Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 30 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2001., No. 321 | 344
• Citation: 822 A.2d 1052
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware
• Parties: Milton E. TAYLOR, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

822 A.2d 1052

Milton E. TAYLOR, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Nos. , 2001.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: November 4, 2002.

Decided: April 30, 2003.

On Motion For Reargument May 14, 2003.

Bernard J. O'Donnell, Esquire (argued) and Todd E. Conner, Esquire, Assistant Public Defenders, Office of the Public Defender, Wilmington, Delaware, for Appellant.

Timothy J. Donovan, Jr., Esquire (argued), Thomas E. Brown, Esquire, and Elizabeth R. McFarlan, Esquire, Deputy Attorneys General, Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware, for Appellee.

Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, WALSH, HOLLAND, and STEELE, Justices and HARTNETT, Justice, (Retired),¹ constituting the Court En Banc. WALSH, Justice.

This is an appeal from the Superior Court following the imposition of a death sentence. The appellant, Milton Taylor ("Taylor"), was convicted of Murder in the First Degree for causing the death of his girlfriend, Theresa Williams ("Williams" or the "Victim"). During the penalty phase of the trial, the jury unanimously found the existence of two aggravating factors: that the Victim was pregnant, and that Taylor had previously been convicted of violent felonies. The jury determined by a vote of ten to two that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances. The trial judge concurred with the jury's determinations and sentenced Taylor to death. This appeal followed.

Taylor raises three issues in this appeal. First, Taylor claims that the unfolding and reading of a confession letter, discovered during an inventory search, violated his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Next, Taylor asserts that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), rendered Delaware's death penalty statute unconstitutional, and as such, his death sentence must be reversed. Finally, Taylor argues that the imposition of the death sentence in this case was disproportionate to similar sentences in similar cases. We find that Taylor's claims of error lack merit, and accordingly, we affirm the conviction and sentence.

I.

On the morning of March 23, 2000, Steven Butler ("Butler"), a maintenance worker at the Compton Townhouse complex in Wilmington, was awaiting the arrival of some contractors when he discovered two unattended children playing in the courtyard. He recognized the children, ages two and four, as those belonging to Williams.² Before he left to supervise the contractors, Butler instructed the children to stay away from the street until their mother came outside to join them.

Williams and her sister, Tawana Ricks ("Ricks"), previously planned to do some shopping together that morning, but Williams never arrived at the predetermined location. When Ricks could not reach her sister by telephone she decided to visit Williams' home. Ricks arrived at the Compton Townhouse complex and discovered her sister's two youngest children, unsupervised and playing in the vicinity of her sister's home. As Ricks was knocking on the locked door to Williams' home, Nathaniel Henry ("Henry"), Williams' uncle, arrived to deliver some furniture. Ricks and Henry grew increasingly concerned as their attempts to locate Williams failed.

Butler then joined Ricks and Henry. Upon Ricks' urging, Butler agreed to open Williams' door. Once inside, Butler and Henry discovered Williams' badly beaten and bloody body concealed beneath a blanket with a bicycle on top. Williams was bleeding from her nose and had a cord wrapped around her neck. Williams was not breathing and Butler called 911. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later revealed that Williams was strangled, beaten and cut. The autopsy also revealed that Williams was pregnant, and that the baby died as a result of Williams' death.³

Taylor was identified as a suspect in the murder when police learned that he had a relationship with Williams and that he had been seen in the vicinity of her home on the morning of March 23, 2000. On March 25, 2000 the police received a tip that Taylor was standing at a pay phone on the corner of 9th and Madison Streets. The police responded to the tip and placed Taylor under arrest. Although the arresting officers were aware that Taylor was wanted for questioning in regard to Williams' murder,⁴ the purpose for the arrest was an outstanding bench warrant.⁵

At the police station, Taylor was taken to an interview room where Officer Ronald Muniz ("Muniz") began routine inventory procedures. Muniz removed a folded piece of paper from the front pocket of Taylor's hooded sweatshirt and placed it on the table. Shortly thereafter, Detective James Diana ("Diana") entered the room, picked up the piece of paper, opened it and began to read it. He quickly realized that the paper contained a handwritten confession (the "Confession Letter")⁶ and therefore removed the letter from the other inventoried items so that it could be included as evidence.

The Confession Letter provided the basis for a search warrant for the Victim's car which was found parked on a street in New Castle. Inside the car the police found a thirteen-inch knife wrapped in a bloodstained tee shirt. The blood on the shirt matched the Victim's blood type. During the investigation it became clear that the apparent motive for the murder was that Taylor's current girlfriend had given him an ultimatum: end all contact with Williams or lose the current girlfriend. Taylor had apparently gone to see Williams to end contact with her and killed her in the process. Taylor did not testify at trial, nor did he offer any witnesses.

The trial court instructed the jury on both First and Second Degree Murder, but denied the defense request for an instruction on Manslaughter. On March 31, 2001, the jury found Taylor guilty of First Degree Murder. At the penalty phase, the jury found, by votes of 12 to 0 respectively, the existence of two statutory aggravating factors: that the Victim was pregnant, and that Taylor had previously been convicted of violent felonies. The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of 10 to 2, and after careful, independent consideration, the trial judge accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Taylor to death.

II.

We review "Constitutional claims de novo to determine if the trial court committed an error of law." Fink v. State, 817 A.2d 781, 788, 2003 Del. LEXIS 92, * 14 (Del.2003) (citing Seward v. State, 723 A.2d 365, 375 (Del.1999)). We also review the trial judge's denial of a motion to suppress de novo since the factual basis for the claim is undisputed. Id. In essence, Taylor argues that by unfolding the Confession Letter and reading it the police exceeded the scope of the inventory search, and thus violated the strictures of the Fourth Amendment which is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, Taylor argues that the trial judge erred by admitting the Confession Letter. We disagree.

A routine inventory search is a well-defined exception to the warrant requirement, and thus does not violate the United States Constitution. See Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640, 643, 103 S.Ct. 2605, 77 L.Ed.2d 65 (1983) (citing South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976)). In addition to ensuring officer safety, such routine procedures for the inventory of property also protect the police against claims of "theft, vandalism, or negligence[,]" and also ensure that such property will be safe while in police custody. See generally Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 373, 107 S.Ct. 738, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987). Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has held that "it is not `unreasonable' for police, as part of the routine procedure for incarcerating an arrested person, to search any container or article in his possession, in accordance with established inventory procedures." Lafayette, 462 U.S. at 648, 103 S.Ct. 2605 (footnote omitted).

As the Superior Court noted, the Wilmington Police Department's detailed written policies concerning inventory searches provide for the "seizing, cataloging and storing [of] an arrested person's ... papers[.]" State v. Taylor, 2001 WL 282813, *2, 2001 Del.Super. LEXIS 103, *4 (Mar. 20, 2001). Although these procedures do not expressly provide for the reading of papers seized during a routine inventory search, we conclude that the reading of such papers is necessary to properly catalogue and store the item. Additionally, we agree with the trial judge that the weight of authority permits police officers to read papers they seize during an inventory search. Id. at *2 n. 1, 2001 Del.Super. LEXIS at *6 n. 1. Accordingly, we find that the trial judge properly denied the motion to suppress the Confession Letter.

III.

Based upon the United States Supreme Court decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), Taylor challenges the constitutionality of his sentence which was imposed under the 1991 version of Section 4209. We resolved this issue in Brice v. State, 815 A.2d 314 (Del.2003), and on the basis of Brice, we have rejected challenges similar to those advanced here by Taylor. See Norcross v. State, 816 A.2d 757 (Del.2003); Reyes, 819 A.2d 305, 2003 Del. LEXIS 170 (Del.2003). We continue to adhere to our decision in Brice with regard to the issues raised by Ring.

At the close of the State's case, the prosecutor read into the record a number of stipulations entered into by the parties. Most important among these — for purposes of the finding of an aggravating circumstance under Section 4209 — was the fact that the Victim was pregnant at the time of her death.⁷ Accordingly, this aggravating factor was established, beyond a reasonable doubt, at the guilt phase, and Taylor was not entitled to a separate finding of this aggravating factor at the penalty phase. Indeed, to require the...