Lockhart v. State

Courtney Larrell Lockhart v. State of Alabama

CR-19-0703

Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

OCTOBER TERM, 2020-2021

April 23, 2021

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.

Appeal from Lee Circuit Court

(CC-08-197.60)

WINDOM, Presiding Judge.

Courtney Larrell Lockhart appeals the denial of his petition for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ala. R. Crim. P., in which he attacked his November 2010 conviction for capital murder in the death of Lauren Burk. See § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. By a vote of 12-0, the jury recommended that Lockhart be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The trial court did not follow the jury's recommendation and sentenced Lockhart to death. On August 30, 2013, this Court affirmed Lockhart's conviction and sentence. Lockhart v. State, 163 So. 3d 1088 (Ala. Crim. App. 2013). The certificate of judgment was issued on September 26, 2014. On April 20, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States denied Lockhart's petition for writ of certiorari.

On September 18, 2015, Lockhart filed this, his first, Rule 32 petition, in which he asserted various claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. (C. 16-102.) Lockhart filed an amended petition on May 2, 2016, (C. 148-254), and the State responded to that petition in a motion to dismiss filed on September 30, 2016. (C. 291-366.) On October 2, 2017, Lockhart added allegations to several of the claims asserted in his amended petition. (C. 450-57.) The State filed a response to the new allegations on November 15, 2017. (C. 498-505.) The circuit court conducted evidentiary hearings in December 2018 and February 2019.Lockhart and the State filed post-hearing briefs on May 15, 2019, and July 15, 2019, respectively. (C. 551-99, 610-73.) On April 3, 2020, the circuit court issued an order denying relief. (C. 676-706.)

This Court's opinion on direct appeal set out the following facts surrounding Lockhart's conviction:

"On March 4, 2008, [a] passersby discovered Lauren Burk, a student at Auburn University, in distress on Highway 147 in Lee County. Burk was naked and had numerous abrasions on her body. She was also suffering from a single gunshot wound to her upper body. Shortly after Burk was discovered, she died from the gunshot wound.

"On March 7, 2008, after being arrested by police officers in Phenix City, Lockhart was interviewed by law-enforcement officers from multiple agencies, including the Phenix City Police Department, the Auburn Police Department, and the Alabama Bureau of Investigations. After waiving his Miranda rights, Lockhart gave the law-enforcement officers a detailed oral confession that was recorded on video and shown to the jury at trial. Lockhart also gave the law-enforcement officers a signed, handwritten statement, which stated:

" 'On Tuesday of March - I am not sure of the date, but I was in Auburn, Alabama, and I was on [Auburn University] campus and I rode around the Auburn/Opelika area all day, and that night, I saw my victim, Lauren, and I ran up to her while she was getting in the car and I pushed her in the car and told her to give me her money. And I got in the car with her and just talked to her. Then Idrove her car off with her in it and was just riding, and I told her to take off her clothes and we kept riding. We were talking about how my life was over and how she could help me get a job and then after riding for about 30 minutes, we headed back to [Auburn University] campus, and on the way back we were still talking about my situation and how she could help me, and I was telling her that she couldn't help and that this was the end for me. And the gun went off, and she jumped out of the car. And I went to turn around, and at the turnaround point, there was already another truck turning around, so I just went straight to campus, but I stopped and filled her car up with gas. On the way to campus, I hear people standing on the street saying somebody's car is leaking gas, and I let the windows up and headed straight for campus. Set the car on fire. Left. Went to fuel my car up. Then went back to campus to make sure the car was burning. Saw that it was. Then headed to Atlanta. In addition to all of this, I threw her debit card out of the window on I-85 South, and I left her car keys in the car, in the ignition, and I also left her phone in the car.'

"(C. 986-87; R. 3891-94.)

"On March 9, 2008, Lockhart was again interviewed by officers with the Auburn Police Department. Again, Lockhart was advised of his Miranda rights, and he waived those rights. After waiving his Miranda rights, Lockhart gave the law-enforcement officers another statement. In that statement, Lockhart gave more detail about what transpired before he approached Burk on the evening she died:

" 'My name is Courtney Larrell Lockhart, and I am 23 years old. I have read my rights and I understand them. This is a true and voluntary statement. I have been working for War Grading for a year this coming April. I was working at a job site on North Dean Road in Auburn. I have worked at that site for about a month. It's between the Vet's office and a graphics place. Some days I drive back and forth myself and some days we meet at the office in Smith's, and I'll drive the truck. This past Monday I spent the night in the parking lot of the hospital in Opelika. I didn't think I had enough gas and I thought I was working the next day, anyway. It started raining that night and I knew we would not work the next day. About midmorning or noon, I went riding around. I stopped at a gas station catty-cornered from Golden Corral. I stayed in the Opelika/Auburn area and on campus. I drove back to the hospital parking lot while it was still daylight. I stayed there until dusk. I went riding around again. I ended up back on campus. Everybody was out running earlier, and when I got back, only a couple were running. I rode around campus and stopped in a parking lot. It was on top of the hill. Straight in front was a fence. Facing the fence on the right was some stairs going down the hill. I backed in at the fence so nobody couldn't see my tag. I could observe everything in front of me. I stayed there about two minutes. I moved to another spot. I saw a black female police officer drove by in a black and white. She parked and I moved because I was just sitting in the car. She did see me. I left also because I saw you had to have a parking permit to park there. I drove around, but I didn't leavecampus. This was when it was still daylight. I rode back by to see if the police officer was still there. The police officer was gone, and this was when it was still daylight. I then drove back to the hospital and parked. It was daylight when I parked. I sat there two or three hours before it got dusk. I parked where I could see the helopad in my rearview mirror. Right when it got dusk, I left and rode around to campus. Everybody was outside. I rode around campus for about an hour. I parked in the same parking lot as before and was talking on the phone. I parked there for awhile. I see Lauren getting into her car. She's already got her door open. She is doing it so slow. I get out of my car and walked over to her, behind her. When I saw Lauren, I hung up the phone, grabbed my gun, and came up behind her. I told her to get "the fuck in the car." I asked her how much money do you have. She didn't say anything. She was still screaming. I was sitting in the driver's seat, and she was in the passenger's seat. I was just sitting there, and she finally calmed herself down.'

"(C. 994-97; R. 3934-40.)

"When Lockhart was arrested, an iPod portable media device belonging to Burk was in his possession. (R. 3802-03, 3841.) When police officers searched Lockhart's car after his arrest, they discovered three spent .38-special shell casings and a green T-shirt inside the car. (R. 3764-65, 3768.) Law-enforcement officers also discovered a fired lead bullet in the burned remains of Burk's vehicle. (R. 3620, 3626-27, 3634.) When Lockhart was interviewed by the police shortly after he was arrested, he informed the police officers that he had thrown a handgun out of his car window as he passed bythe Publix supermarket on Summerville Road in Phenix City. (R. 3872-77.) Police officers searched the area around that Publix supermarket and recovered a handgun. (R. 3814-30.) Katherine Richert, a forensic scientist specializing in firearms and toolmarks examination for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that the handgun recovered from the area around the Publix supermarket had fired the bullet found in Burk's car and the shell casings found in Lockhart's car. (R. 4040-41, 4048.) Richert also testified that that gun functioned properly and that it required approximately five pounds of pressure to pull the trigger to the rear when the hammer was cocked. (R. 4042-45.) She further testified that the gun required approximately 12 pounds of pressure to pull the trigger to the rear when the hammer was not cocked. (R. 4045.) Kristin Maturi, a forensic DNA analyst with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that Burk's DNA profile and Lockhart's DNA profile matched DNA profiles obtained from the green T-shirt that was found inside Lockhart's car after he was arrested. (R. 4106-10.)

"Dr. John Daniels, a former medical examiner for the State of Alabama, performed the autopsy on Burk's body. Dr. Daniels testified that the cause of Burk's death was a single gunshot that entered her upper left back and exited through her right upper arm. (R. 3501.) Dr. Daniels testified that, based on the entrance wound, the muzzle of the

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