White v. State

1

ERICA CLAUDETTE WHITE v. THE STATE

No. S24A0333

Supreme Court of Georgia

June 27, 2024

WARREN, Justice.

In February 2018, Erica Claudette White was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the November 2014 death of her son, Tyrael McFall ("Tyrael"), whom the State alleged died from codeine poisoning.^[1] She appeals those convictions contending that the trial court abused its discretion by denying her motion for new trial on the general grounds admitting photographs from Tyrael's autopsy; and denying her motion to sever certain counts in the indictment. White also claims that the trial court erred by denying her general and special demurrers; motion for new trial on the grounds that her trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel; and motion for new trial on the basis that the State committed a Brady violation. See Brady v Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (83 S.Ct.. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215) (1963). For the reasons explained below, White's claims fail and we affirm her convictions.

1. As relevant to her claims on appeal, the evidence presented at White's trial showed the following. In 2012, White married Joseph McFall ("Joseph"), and in August of that year, Tyrael was born. Only weeks after Tyrael's birth, Joseph inflicted blunt-force trauma to Tyrael's head, causing severe and permanent brain damage. The injuries prevented Tyrael from learning how to walk and talk. He suffered frequent seizures and received food and medicine through a feeding tube. In April 2014, Joseph was convicted of aggravated battery for this abuse. While Joseph was incarcerated, White became Tyrael's exclusive caretaker and expressed in a crime victim-impact statement before a court that Tyrael's condition restricted her ability to travel and work because it "limited . . . what job locations [she could] go to."

Around that time, White and Michael Schullerman began a romantic relationship. Within a few months, Schullerman moved into the same house as White and Tyrael in Austell. White and Schullerman shared the tasks involved in caring for Tyrael, including preparing and administering his medicines. Part of that process included grinding Tyrael's pills before inserting them into his feeding tube.

1. Events Leading Up to Tyrael's Death

(a) White's 911 Call Pertaining to Her Own Health.

On November 2, 2014, at 5:56 p.m., Schullerman called 911, complaining that White had a 103-degree fever and was having trouble breathing. Paramedics arrived at White's home and at 6:12 p.m. recorded White's body temperature as 100 degrees. However, when White was transported to the emergency room, Dr. Nauman Rashid recorded White's body temperature as 98.8 degrees. Dr. Rashid diagnosed White with a urinary tract infection ("UTI") and prescribed "Tylenol 3" to White, one tablet of which contains 30 milligrams of codeine.

At 11:22 a.m. on the day after White's emergency room visit, Schullerman's cell phone called White's cell phone. Two minutes later, White, Schullerman, or one of White's family members^[2] retrieved White's Tylenol 3 prescription from the pharmacy, although the pharmacy did not have a record showing who retrieved it.^[3] Whoever retrieved it, however, purported to sign White's name to satisfy the pharmacy's electronic-signature requirement.

(b) Tyrael's Ongoing Medical Difficulties and Death.

On November 5-three days after White's UTI diagnosis-Dr. Joshua Chern implanted a nerve stimulator in Tyrael's neck at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta to lessen the frequency and mitigate the pain of Tyrael's seizures. Dr. Chern discharged Tyrael from the hospital on the day of the procedure. Tyrael did not receive any codeine from Children's Healthcare on November 5, although he was given liquid oxycodone to help with pain from the procedure.

On the evening of November 8, White asked her daughter, Sierra, and Sierra's husband to babysit Tyrael while she and Schullerman went to a shooting range where White was a member. At trial, Sierra testified that, just after she arrived at White's home at about 7:30 p.m., she saw Schullerman prepare and administer Tyrael's medicine while White was nearby. White encouraged Sierra to lie in bed with Tyrael while she and Schullerman were at the shooting range. White and Schullerman left their home that evening at approximately 8:00 p.m.

When they arrived at the shooting range, White and Schullerman purchased ammunition and targets. Schullerman later stated that he and White each shot approximately 50 rounds of ammunition that night. However, the shooting range owner testified that she had no record showing that White and Schullerman were placed in a firing lane that night, indicating that they did not fire any guns during their visit. Although it is unclear exactly what White and Schullerman did while they were at the shooting range, evidence showed that White called Sierra multiple times to ask if she had checked on Tyrael. White and Schullerman returned home at around 9:30 p.m. that evening and Sierra and her husband left at approximately 10:00 p.m.

At 10:44 p.m., White called 911, yelling that "[her] baby's not breathing." The operator asked, "[I] fl get somebody on the line that can instruct you in CPR, do you think you could follow the directions?" White screamed "no" in response. During the 911 call, White left Tyrael with Schullerman, ran across the street to her mother's house, and screamed, "Tyrael's dead." EMS arrived at 10:49 p.m. Tyrael was pronounced dead at 11:24 p.m., after he had been transported to the hospital.

The medical examiner concluded that "codeine toxicity" caused Tyrael's death, and she also reported a small amount of oxycodone in his blood consistent with the oxycodone dosages prescribed after Tyrael's November 5 surgery. At trial, a pharmacokinetics expert testified that 55 or 56 milligrams of codeine-or two tablets of Tylenol 3-could induce respiratory arrest in a child of Tyrael's size, with the peak effect of toxicity occurring between 1.5 and 4 hours after ingestion.

During the investigation into Tyrael's death, Detective Christoper Payne asked White how codeine could have gotten into Tyrael's body. White stated that she "didn't know what codeine was until this all happened." She also claimed that "I've never had it prescribed to me" and that she had "no access to it." "White also told Detective Payne that she had some form of codeine prescribed to her after Tyrael died, but she did not "have it filled" because she "just [did] not take that kind of stuff." White did not recall going to the emergency room six days earlier on November 2 and receiving a prescription for Tylenol 3 until Detective Payne specifically asked about it. White added that she "did not have [that Tylenol 3 prescription] filled." And when Detective Payne asked White if the signature provided to retrieve that Tylenol 3 prescription was hers, she-at various times-said that she remembered signing for it and did not remember signing for it.

2. White's Trial

The State ultimately charged White and Schullerman with Tyrael's murder, among other crimes. At trial, the State contended that White and Schullerman poisoned Tyrael with Tylenol 3, alleging that White feigned a UTI and obtained a Tylenol 3 prescription under false pretense. To support that contention, Dr. Rashid testified that a person's body temperature could "not likely" drop 3 degrees in 16 minutes-the period between Schullerman's 911 call and the EMT recording of White's temperature-"[w]ithout intervention" and "probably [could] not" decrease from 103 to 98.8 degrees between the time Schullerman reported White's temperature to the 911 operator and Dr. Rashid's recording of her temperature at the emergency room. The State further argued that White was motivated to murder Tyrael because she no longer wanted to be encumbered by him-financially, or with respect to the around-the-clock nature of the care that was required for him. To support its theory of motive, the State introduced the following evidence.

(a) Credit-Card-Related Conduct. In August 2014- approximately 3 months before Tyrael died-White used Tyrael's personal identifiers to activate a credit card and make transactions using that card. And in April 2015-approximately 6 months after Tyrael died-White used Tyrael's personal identifying information to activate at least two more credit cards. White and Schullerman used those credit cards to attempt (in some instances) and complete (in other instances) transactions with several vendors during April and May of 2015.^[4]

(b) Additional Evidence of Financial Crimes.

In 2013, White secured a $50,000 life insurance policy on Tyrael's life that she sought to redeem after he died. The State contended that White made material omissions about Tyrael's medical condition in applying for that policy, and alleged in the indictment-and contended at trial-that obtaining this policy was an overt act in furtherance of White and Schullerman's scheme to financially exploit Tyrael in death.

In March 2013, White submitted a grant application to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission, which provides grants to Georgians who have suffered traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, in which she falsely represented her total monthly income. Additionally, in September 2014, White fabricated a letter from a former employer that misrepresented her salary to support her application for a $10,000 grant from an entity that supports crime victims and their caregivers.

Also two days after Tyrael died in 2014, White made a request with the Social Security Administration ("SSA") for Tyrael's benefits, for which he was eligible only while living, to be directly deposited into a different bank account than the bank...