People v. Maddin

1

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LARRY MADDIN, JR., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 359933

Court of Appeals of Michigan

April 20, 2023

UNPUBLISHED

Jackson Circuit Court LC No. 17-005817-FC

Before: GADOLA, P.J., and PATEL and MALDONADO, JJ.

PER CURIAM

Defendant appeals as of right his convictions after a bench trial for first-degree premeditated murder, MCL 750.316(1)(a), and domestic violence, MCL 750.81(4). We affirm.

I. FACTS

On December 10, 2017, defendant murdered Bobbie Jo Thomas. Defendant does not dispute that he killed Thomas, but disputes that his actions were premeditated. Thomas lived in a second-floor apartment in Jackson, Michigan. Thomas's friend, James Dentmond, lived less than two blocks from Thomas. Dentmond testified that he and Thomas had been best friends for 15 years. At 6:00 a.m. that day, Thomas came to his house saying that she needed to talk. Dentmond testified that it was unusual for Thomas to come to his house at that time of day, and that she appeared scared and frantic. She told him that the man she was in love with was at her apartment, that the man was jealous of another man, and that she was afraid that he was going to kill her. Dentmond urged Thomas to stay at his house, but after about 25 minutes Thomas left to get cigarettes, denying that she was going home. Thomas did not return.

Brenda Parrish lived in the apartment below Thomas and testified that defendant was Thomas's live-in boyfriend. On December 10, 2017, Parrish awoke when she heard loud footsteps near the entrance to Thomas's apartment, which was located above Parrish's bedroom. Parrish could hear yelling. When she opened her apartment door, she heard Thomas screaming: "No. Please don't. Stop." Parrish heard Thomas say, "I love you," three times, then say, "I love you, Larry. I love you." Parrish then heard a loud crash. She went back into her apartment, and shut and locked the door. The clock on her phone showed that it was 7:30 a.m. Parrish initially called 911, but changed her mind, and instead called her landlord who lived in the other downstairs apartment. The landlord told Parrish that he had not heard any noise. He then knocked on the door of Thomas's apartment. When he did not hear anything, he returned to his own apartment. The landlord later testified that defendant had been living with Thomas for about one month.

Defendant was on parole on December 10, 2017. His parole officer testified that defendant was reportedly living with Joyce Hathaway, a family friend, but defendant had requested to live with Thomas. Thomas also had expressed her desire for defendant to live with her, but the parole officer had not yet approved the living arrangement.

Joyce Hathaway lived approximately one block from Thomas's apartment. She testified that she was good friends with defendant's mother and considered defendant as her nephew. On the morning of December 10, 2017, defendant came to her home and asked her for a ride to the 145 Truck Stop; Hathaway testified that it was unusual for defendant to ask her for a ride that early in the morning. Hathaway also testified that she observed that defendant's eyes were "enormous." Hathaway told defendant no, then turned around to go back into her home assuming that defendant would follow. Defendant instead left, and Hathaway later noticed that a plastic bag was missing from her porch.

Marina Psychas, a registered nurse working at Henry Ford Allegiance Hospital less than one mile from Thomas's apartment, testified that defendant came to the emergency room between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on December 10, 2017. Defendant was sweaty, and had a large amount of blood on his clothing and his body. Defendant claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were chasing him. Defendant also claimed to have taken medications and threatened to harm himself. Another emergency-room nurse testified that defendant told her that CIA agents had come through the window to attack defendant and his girlfriend.

Dr. Brian Kim, the emergency-room doctor who treated defendant that day, testified that defendant was agitated and his heart rate was high. Defendant reported that the CIA had attacked him, and admitted to using cocaine, methamphetamine, and Tylenol. Dr. Kim noticed a large amount of blood on defendant, but defendant's only injury was a small scratch on his left index finger. Dr. Kim directed a nurse to notify law enforcement.

Officers responded to the hospital, then checked Thomas's apartment. When no one answered the door, Sergeant Timothy Hibbard forced open the door, which was deadbolted and barricaded from the inside with a chair. Sergeant Hibbard testified that he observed a "massive" amount of blood inside the apartment, and that the condition of the apartment indicated a "massive struggle." He found Thomas lying face down on the kitchen floor, dead. Sergeant Hibbard described the scene as the worst he had ever seen based on the amount of blood and the "clear violence." Detective Brett Stiles with the Jackson Police Department testified that there was a large amount of blood in the bedroom of Thomas's apartment, with blood on the bed and on the south wall. Detective Stiles believed that the amount of blood showed that the attack started in the bedroom and ended in the kitchen. Detective Stiles attended Thomas's autopsy; Thomas had been stabbed 27 times, with six wounds made to her legs postmortem.

Officer Peter Postma with the Jackson Police Department observed a ladder leaning against the back of the apartment building near a second-story window. Both the window and the ladder appeared covered in blood. Officer Scott Goings with the Jackson Police Department testified that he believed that the ladder was placed against the building before the recent snowfall because there was snow on the rungs. Officer Postma observed bloody footprints in the snow coming from the ladder and leading away from the residence. Officer Postma followed the footprints to Hathaway's home, where he observed blood on the storm door, the interior door, and on the front porch. Officer Postma followed the footprints to the rear parking lot of Henry Ford Allegiance Hospital. Detective Stiles searched along the route from Thomas's apartment to the hospital and discovered two white plastic bags with blood on them in a garbage can between the street and the sidewalk.

A bench trial was held on October 4 and October 5, 2021, during which the trial court admitted Dentmond's testimony concerning Thomas's statements as an excited utterance under MRE 803(2) over defendant's objection. At the conclusion of trial, the trial court found defendant guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. The trial court found that the evidence demonstrated defendant's premeditation and deliberation based upon the violence and extent of the attack as demonstrated by Thomas's numerous, severe wounds and the amount of blood and destruction in the apartment. The trial court also found defendant guilty of domestic violence. The trial court sentenced defendant as a fourth-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.12, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder conviction and 72 to 240 months' imprisonment for the domestic-violence conviction. Defendant now appeals.

II. ANALYSIS

A. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Defendant contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support a conviction of first-degree premeditated murder^[1] because the evidence does not demonstrate premeditation or deliberation. We disagree.

We review de novo a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. People v Byczek, 337 Mich.App. 173, 182; 976 N.W.2d 7 (2021). In doing so, we view the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a rational trier of fact could find that the essential elements of the crime had been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We draw all reasonable inferences in support of the verdict. People v Oros, 502 Mich. 229, 239; 917 N.W.2d 559 (2018).

To prove first-degree premeditated murder, the prosecution must establish beyond a reasonable doubt a "[m]urder perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait, or any other willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing." MCL 750.316(1)(a); Oros, 502 Mich. at 240. The elements of first-degree premeditated murder are (1) the intentional killing of a human being, with (2) premeditation and deliberation. Id. The elements of a crime may be established by circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences arising from that evidence. People v Lymon, __ Mich.App. __, __; __ N.W.2d __(2022) (Docket No. 327355); slip op at 3. The distinction between first-degree and second-degree murder are premeditation and deliberation; those distinctions are questions of fact, and "minimum standards of proof, if reasonably related to the circumstances which must be proved, will serve to preserve the distinction between first-degree and second-degree murder." Oros, 502 Mich. at 241 (quotation marks and citation omitted). The evidence sufficient to prove premeditation and deliberation varies from case to case; whether premeditation and deliberation are proven is determined by whether reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence support the verdict. Id. at 243-244.

To premeditate is "to think about beforehand" and to deliberate is "to measure and evaluate the major facets of a choice or problem." Oros, 502 Mich. at 240 (quotation marks and citation omitted). Premeditation may be established through evidence of "(1) the prior relationship of the parties; (2) the defendant's actions before the killing; (3) the circumstances of the killing itself; and (4) the defendant's...