Yeatts v. Com.

• Decision Date: 20 September 1991
• Docket Number: 910340,Nos. 910339,s. 910339
• Citation: 242 Va. 121,410 S.E.2d 254
• Parties: Ronald Dale YEATTS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 254

410 S.E.2d 254

242 Va. 121

Ronald Dale YEATTS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record Nos. 910339, 910340.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

Sept. 20, 1991.

George A. Jones, Jr., Chatham, David A. Furrow, Rocky Mount, for appellant.

Kathleen B. Martin, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Mary Sue Terry, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Present: CARRICO, C.J., and COMPTON, STEPHENSON, RUSSELL, ^* WHITING, LACY and HASSELL, JJ.

CARRICO, Chief Justice.

In the first phase of a bifurcated trial conducted pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-264.3 and -264.4, a jury convicted Ronald Dale Yeatts of robbery and capital murder in the commission of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon. The jury fixed Yeatts's punishment for robbery at 20 years in the penitentiary. In the second phase, the jury fixed Yeatts's punishment for capital murder at death, based upon a finding of "future dangerousness."

After considering a post-sentence report prepared by a probation officer, Code § 19.2-264.5, the trial court imposed the sentences fixed by the jury. Yeatts is here for automatic review of his death sentence, and we have consolidated that review with his appeal of his capital murder conviction. Code § 17-110.1. We have also certified from the Court of Appeals Yeatts's conviction for robbery, Code § 17-116.06, and we have given the entire matter priority on our docket, Code § 17-110.2.

According to established principles, we will state the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. On the afternoon of September 23, 1989, Yeatts and a friend, Charles Michael Vernon, drank beer and smoked marijuana and crack cocaine together. ¹ Yeatts asked Vernon whether he knew anyone "that had any money or anything." Vernon said he knew "this lady that might have some money."

With Vernon driving, the two men started out for the home of 70-year-old Ruby Meeks Dodson in rural Pittsylvania County. Vernon and his father had earlier performed plumbing work for Ms. Dodson, and Vernon knew she kept money in her home.

As they neared the Dodson place, Yeatts asked Vernon if he had a knife, and Vernon handed over a pocket knife with a three-inch blade. When Vernon stopped the car in front of the house, Yeatts told him to "pop the hood," and the two alighted from the vehicle and looked at the motor.

Ms. Dodson "stepped out" and asked what the two men wanted. Yeatts told her they were having car trouble and asked "something about the phone." Yeatts then requested a glass of water, and when Ms. Dodson brought it to him, he handed it to Vernon, who poured it out. Yeatts asked for another glass of water, and, as Ms. Dodson stepped inside to get it, Yeatts followed her into the house. Vernon also entered the house and went directly to the bedroom, where he "assumed [Ms. Dodson] kept her money," and began searching through drawers but found nothing.

While in the bedroom, Vernon heard someone say, "[o]h Lord." Yeatts then came into the bedroom and "started going through the drawers [but] didn't find anything [and] wiped off a few knobs on the dresser." Yeatts then "grabbed a pocketbook" and said, "let's go." The two men returned to the car. Vernon observed that Yeatts still held the knife and had blood on his hand. Vernon said to Yeatts, "you didn't kill her did you?" Yeatts replied, "I cut her throat, don't worry about it, drive." When Vernon "asked [Yeatts] why," Yeatts said: "[B]ecause she seen [my] face."

Upon examining Ms. Dodson's pocketbook, Yeatts found it contained a sum of money, which he divided into two piles. Vernon's share amounted to approximately $700. The pair drove to a riverbank. There, Yeatts first tried to burn the pocketbook and then threw it and the knife into the river. ²

Later the same afternoon, a neighbor went to the Dodson home and discovered Ms. Dodson's body in the kitchen. Ms. Dodson had been stabbed numerous times, her throat had been slashed, and she was lying in a pool of blood.

Police officers soon arrived on the scene and began an investigation. They found bloody shoe prints on the kitchen floor and on a floor mat. Later analysis showed that the shoe prints conformed in size and sole design to tennis shoes seized from Yeatts, and not to shoes seized from Vernon.

The police also discovered a pair of sunglasses on the kitchen floor "approximately two feet from Ms. Dodson's right foot." A fingerprint found on the sunglasses matched the print of Brenda Dalton, Yeatts's girlfriend, who lived with him in his parents' home. No evidence placed Brenda Dalton at the crime scene.

After his arrest, Yeatts gave the police several statements in which he implicated himself in Ms. Dodson's death. He also admitted to his sister-in-law, Debbie Yeatts, that he killed Ms. Dodson. ³

I.

ISSUES PREVIOUSLY RESOLVED.

On appeal, Yeatts raises a number of issues which have been resolved by previous decisions of this Court. Because Yeatts has advanced no persuasive reason why we should depart from the views previously expressed, we will reaffirm the earlier decisions and reject Yeatts's contentions. The issues Yeatts raises and decisions resolving them are as follows:

Virginia's death penalty statutes fail to guide the jury's discretion. Resolved by M. Smith v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 455, 476-77, 248 S.E.2d 135, 148 (1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 2419, 60 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1979).

The use of prior convictions as evidence of future dangerousness constitutes double jeopardy. Resolved by Watkins v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 341, 352, 385 S.E.2d 50, 56 (1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1074, 110 S.Ct. 1797, 108 L.Ed.2d 798 (1990).

The death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Resolved by M. Smith, 219 Va. at 476, 248 S.E.2d at 148.

The jury instructions and verdict forms employed at the penalty stage tend to inhibit the jury from giving independent weight to mitigating factors. Resolved by LeVasseur v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 564, 595, 304 S.E.2d 644, 661 (1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 744, 79 L.Ed.2d 202 (1984).

Virginia denies capital defendants meaningful appellate review. Resolved by Stockton v. Commonwealth, 241 Va. 192, 216, 402 S.E.2d 196, 210 (1991).

The reference in Code § 19.2-264.2 to the "past criminal record of convictions of the defendant" is in conflict with the reference in Code § 19.2-264.4(C) to the "prior history of the defendant." Resolved by LeVasseur, 225 Va. at 593-94, 304 S.E.2d at 660.

Refusal to provide a court-appointed private investigator denies meaningful access to justice. Resolved by Gray v. Commonwealth, 233 Va. 313, 330, 356 S.E.2d 157, 166, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 873, 108 S.Ct. 207, 98 L.Ed.2d 158 (1987).

Use of death qualification voir dire questions denies a defendant the right to a jury representative of a cross-section of the community. Resolved by Pruett v. Commonwealth, 232 Va. 266, 277-78, 351 S.E.2d 1, 7-8 (1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 931, 107 S.Ct. 3220, 96 L.Ed.2d 706 (1987).

Additional peremptory challenges are necessary in capital cases to ensure that a sentence of death is not the result of arbitrary factors or prejudice. Resolved by Buchanan v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 389, 405, 384 S.E.2d 757, 767 (1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1063, 110 S.Ct. 880, 107 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990).

A capital defendant should be allowed to explain to the jury his parole eligibility in the event a life sentence is imposed. Resolved by Stamper v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 260, 277-78, 257 S.E.2d 808, 820-21 (1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 972, 100 S.Ct. 1666, 64 L.Ed.2d 249 (1980).

II.

PRETRIAL MATTERS.

a. Motion to Suppress Statements.

Yeatts was arrested on September 28, 1989, the fifth day after Ms. Dodson's murder, by Michael Taylor, an investigator for the Pittsylvania County Police Department. At the time of the arrest and later at the Sheriff's Department, Taylor gave Yeatts the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Speaking of the "offense itself," Yeatts said: "This is b___ s___."

In a pretrial motion, Yeatts sought the suppression of four statements he made to the police following his arrest, and he assigns error to the trial court's denial of the motion. The statements were made under the following circumstances:

On September 30, Yeatts requested that Investigator Taylor, with whom he was acquainted, talk with him at the jail. Taylor visited Yeatts about 8:30 p.m., read him the Miranda warnings, and secured his signature on a waiver form which stated that Yeatts did not "want a lawyer at this time." After some general conversation, Taylor asked Yeatts if he had a lawyer. Receiving a negative response, Taylor asked Yeatts whether he wanted a lawyer "here." Yeatts replied, "[m]ight." Taylor again asked Yeatts whether he wanted a lawyer present during their interview. Yeatts replied, "[n]aw. I'm talking to you."

In the course of this first interview, Yeatts, with apparent reference to his earlier "[t]his is b___ s___" statement, said he had "lied" to Taylor. Yeatts admitted that on the date in question, he was with Michael Vernon in a car travelling "on some back road," and he volunteered the information that he knew "where [Ms. Dodson's] pocketbook [was] at."

On his own initiative, Taylor returned to the jail about 10:00 p.m. the same evening and told Yeatts he "want[ed] to talk to [him] a little bit about the offense itself." Taylor repeated the Miranda warnings and had Yeatts sign another form waiving counsel. In addition, Taylor asked Yeatts if he had an attorney representing him. Yeatts said he had "[n]o attorney at all" and agreed to talk to Taylor.

In this second interview, Yeatts told Taylor that he and Vernon went to Ms. Dodson's home and parked the car. Yeatts claimed to know very little about what transpired. He remembered that Vernon asked Ms. Dodson if she had "any toilet paper" and that he saw Vernon holding a pocketbook, which he handed to Yeatts. The two then drove to a riverbank, where Vernon took...