, and a divided court of appeals reversed and remanded the case for a new trial. State v. Prather , 422 S.C. 96, 810 S.E.2d 419 (Ct. App. 2017). We granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari. We hold the trial court did not err in admitting the State's reply testimony, and we hold Prather's additional sustaining grounds are without merit. We therefore reverse the court of appeals and reinstate Prather's convictions.
At approximately 4:30 a.m. on April 22, 2005, Prather and Joshua Phillips presented to Lexington Medical Center and reported to an ER nurse that Gerald Stewart (Victim) had sexually assaulted Phillips. As detailed below, Prather told the nurse he had beaten Victim with his fists following the assault and that Victim was probably barely alive. Law enforcement officers were dispatched to both Lexington Medical and Victim's residence.
Police found Victim dead in his residence. He was clothed and kneeling face-down into his living room couch. His head was covered by a pillow and his body was covered by a blanket. The word "rapist" was carved into the small of Victim's back, and a dildo was found underneath his right armpit. Police found Victim's roommate, Rob Rabon, asleep in Rabon's bedroom. Rabon testified at trial he was asleep when Victim was murdered.
An autopsy revealed Victim died from an irregular heartbeat caused by the stress of a beating and a pre-existing enlarged heart.
Prather and Phillips were indicted for murder, first-degree burglary, armed robbery, possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a violent crime, and filing a false police report alleging the commission of a felony. Prather's first trial ended in a hung jury. Prather was then re-indicted for all the original charges except the weapon charge and the false police report charge. Phillips pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery after Prather's second trial. The trial court's various rulings during the second trial are the focus of this appeal.
During the second trial, Rabon testified he moved in with Victim about a week before the incident but was planning to move out after discovering Victim was homosexual. Rabon testified that on the evening before Victim died, he returned to Victim's residence and found Prather and Phillips with Victim. Rabon testified Phillips hit Victim in the face, busting Victim's lips. Rabon testified to later purchasing and using cocaine with Prather, drinking several beers, and retiring alone to his bedroom, as he had to go to work the following morning. Rabon testified he later came out of his bedroom and saw Victim "kind of over" Phillips in the living room engaging in a sexual act of some kind. Rabon testified he later witnessed Victim and Phillips on Victim's bed and noted Victim was nude and Phillips was also nude or wearing very little. Rabon testified Prather was not in the residence during either encounter. Rabon testified he later heard Prather yelling for Phillips and heard Victim leave the residence with Prather. Rabon testified he is partially deaf in one ear and sleeps very soundly if he sleeps on his "good" ear. Rabon claimed he went to sleep and woke up to about "four cops standing over me."
Donna Sharpe, an ER nurse at Lexington Medical, testified Phillips and Prather presented to the emergency room at approximately 4:30 a.m. Sharpe testified her ensuing conversation with Prather and Phillips in the triage area was so alarming that she typed detailed notes of the conversation within an hour of its end. She testified Prather told her that he and Phillips were drinking at Victim's house, and that Prather left Phillips at the house and later returned. Sharpe testified Prather told her that when he (Prather) returned, Victim answered the door nude and asked Prather if he knew that Phillips liked receiving fellatio. Sharpe testified Prather told her he went inside the home and found Phillips wearing only his underwear. Sharpe testified Prather and Phillips admitted to beating up Victim, and Prather said to her, "He's probably still laying there."
Sharpe testified Prather then asked to wash his hands, and Sharpe told him he could use the sink there in the triage area. Sharpe testified that as Prather washed his hands, he "kind of chuckled" and said he did not like getting blood on his hands. Sharpe then asked Prather for Victim's address, and Prather asked Phillips, "Do you still have his wallet?" According to Sharpe, Phillips handed Victim's wallet to Prather, and Prather took Victim's identification card from the wallet and gave the wallet and card to her. Sharpe in turn gave these items to her supervisor, who gave them to law enforcement. Sharpe testified Prather asked her, "I'll probably go to jail for this, won't I?" Sharpe asked Prather if he was referring to him beating Victim; she stated Prather's response to her was,
Officer Brandon Field was dispatched to check on Victim and entered Victim's home through a partially open window. Field testified he found Victim dead "underneath a blanket, kind of on [his] knees, knelt down, like face-down on the couch." Paramedic Virginia Youmans testified the word "rapist" was carved on the small of Victim's back. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Agent Al Stuckey testified he discovered a dildo underneath Victim's right armpit. Of note in this appeal are (1) the placement of the blanket and pillow, (2) the carving of the word "rapist," and (3) the placement of the dildo under Victim's armpit.
Officer Ronald Suber spoke with Prather at Lexington Medical. Suber testified Prather told him that after he, Phillips, and Victim finished drinking, he left Phillips passed out on Victim's couch. Suber's testimony regarding Prather's account of his departure and return to Victim's home tracked Nurse Sharpe's testimony as recited above. Suber testified Prather told him the last time he entered Victim's home, he found Phillips asleep in a bedroom wearing only his underwear. Prather said he woke Phillips up by shaking him, yelling at him, and pulling his hair. Suber further testified Prather told him, "I beat the shit out of [Victim] and those were devastating blows."
Sergeant Wayne Kleckley testified he also spoke with Prather at Lexington Medical and that Prather told him he "beat the shit out of [Victim,]" and that he "laid some devastating blows on him." Kleckley testified Prather demonstrated by balling up his fist and striking the palm of his other hand.
Dr. Janice Ross, a pathologist, testified the cause of Victim's death was homicide; specifically, she testified Victim's pre-existing enlarged heart and the stress of being beaten caused cardiac arrhythmia
(rapid heartbeat), which in turn caused Victim to die. She testified Victim suffered bruising around his left eye, a fractured nose
, scratch marks on his right thigh, bruises underneath the skin on his right chest and upper abdomen, two fractured ribs on his left side, bruising to his scalp, bruises and lacerations on the inside of his lips, a superficial burn mark consistent with a cigarette burn to the middle finger of his right hand, and an abrasion around his knuckle. Dr. Ross was unable to rule out smothering as contributing to Victim's death since he was found face-down on a couch.
Police found a Coca-Cola collectible box on the front passenger-side floorboard of Prather's car. Victim's aunt testified Victim inherited the item from his father and that Victim treasured the item and would never part with it.
Prather testified he and Phillips visited Victim and drank with Victim throughout the day before Victim died. Prather testified that sometime after Rabon arrived at Victim's home, Phillips and Victim got into a fight, and Phillips hit Victim in his face, mouth, chest, and stomach. Prather testified Phillips later hit Victim in the mouth again. Prather testified he left and returned to Victim's residence and that he and Victim later went to a bar. Prather testified that after he took Victim back to Victim's residence, he left to try to find some cocaine for Victim. According to Prather, when he returned to Victim's residence, Victim emerged from his bedroom nude with an erection and asked Prather if he ever had sexual relations with Phillips and whether he knew Phillips enjoyed receiving fellatio. Prather testified Victim walked towards him and when Prather stated he was going to take Phillips home, Victim responded that he was "not going any [expletive] where." Prather testified Victim grabbed his arm and that he hit Victim three times in self-defense.
Prather testified that when he woke Phillips up to take him home, he found a dildo on the bed by Phillips' feet. Prather testified Phillips hit Victim while they were looking for Phillips' clothes. Prather further testified that after he found Phillips' clothes, he and Phillips left Victim's residence, but Phillips went back inside to find his shoes. Prather testified he did not go back inside and that when he left Victim's residence, Victim was alive. Prather...
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