Carroll v. State

215 So.3d 1135

Taurus Jermaine CARROLL

v.STATE of Alabama.

CR–12–0599.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Aug. 14, 2015.

Rehearing Denied May 27, 2016.

Certiorari Denied Aug. 26, 2016

Alabama Supreme Court 1150953.

Randall Richardson, Pell City, for appellant.

Luther Strange, atty. gen., and Beth Jackson Hughes, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

WINDOM, Presiding Judge.

Taurus Jermaine Carroll appeals his two capital-murder convictions and sentences of death. Carroll was convicted of one count of murder made capital for intentionally taking the life of Michael Turner after having been convicted of another murder within the preceding 20 years, see § 13A–5–40(a)(13), Ala.Code 1975, and a second count of murder made capital for intentionally taking the life of Turner while Carroll was under a sentence of life imprisonment, see § 13A–5–40(a)(6), Ala.Code 1975. The jury unanimously recommended that Carroll be sentenced to death. The circuit court accepted the jury's recommendations and sentenced Carroll to death.

Facts

In 1997, Carroll was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death for killing Betty Long during the course of a first-degree robbery. See § 13A–5–40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975; Carroll v. State, 852 So.2d 801, 804 (Ala.Crim.App.1999). On appeal, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed Carroll's capital-murder conviction but reversed his sentence of death and remanded the cause with instructions that Carroll be resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ex parte Carroll, 852 So.2d 833, 837 (Ala.2002).

On September 14, 2009, Carroll, who was serving his sentence of life without the possibility of parole at St. Clair Correctional Facility, mistakenly believed that Turner, another inmate at St. Clair Correctional Facility, had stolen his cellular telephone.¹ That evening, Carroll asked Turner if Turner had taken Carroll's telephone. Turner stated that he did not take Carroll's telephone. Carroll did not believe Turner and told Turner that Turner needed to go find something to fight with because Carroll would be back to fight. Carroll then followed Turner to Turner's cell block, and the two separated.

Carroll returned twice, both times confronting Turner about the telephone. At some point, Carroll asked Turner whether Turner was going to return the telephone to Carroll. Turner stated that he did not have the telephone, and Carroll responded, "don't worry about it, I don't want it back. I'm fixing to kill your bitch ass. You need to go get you some help or get you a knife." (State's exhibit # 30.) Later, Carroll again asked Turner for the telephone.

Turner again denied having the telephone and walked past Carroll. When Turner walked past Carroll, Carroll stabbed him in the back with a knife fashioned out of part of an air-conditioner vent. Turner then ran from Carroll and tried to take cover in a prison cell by shutting the door. Carroll chased Turner and pushed his way into the prison cell. Once in the cell, Carroll stabbed Turner, who was unarmed, repeatedly in the head, neck, and body. While Carroll was stabbing Turner, Turner stated he did not have the telephone and begged Carroll not to kill him. At that point, Carroll stopped stabbing Turner and said: "Man, you could have did this before it came to this point, now you want to tell me somebody else [has] got it." (State's exhibit # 30.) At that point, Carroll started stabbing Turner again. During the attack, Carroll cut one of his own fingers.

After repeatedly stabbing Turner, Carroll walked away, threw the knife in a trash can, and went up stairs to the second tier of the prison. Once upstairs, Carroll took his shirt off and threw it on the ground. He then washed Turner's blood off his hands and arms.

At the same time, Turner left the cell and fell to the ground at the bottom of the stairs separating the first and second tiers of the prison. Turner was bleeding and complaining that he could not breathe. He was placed on the prison ambulance—a modified golf cart—and taken to the prison infirmary. While in the infirmary, Turner continued to complain that he could not breathe. Shortly after arriving at the infirmary, Turner died as a result of his wounds.

Meanwhile, prison guards went to the cell where Turner had been stabbed to investigate the disturbance. After washing his hand and arms, Carroll came back down the stairs and indicated to prison guards that it was he who had stabbed Turner. After Carroll received medical treatment for the cut on his finger, Carroll was placed in segregation where he admitted to correctional officer Brandon Carter that he had intended to kill Turner.

Early the next morning, Carroll was interviewed by two investigators, Robert G. Holtam and Milton Charles "M.C." Smith, with the Investigation and Intelligence Division of the Alabama Department of Corrections ("I and I Division"). Carroll was read his Miranda rights, indicated that he understood those rights, and stated that he wished to waive them.² Carroll then gave a full confession, which was recorded.

During the investigation, officers recovered the knife from the trash can where Carroll said he disposed of it. Officers also seized the pants Carroll had been wearing during the attack. DNA testing indicated that blood recovered from the knife and Carroll's pants belonged to Turner.

The autopsy performed by Dr. Emily Ward indicated that Turner sustained 16 stab wounds to his head, neck, and body. One stab wound to his head penetrated his skull. Turner was also stabbed in the neck, penetrating the muscle and severing the right jugular vein. Additionally, Turner's right lung was punctured. According to Dr. Ward, Turner's wounds would have been extremely painful, and he would have experienced the feeling of suffocating. Dr. Ward testified that Turner "would have been suffering a combination of fear and panic, not being able to breathe and also the pain associated with the injuries." (R. 708.) Dr. Ward further testified that "Turner died as a result of multiple stab wounds and cuts." (R. 708.)

Standard of Review

This Court has explained that:

" ‘When evidence is presented ore tenus to the trial court, the court's findings of fact based on that evidence are presumed to be correct,’ Ex parte Perkins, 646 So.2d 46, 47 (Ala.1994) ; ‘[w]e indulge a presumption that the trial court properly ruled on the weight and probative force of the evidence,’ Bradley v. State, 494 So.2d 750, 761 (Ala.Crim.App.1985), aff'd, 494 So.2d 772 (Ala.1986) ; and we make ‘ "all the reasonable inferences and credibility choices supportive of the decision of the trial court." ’ Kennedy v. State, 640 So.2d 22, 26 (Ala.Crim.App.1993), quoting Bradley, 494 So.2d at 761."

State v. Hargett, 935 So.2d 1200, 1203 (Ala.Crim.App.2005). A circuit court's "ruling on a question of law[, however,] carries no presumption of correctness, and this Court's review is de novo." Ex parte Graham, 702 So.2d 1215, 1221 (Ala.1997). Thus, "[w]hen the trial court improperly applies the law to the facts, no presumption of correctness exists as to the court's judgment." Ex parte Jackson, 886 So.2d 155, 159 (Ala.2004).

Further, because Carroll has been sentenced to death, this Court must search the record for plain error. Rule 45A, Ala. R.App. P., states:

"In all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, the Court of Criminal Appeals shall notice any plain error or defect in the proceedings under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."

(Emphasis added.)

In Ex parte Brown, 11 So.3d 933 (Ala.2008), the Alabama Supreme Court explained:

" ‘ "To rise to the level of plain error, the claimed error must not only seriously affect a defendant's ‘substantial rights,’ but it must also have an unfair prejudicial impact on the jury's deliberations." ' Ex parte Bryant, 951 So.2d 724, 727 (Ala.2002) (quoting Hyde v. State, 778 So.2d 199, 209 (Ala.Crim.App.1998) ). In United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), the United States Supreme Court, construing the federal plain-error rule, stated:

" ‘The Rule authorizes the Courts of Appeals to correct only "particularly egregious errors," United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163 (1982), those errors that "seriously affect the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings," United States v. Atkinson, 297 U.S. [157], at 160 [ (1936) ]. In other words, the plain-error exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule is to be "used sparingly, solely in those circumstances in which a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result." United States v. Frady, 456 U.S., at 163, n. 14.’

"See also Ex parte Hodges, 856 So.2d 936, 947–48 (Ala.2003) (recognizing that plain error exists only if failure to recognize the error would ‘seriously affect the fairness or integrity of the judicial proceedings,’ and that the plain-error doctrine is to be ‘used sparingly, solely in those circumstances in which a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result’ (internal quotation marks omitted))."

11 So.3d at 938. "The standard of review in reviewing a claim under the plain-error doctrine is stricter than the standard used in reviewing an issue that was properly raised in the trial court or on appeal." Hall v. State, 820 So.2d 113, 121 (Ala.Crim.App.1999). Although Carroll's failure to object at trial will not bar this Court from reviewing any issue, it will weigh against any claim of prejudice. See Dill v. State, 600 So.2d 343 (Ala.Crim.App.1991).

I.

Carroll first argues that the circuit court erroneously found that he is not mentally retarded; therefore, he is eligible for a death sentence. Carroll asserts that an intelligence quotient ("IQ") test performed by Dr. Jerry Gragg indicated that Carroll has a full-scale IQ score of 71, which, according to Carroll, falls within what the Supreme...