Watson v. State
| Decision Date | 10 January 2020 |
| Docket Number | CR-18-0435,CR-18-0377 |
| Parties | Alyssa Sue Watson v. State of Alabama Marcus King George v. State of Alabama |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
Alyssa Sue Watson and Marcus King George were each indicted for felony murder (murder committed during the course of a kidnapping in the first degree), see § 13A-6-2(a)(3), Ala. Code 1975, and for kidnapping in the first degree, see § 13A-6-43(a)(4), Ala. Code 1975, in connection with the kidnapping and subsequent death of Samantha Payne. On motion of the State, the trial court consolidated the cases for trial. After being instructed on the applicable principles of law, a jury found Watson and George guilty of felony murder and first-degree kidnapping as charged in the indictments. The trial court sentenced both Watson and George to 30 years' imprisonment for each conviction, the sentences to run concurrently. Watson and George filed timely notices of appeal. Because Watson and George were tried together and raise the same or similar issues on appeal, we have consolidated the two appeals for purposes of issuing a single opinion.
The evidence adduced at trial indicated the following. On October 30, 2015, Payne told her mother that she was goingto a party with Watson, George, Chylli Bruce, and Mike Belcher. Payne, who lived with her parents, did not return home from the party. After not hearing from her daughter for a few days, Payne's mother, Suzanne, telephoned Belcher and asked if he had seen Payne. Belcher laughed and said he had not seen her. The afternoon of November 9, 2015, Suzanne notified law enforcement that Payne was missing. She provided a description of her daughter as well as identifying characteristics, including that Payne had a tattoo of a butterfly on her lower back. Within hours, law-enforcement officers arrived at Suzanne's home with a photograph of the butterfly tattoo, and informed her that her daughter's body had been found.
A local hunter had found Payne's body in the Talladega National Forest in Tuscaloosa County the morning her mother reported her missing. When Payne was found, her body was largely decomposed and her skull was found approximately 14 feet from her body. Her arms and wrists were bound and had been tied to a tree with a belt, shoestring, and coaxial cable. She was nude, and pieces of what appeared to be women's clothing were found nearby, including a pair of jeansfound next to a nearby road. Steven F. Dunton, a pathologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences ("DFS"), performed an autopsy on Payne's remains. The majority of her internal organs were missing, and there was little to no tissue left on her legs, skull, and hands. There was evidence of hemorrhaging in the areas where her arms had been bound, thus suggesting that Payne was likely alive when she was tied up, and four of her ribs were fractured. Because of the advanced state of decomposition, Dr. Dunton was unable to determine the cause or manner of Payne's death but he indicated that the circumstances of her discovery were "strongly suggestive of foul play." (State's Exhibit 93.)
Investigators with the Tuscaloosa Police Department and the Tuscaloosa Sheriff's Department quickly learned that, a week before Payne's body had been found, Bruce and Steven George ("Steven")1 had been arrested in Hale County near the Talladega National Forest.2 They both had blood on their clothes. A knife was found on the ground nearby, and Stevenhad two cellular telephones on his person, one of which Steven later said belonged to Belcher. After investigators spoke with Bruce and Steven, they were able to identify the remains found in the forest as Payne's, and Watson, George, and Belcher became suspects in her death.
As part of plea agreements with the State, Steven and Bruce both testified against Watson and George about the events leading to Payne's death.3 Steven testified that on November 1, 2015, he, Belcher, and Bruce were "working on bikes and getting high" at Wee Racing, a motorcycle-repair shop owned by Belcher's father. (R. 438.)4 At some point that evening, Payne arrived at the shop. Watson and George arrived sometime later. When Payne went to the bathroom "todo her a shot of dope," Steven took the keys to her automobile and asked if George wanted to go for a ride. (R. 440.) As Steven and George drove around, Steven decided he wanted to steal the catalytic convertor and battery from Payne's vehicle. Steven drove George back to Wee Racing and George agreed to meet him at the Harrisburg bridge. Once at the bridge, Steven took the battery out of Payne's vehicle and waited for George to arrive. George arrived with Watson about 30 minutes later; he had brought with him the equipment needed to remove the catalytic convertor. Watson removed clothing from the passenger compartment of Payne's vehicle and Steven removed the catalytic convertor. Steven then punctured the gas tank and set the vehicle on fire.
Steven, Watson, and George drove to Belcher's residence, where Steven changed clothes and put the catalytic convertor and battery inside the house. The three then drove back to Wee Racing. As they pulled up to the shop, Belcher and Bruce were leaving in Belcher's automobile. Steven said that he could see that Bruce was driving and that Belcher was in the backseat but could not see anything else in the vehicle. After a short discussion, Steven, Watson, and George followedBelcher and Bruce to Belcher's residence. Once at the residence, Belcher dragged Payne out of the backseat of the vehicle and began beating her, "slamming" her on the ground, and kicking her. (R. 457.) As Belcher was beating Payne, "[a] bunch of police went by" and Steven heard someone say they needed to go somewhere else. (R. 459.) Steven did not know who made the statement but he said that it was a male voice. According to Steven, Payne fought Belcher when he tried to force Payne back into his vehicle, and Watson hit Payne on the head with a pistol. Payne went limp, and Belcher was able to get Payne into the vehicle.
Steven testified that he, George, and Watson followed the vehicle carrying Belcher, Bruce, and Payne to property he believed belonged to Watson's family, on which there was a house and a mobile home. Belcher pulled Payne out of his vehicle and again began "kicking her and stomping her." (R. 467.) Belcher then told Steven to get something to restrain Payne. Steven used his knife to cut "cable wire" (R. 468) from the outside of the mobile home and he and George "found some old shoestrings" inside the mobile home. (R. 470.) When he and George returned to the others, Steven said, a fire wasburning in a barrel and Watson was putting in the fire the clothes she had taken from Payne's vehicle. Watson and Bruce also tried to remove Payne's press-on fingernails because, Steven said, they were worried DNA might be under the fingernails. According to Steven, he helped Belcher tie Payne's hands and feet, and, when daylight approached, he and Belcher put Payne in the trunk of Belcher's vehicle. Steven testified that he asked Belcher why he was doing what he was to Payne, and Belcher said it was because Payne had been talking to law enforcement about his selling methamphetamine and "was trying to set him up." (R. 474.)
Steven, George, and Watson again followed the vehicle carrying Belcher, Bruce, and Payne as they left Belcher's residence. During the drive, Payne tried to escape from the trunk of Belcher's vehicle. Belcher stopped and had Steven get in the backseat and hold the backseat so Payne could not get from the trunk into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. After driving further, Belcher stopped a second time near the forest, and George said he knew a place to take Payne. The vehicle carrying Belcher, Bruce, Steven, and Payne then followed George and Watson until Belcher's vehicle ranout of gas. Bruce, using Belcher's cellular telephone, attempted to telephone George and Watson to let them know Belcher's vehicle had run out of gas and that they were no longer following George and Watson. Steven assisted Belcher in getting Payne out of the trunk and dragging her into the forest. When Payne started "getting loud," Belcher began "stomping her in the face, telling her to shut up" and threatening to kill her. (R. 483.) Belcher told Steven to go back to the vehicle and get something to further restrain Payne and he asked Steven for Steven's knife. Steven gave Belcher his knife and returned to the vehicle. When he left, Steven said, Payne was alive, was bound, and was fully clothed.
When Steven got back to the vehicle, he and Bruce attempted to leave, but made it only about 100 yards before the vehicle died again. Steven and Bruce then began walking to find gasoline. All the doors on the vehicle were closed when they left. Using Belcher's cell phone, Steven eventually telephoned his brother and asked him to bring gasoline. His brother did so. When Steven and Bruce got back to Belcher's vehicle, the back door on the driver's side was open andSteven's knife was on the ground near the tire. As he and Bruce waited by the vehicle, a deputy with the Hale County Sheriff's Department saw them and approached. Steven testified that he had narcotics on his person and he and Bruce were arrested.
Bruce testified that the night of November 1, 2015, she was at Wee Racing using drugs with Payne, Belcher, Steven, Watson, and George. Eventually, everyone left except her, Belcher, and Payne. Payne...
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