Abrams v. State

331 So.3d 1184

Everett Bernard ABRAMS, Jr.

v.STATE of Alabama

CR-19-0434

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

February 5, 2021

Todd H. Barksdale, Talladega, for appellant.

Steve Marshall, att'y gen., and Beth Slate Poe, asst. att'y gen., for appellee.

McCOOL, Judge.

Everett Bernard Abrams, Jr., appeals his conviction for the murder of his wife, Jennifer Abrams, a violation of § 13A-6-2, Ala. Code 1975, and his resulting sentence of 69 years’ imprisonment.

Facts and Procedural History

The evidence presented at Abrams's trial tended to establish the following facts. At the time of the events giving rise to this case, Abrams and his wife Jennifer lived together with their two children. On May 29, 2017, Cynthia Montgomery, Jennifer's mother, was speaking with Jennifer on the telephone while Jennifer was preparing dinner. Montgomery testified that, while she was speaking with Jennifer, she "hear[d] [Abrams's] voice in the background" (R. 71), and she testified as follows regarding what she heard:

"[Abrams] came through the door fussing about something that happened at work with his normal GD, MF, and things like that coming through the door. I'm familiar with the house, so I could tell that he was coming through the door and heard the door shut. The kitchen is that close or [Jennifer] was that close to the door. He came in, got to where, apparently, she was because his voice got much louder, and he started all over again with the cussing and carrying on and asking what was for supper. She said spaghetti. Which she had already told me that he would be mad about it because he said they had spaghetti a couple of times, because that's what the kids wanted and she was all about her kids. Just like she said, he came in the door, asked what was for dinner. She said spaghetti, and it was, ‘Oh my God. GD. We're having effing spaghetti again.’ At that point, Jennifer said, ‘Mom, I told you’ and ‘I gotta go’ and ‘I'll talk to you later’ and that was the last time I talked to her."

(R. 71-72.)

Abrams and Jennifer's son, Jaysun -- who was almost nine years old at that time -- testified that he was in the kitchen with Jennifer when Abrams arrived home and began "fussing and cussing." (R. 85.) Jaysun testified that, at that point, he "went in the living room ... and sat down and played on [his] phone" (R. 85), and, according to Jaysun, Abrams continued "fussing" for approximately 15 minutes (R. 91), at which point, Jaysun testified, he heard what "sounded like a police gun." (R. 88.) Jaysun testified that he then ran back to the kitchen, where he observed Jennifer sitting on the kitchen floor, bleeding, and a handgun on the kitchen countertop. According to Jaysun, Abrams told him and his sister to go outside, and Abrams ran to a neighbor's house to seek help and returned approximately five minutes later.

Sequoyah Jackson, the Abramses’ neighbor, testified that, on May 29, 2017, she was inside her house when she "heard someone hollering for help" and "saying ‘somebody call 911.’ " (R. 144.) According to Jackson, when she went outside, Abrams was "coming ... to [her] yard" (R. 144) with his children and "said there had been an accident" (R. 145) but "didn't say what kind of accident." (R. 146.) After telephoning emergency 9-1-1, Jackson went to the Abramses’ house, where Abrams had returned, and, as to what occurred next, Jackson testified on direct examination as follows:

"A. ... I went to the [Abramses'] house ... and [w]hen I entered the house -- [Abrams] had told me to come in. When I entered that house, ... that's when I seen him holding [Jennifer].

"Q. Okay. And that's when he told you a little bit more --

"A. He ... told ... me that she had accidently -- when she -- he said that she grabbed the gun when he pulled it out his pocket.

"....

"A. And it accidentally went off or when she grabbed it, it -- grabbed the trigger, she -- he was just like it accidentally shot her.

"Q. Okay. So he told you that she grabbed the gun and it accidentally went off?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. And did he demonstrate to you how that happened at that point?

"A. He said that he had pulled it out of his pocket and when -- she reached for it and it went off.

"....

"Q. Show me ... how he demonstrated with his hand.

"A. He said he pulled it out of his pocket and that she had reached, because she asked him about the gun, and it went off.

"Q. Okay. And you're showing ... your hand is lowered at ... your hip? Is at your hip level?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. And is that the way the defendant showed it to you?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. Is that ... where the gun went off?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. When she grabbed at it?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"....

"Q. Did you see Jennifer Abrams in the house?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. Tell me what her condition was when you saw her.

"A. She was on the floor. It was like -- you could still hear her breathing, like she was gargling blood. And it was like if you put her down -- that she was going to choke if he laid her down, so --

"....

"Q. Okay. Was she sitting?

"A. Yes. She was, like, in a sitting position, but he was holding her up. Because when he laid her down, she would start[ ] gargling.

"Q. So she was sitting, but kind of leaning or propping and he was trying to hold her?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"....

"Q. Was Mrs. Abrams able to say anything?

"A. No, ma'am.

"Q. Did you see her injuries?

"A. On the side of her head.

"Q. Okay. Did you talk with the [Abramses'] kids when they were outside? Did you talk with the kids at all?

"A. When we was out there, it was a bunch of us around. So directly speaking to me, no, ma'am. But when everybody was out there, they was like that their mom and dad was arguing about spaghetti or over spaghetti. Because I was the one that turned off the stove because they was cooking when the argument happened and ... they was like they heard a gunshot.

"Q. Okay. Were the children upset?

"A. Yes, ma'am. They kept asking was they mom gonna make it.

"Q. Okay. Were they crying?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. And, so, during that excited state, they made statements about the argument that they had heard?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"....

"Q. And they indicated to you that the argument was over spaghetti?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. And you -- did you see spaghetti cooking on the stove?

"A. It looked like sloppy joe, maybe spaghetti meat, or something."

(R. 146-51.) On cross-examination, Jackson testified:

"Q. Okay. All right. So was [Abrams] -- I imagine he was kind of in shock or was freaking out when you came in the kitchen. Was he?

"A. Yeah. He was ... saying ‘why’ and ‘why'd you do this’ and, like, ‘why did you accidentally shoot ... yourself?’ It was like he was asking ‘why’ and he was crying.

"Q. Okay. But he clearly told you that he had pulled that gun out of his pocket and when she went to grab it, it went off; correct?

"A. Yes."

(R. 153.) On redirect examination, Jackson testified:

"Q. Ms. Jackson, you did say that [Abrams] demonstrated to you how this so-called accident happened; correct?

"A. Yes, ma'am.

"Q. And at no time in his demonstration or in his relay to you about the facts did he say that shot happened higher than his hip level?

"A. Right."

(R. 156.)

Following the shooting, Demarco Willis, an investigator with the Talladega County Sheriff's Office, was dispatched to Coosa Valley Medical Center, where Jennifer had been transported and where Inv. Willis spoke with Abrams. Regarding his conversation with Abrams, Inv. Willis testified:

"I just kind of asked [Abrams], I said, ‘Well, man, if you don't mind me asking, kind of what happened so we can get kind of a quick rundown of what happened today.’ And he said ... he had been into a semi-argument with another mother of one of his other children that was not in the home with him. He went back in the home, had spoke with the victim about her making dinner. I think she makes a reference that she was going to make spaghetti, according to him, at that time and he said, you know, ‘I'm going to starve if I have spaghetti again.’ ... He stated that he went up behind the victim -- I'm assuming that she was cooking -- made the statement to her, ‘You think you're tough, don't you?’ He said they normally play like that. She would normally kind of, I guess, push back at him because he's standing directly behind her is how he's explaining. That she would be in front of him; he's standing directly behind her. She would sometimes motion to push back and they're playing like that. Well, this time she supposedly grabbed him and he advised that he was leaning back for some purpose and he ultimately, in turn, hears a pop at that time and it appears that that's when he realizes that she's been shot."

(R. 196-97.)

Alvis Crow, Jr., an investigator with the Talladega County Sheriff's Office, also spoke with Abrams at Coosa Valley Medical Center and testified as follows regarding Abrams's explanation of the shooting:

"[Abrams] said what happened was he was at the house with his wife, Jennifer. He was outside in the backyard. He was talking to his baby's mother. They were having an argument. He said he had a .22 Derringer type gun that he kept on his person because of recent threats that were made toward him by this other mother. He said that he got into an argument with her and he came inside. When he came inside, he went up to Jennifer, said the kids are hungry, you need to start cooking. She says, ‘I've already started cooking. I've got -- I'm cooking spaghetti.’ He said -- he made the comment that ‘if I have spaghetti again, I'm going to die.’ She's over there cooking. He said he goes up to her -- he goes up behind her, does what they call hunching or humping where he gets up behind her and rubs against her backside. When he did that, she didn't hump back; she started to turn. When she started to turn, at the same time, he was reaching in his pocket to get the gun out because he didn't want his son to know he had the gun. She turned around, grabbed his arm, and when she grabbed his arm, the gun just went off and went pow."

(R. 206-07.) Inv. Crow testified that Abrams claimed the shooting occurred ...