Mootye v. State

287 So.3d 270

Gregory Eugene MOOTYE, III a/k/a Gregory Mootye, Appellant

v.STATE of Mississippi, Appellee

NO. 2016-KA-01016-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 4, 2019

Rehearing Denied September 10, 2019

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER, BY: JUSTIN TAYLOR COOK

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, BY: ALICIA MARIE AINSWORTH, JACKSON

EN BANC.

CARLTON, P.J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. After a jury trial in Forrest County Circuit Court, Gregory Mootye was convicted of three counts of deliberate-design murder. For each count, he was sentenced to serve life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), with the sentences to run consecutively.

¶2. Mootye now appeals and asserts the following assignments of error: (1) the trial court erred in denying his alibi instruction; (2) the trial court erred in overruling his Batson¹ objection; and (3) his trial counsel was ineffective. Finding no error, we affirm Mootye's convictions and sentences.

FACTS

¶3. At approximately 4:40 a.m. on Monday, February 22, 2010, Officers Robert Sybert and Jason Pitts of the Hattiesburg Police Department were dispatched to 817 Dabbs Street in response to a 911 hangup call. Even though the door was locked, it was ajar. The officers entered the home, identifying themselves as law enforcement. Although the house was dark, Officer Sybert detected movement in a doorway and saw what appeared to be a white reflective band on the back of a person's jacket. As he moved toward the individual, Officer Sybert tripped over the body of a female covered in blood on the floor. The suspect, a tall black male wearing a dark-colored hooded jacket with what appeared to be a white shirt underneath, responded to the officers' commands and moved forward slowly. However, when Officer Pitts tried to arrest the suspect, he snatched his arm away, ran past the officers, and jumped off the porch. The officers chased the suspect but were unable to apprehend him.

¶4. The deceased victim on the floor was identified as Angelica Twillie. A second deceased female—Angelica's mother, Alesia Twillie—was discovered in a bedroom.² Autopsies of the women revealed they had both been shot and stabbed multiple times. Furthermore, Angelica was several months pregnant, and it was determined that the unborn child's cause of death was ureteral placenta insufficiency due to the homicidal death of the mother.

¶5. Mootye was rumored to be the father of Angelica's unborn child, and he was questioned by police. Mootye told Detective Branden McLemore that he had been at his apartment Sunday night until he left for work Monday morning, and his roommate, Deveiun Tripp, confirmed his alibi; so Mootye was released. Soon thereafter, Officer Pitts was shown a picture of Mootye and others on a digital camera, and he indicated that he was eighty percent sure that Mootye was the person he saw at the Twillies' house that night. Furthermore, two individuals—Chekeita Pittman and Taborious Lindsey—came forward with witness statements placing Mootye near the scene of the murders that morning. Before trial, when questioned further by police and charged with accessory after the fact, Tripp recanted his prior statement that supported Mootye's alibi and said Mootye confessed to him that he committed the murders. As we will discuss later in this opinion, Tripp also testified as to such at trial, stating that he picked Mootye up at an apartment complex the morning after the murders and that Mootye later asked him to move a gun.

¶6. Mootye was indicted on three counts of deliberate-design murder for the deaths of Angelica, Alesia, and Angelica's unborn child. A jury trial was held on January 24–26, 2011. The two officers dispatched to the 911 call testified to the facts as stated above. Denise Rupple, a senior crime-scene analyst with the Bureau of Forensic Services, stated that a fillet knife, like the ones used at Marshall Durbin where Mootye and Angelica worked, was recovered near the house, and several .22-caliber shell casings were found in the home. No gun was recovered. Rupple also testified that the arcing pattern of blood splatters on the wall indicated the person used his or her left hand. (Mootye was left-handed.) She noted a "gloved impression or fabric impression that was left in blood" and said the pattern was consistent with fabric gloves obtained from Marshall Durbin, but Rupple admitted that no glove was found at the crime scene. There were also bloody shoe prints at the scene.

¶7. During a search of Mootye's apartment, police retrieved an empty .22-caliber shell cartridge box from Tripp's bedroom. Two pairs of Nike high-top sneakers were also taken from the apartment for testing. Rupple testified that one pair's size and class "was consistent with the stains that were left – those shoe impressions that were left at the scene."

¶8. Pittman testified that she spent the evening with Mootye that Sunday night. Pittman stated that Mootye and Tripp watched a basketball game on television. She and Mootye went to bed somewhat early, but at approximately 4 a.m., he asked her "to take him to get some money from some dude" before he had to go to work that morning. Pittman was unfamiliar with the area, so Mootye directed her where to go. Pittman testified that Mootye realized he forgot his cell phone and he told her to come back for him later. Pittman turned the car around to leave and noticed Mootye standing on the porch of a home, later identified by her as the Twillies' house. She drove away and soon thereafter saw the police cars drive by. Worried, Pittman went to the apartment to get Tripp, saying they needed to check on Mootye. After looking for Mootye, they decided to go back to the apartment and wait. According to Pittman, Tripp woke her up about 7 a.m. saying Mootye had called and requested that she pick him up at her cousin's house. Pittman observed that Mootye was wearing a white "dingy-like shirt," and he told her "he had been running from the police." She noted "a little speck of blood, like, on his forehead." Pittman claimed that she met Mootye at his uncle's house the following day and that he pulled a gun out of the trunk of her car.³ Pittman acknowledged she only told police what happened after she was arrested for accessory after the fact.

¶9. Lindsey testified that he was staying at a friend's apartment and leaving for work at approximately 6:45 a.m. on February 22 when he heard someone call his name. He turned to see Mootye, whom he recognized from playing basketball at the YMCA. Mootye asked to use his phone. Lindsey testified that Mootye was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and black Nike tennis shoes, and he was holding a dark shirt in his hand. When Lindsey discovered Mootye had been arrested for the murders, he informed the police that Mootye had used his phone that morning. Lindsey's phone records reveal that the phone number called that morning was Tripp's number.

¶10. Tripp testified that he moved in with Mootye in November 2009 but had known him for many years. According to Tripp, Mootye was concerned that he had gotten a coworker pregnant.⁴ The night Pittman came over, he and Mootye watched television and played video games. Mootye went to bed early because he had to work, but Tripp stayed up watching television with his nephew, Mario Smith. The two men went to get some fast food around 2 a.m. then came back to watch television until almost 4 a.m. When Tripp went to bed, he heard some movement coming from Mootye's room. Tripp testified that shortly after 5 a.m., Pittman knocked on his door and "panicked" because she could not find Mootye. Tripp and Pittman left in her car, but they quickly returned to the apartment because Tripp "had a bad feeling."⁵ An hour or so later, Tripp got a call from an unknown number; it was Mootye asking for Pittman to come get him. Pittman asked Tripp to go with her. They picked up Mootye at an apartment complex where Pittman's cousin lived and returned to Mootye and Tripp's apartment.⁶ Tripp stated that he heard Pittman say something about blood on Mootye's forehead, but Tripp testified that he never saw any blood. At the apartment, Mootye took a shower and got ready for work. Before leaving, he asked Tripp to take out the trash. Mootye called Tripp an hour later, informing him of Angelica's death, and asking Tripp to take a gun from Mootye's nightstand (a .45-caliber handgun) and put it in the trunk of Pittman's car. Tripp testified that Mootye also owned a .22-caliber gun, which he had let Tripp borrow, but Tripp claimed that he gave the gun back "a month before all this happened." Tripp testified that Mootye confessed to him later that afternoon that he killed the victims. Tripp admitted that when police initially questioned him, he told the police that Mootye had been home all evening. Tripp stated that he changed his statement to the police when he was arrested for accessory after the fact.

¶11. Detective McLemore testified that he had been called to the Twillies' residence in the past for domestic issues between Angelica and Curtis Price, the father of her other child; so after the discovery of Angelica and Alesia's bodies, police issued a "be on the lookout" (BOLO) for Price. Upon learning Mootye was the suspected father of Angelica's unborn child, the police also issued a BOLO for Mootye.

¶12. Detective McLemore stated that Price gave him an alibi, which was later confirmed. Upon Detective McLemore's request, Mootye came to the police station that afternoon. Both Price and Mootye submitted to a gunshot-residue test and a DNA test. Mootye also provided an alibi—that he was home the entire evening—and Detective McLemore confirmed Mootye's alibi with Tripp. As a result, Mootye was released. However, Detective McLemore said that the one thing that "stuck out" to him during the investigation was Rupple's indication that the person using the knife was left-handed, and Mootye was the only left-handed...