State v. Wright

768 N.W.2d 512

2009 SD 51

STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Daphne Antranette WRIGHT, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 24531.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Argued on March 25, 2009.

Decided June 24, 2009.

Lawrence E. Long, Attorney General, Meghan N. Dilges, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, South Dakota, Attorneys for plaintiff and appellee.

Traci Smith, Office of the Minnehaha County Public Defender, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for defendant and appellant.

ZINTER, Justice.

[¶ 1.] Daphne Wright appeals her convictions of premeditated murder, felony murder, and aggravated kidnapping. The appeal raises issues regarding the admissibility of Wright's statements to police, hearing-impairment accommodations provided at trial, minority representation in the jury pool, admission of prior acts, sufficiency of the evidence, and a question of double jeopardy. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[¶ 2.] In August 2004, Wright and her girlfriend Sallie Collins moved into the home of Wright's friend, Jackie Chesmore. Both Wright and Collins were deaf, and in September, Collins moved to an apartment complex known within the Sioux Falls deaf community as the "deaf apartments." While living there, Collins became friends with Darlene VanderGiesen, who was also deaf.

[¶ 3.] Wright became jealous of VanderGiesen and thought that VanderGiesen was trying to destroy Wright's relationship with Collins. On February 1, 2006, Wright met VanderGiesen at a Pizza Hut restaurant ostensibly to plan a Valentine's Day surprise for Collins. VanderGiesen was never seen again. Two days after the meeting, VanderGiesen's father reported that his daughter was missing. The next day, police found VanderGiesen's vehicle abandoned in the Pizza Hut parking lot. VanderGiesen's car keys, house keys, wallet, and identification were missing. Police also found clothing matching the description of what VanderGiesen had been wearing on the last day she had been seen.

[¶ 4.] Detectives examined VanderGiesen's computer and cell phone text messages. Detectives also obtained information from related communication companies, which led police to VanderGiesen's friends in the deaf community. Both sources of information eventually led police to Chesmore's home. The investigators found that e-mails had been sent from Chesmore's computer to VanderGiesen's computer under the user name "Wendy." The e-mails advised VanderGiesen to stop visiting the deaf apartments and contained insults directed at VanderGiesen. Wright had also sent an e-mail under her name stating: "Hi this is Collins's lover as you know who am I[sic], right? am very disappointment [sic] in you because you always visit Collins when am [sic] not there, enough please, thanks. ..."

[¶ 5.] The day after these discoveries, Chesmore and Wright voluntarily drove together to the Sioux Falls law enforcement center (LEC) to be interviewed. Detective Olson interviewed Wright using a certified sign language interpreter. Olson informed Wright when she arrived for the interview that he was conducting a missing person investigation. He also advised Wright that she was not being charged with a crime, she was free to leave, and she could stop the questioning at any time. Wright was not advised of her Miranda rights.

[¶ 6.] During the interview, Wright initially denied sending the e-mails to VanderGiesen. However, when Detective Olson informed her that he possessed contrary information from the communication companies, Wright admitted that she was the person who sent all of the e-mails. Wright also repeatedly changed her story regarding her meeting with VanderGiesen at the Pizza Hut. Originally, she denied any meeting, stating that the last time she talked to VanderGiesen was on January 29. Later, she indicated that she was supposed to meet VanderGiesen at the Pizza Hut, but Wright could not go because her car was out of gas. Ultimately, she admitted that she did meet VanderGiesen at the Pizza Hut on February 1st, that they spoke for about five minutes in the parking lot, but that Wright cancelled the meeting because she did not have enough money to eat.

[¶ 7.] The interview lasted from 10:49 a.m. until 12:54 p.m. Approximately one hour into the interview, Detective Olson reminded Wright that she was free to leave and could stop the questioning at any time. Wright did not request to leave or stop the questioning. Instead, she consistently denied having any knowledge of VanderGiesen's disappearance.

[¶ 8.] The parties agree that at 12:54 p.m., Wright unequivocally asked for an attorney. At that time, based upon her inconsistent statements and the information discovered during the investigation, police obtained and executed a search warrant on Wright's person, home, and vehicle. Although she was not further interviewed, Wright was not allowed to go back to her home while the warrant was being executed. Police kept Wright at the LEC until 6:10 p.m., when the search of her person was concluded.

[¶ 9.] The search of Wright's vehicle revealed reddish stains on the rear bumper that appeared to be blood. Subsequent DNA testing reflected that the blood matched VanderGiesen's profile. A search of Wright's bedroom in Chesmore's home revealed a receipt from a hardware store. The receipt reflected that Wright had purchased an electric chainsaw on February 3, 2006. The search of Chesmore's basement revealed fresh blue paint under which the police discovered cut marks in the concrete floor. Testing confirmed the presence of VanderGiesen's DNA under the paint. A further search of the floor and walls of the basement revealed bone, muscle, and blood fragments matching VanderGiesen's DNA. Following these discoveries, Wright was arrested and indicted on charges of murder in the first degree (premeditated murder), murder in the second degree (felony murder), and aggravated kidnapping.

[¶ 10.] Prior to trial, psychologist Dr. McCay Vernon conducted an evaluation of Wright. Based on testing, he determined that Wright had the reading ability of a third-grader. A Bender Gestalt assessment suggested the possibility of brain damage, yet Wright's non-verbal IQ was 114 to 117. While Dr. Vernon indicated that Wright had a very good grasp of American Sign Language (ASL), he also testified that there were many commonly used legal terms for which there were no signs. He further testified that it was difficult to convey many legal concepts to a person such as Wright, who was "prelingually deaf," meaning that she became deaf before learning language.¹ Dr. Vernon recommended that the testimony be interpreted to Wright consecutively, rather than simultaneously. Dr. Vernon opined that although the court could accommodate Wright through the use of real-time captioning, in which Wright could see what the court reporter was typing, it would be of little use to Wright because of her limited comprehension levels.

[¶ 11.] Based on Dr. Vernon's testimony, Wright moved for consecutive interpretation during trial proceedings. Following denial of that motion, Wright moved for reconsideration and the appointment of a certified deaf interpreter (CDI).² At the second hearing, Professor Michele LaVigne, from the University of Wisconsin Law School, testified that Wright communicated quite well with ASL when carrying on a casual conversation. Professor LaVigne noted, however, that when she tried to communicate with Wright about what was happening with Wright's case, "[a]ll of a sudden the communication ... was like we hit a brick wall. ... It was very, very difficult and incomplete."

[¶ 12.] The circuit court denied Wright's motion for reconsideration and motion for employment of a CDI, explaining that it would provide a number of alternative accommodations. First, instead of employing a CDI to interpret consecutively in the courtroom, the court provided a CDI to assist Wright and counsel in communicating before the proceedings. Second, the court provided five level-five certified ASL interpreters: three to interpret what was occurring in the courtroom and two to sit at counsel table to facilitate communication between Wright and her counsel. Third, the court provided real time captioning, in which every word the court reporter transcribed was simultaneously projected onto a computer screen for Wright and other participants to read. Fourth, at Wright's request, the trial was videotaped, which captured the ASL interpreters' hands. Fifth, daily DVDs of the trial proceedings were provided for Wright's review every evening. Wright and defense counsel were then given an opportunity each morning to apprise the court of any communication problems that may have arisen during the prior day. Finally, the court provided Wright the opportunity to take breaks at any time during the proceeding if she was having difficulty understanding what was occurring.³

[¶ 13.] The State's theory at trial was that on February 1, 2006, Wright invited VanderGiesen to the meeting at Pizza Hut as a ruse, and that at some point after they met, Wright struck VanderGiesen on the head with a blunt object, leaving a seven-inch skull fracture. According to the State's theory, Wright also tightly cinched a plastic bag over VanderGiesen's head, cutting off her oxygen supply. Dr. Brad Randall testified that the cause of VanderGiesen's death was either "blunt force head trauma or suffocation or both." Wright's expert, Dr. Donald Habbee, agreed with Dr. Randall as to the cause of VanderGiesen's death.

[¶ 14.] The State also presented evidence that Wright tried to cover up the killing by attempting to burn VanderGiesen's body. When this failed, Wright, in the basement of Chesmore's home, dismembered VanderGiesen's body with the electric chainsaw. Chesmore testified that when she arrived home from work on February 3, 2006, she observed Wright cleaning and removing carpet remnants from the basement. She also observed Wright loading bags of garbage and chunks of concrete...