Case Title: Ex Parte Dorsey

Citation: 881 So. 2d 533

Docket Number: 1011507

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 2003-04-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
881 So. 2d 533 (2003)
Ex parte Ethan DORSEY.
(In re Ethan Eugene Dorsey
v.
State of Alabama).
1011507.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 25, 2003.
Rehearing Denied August 29, 2003.
*534 Jack Weaver and Robert C. King of Weaver & King, P.C., Monroeville, for petitioner.
William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen.; Beth Jackson Hughes and Henry M. Johnson, asst. attys. gen.; and Andrew W. Dill, deputy atty. gen., for respondent.
WOODALL, Justice.
Ethan Dorsey was convicted of the felony murders of Richard Cary and Scott Williams and of robbery. With regard to each of those convictions, the trial court sentenced Dorsey to life imprisonment; the sentences were to run consecutively. Dorsey was also convicted of the capital offense of murdering Timothy Bryan Crane, a 13-year-old. See § 13A-5-40(a)(15), Ala.Code 1975. The jury, by a vote of 11 to 1, recommended that on the capital conviction Dorsey be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The trial court chose not to follow the jury's advisory verdict, and sentenced Dorsey to death. See § 13A-5-47, Ala.Code 1975. Dorsey appealed.
The Court of Criminal Appeals "remanded [this case] to the [c]ircuit [c]ourt ... for that court to vacate Dorsey's conviction and sentence for robbery, ... and for the trial court to correct its sentencing order [relating to the capital conviction] to state the nonstatutory mitigating circumstances that it found to exist and to state the reasons why [it] gave the jury's recommendation the consideration that [it] did." Dorsey v. State, 881 So. 2d 460, 523 (Ala.Crim.App.2001) ("Dorsey I"). The Court of Criminal Appeals stated the following facts:
Dorsey I, 881 So. 2d  at 471-72.
In Dorsey I, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that "Dorsey's convictions for two counts of felony murder for the murders of Cary and Williams [were] valid convictions and [were] not affected by [its] decision." 881 So. 2d  at 513. On return to remand, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Dorsey's capital-murder conviction and his sentence of death. Dorsey v. State, 881 So. 2d 460, 523 (Ala.Crim.App.2001) (opinion on return to remand). Dorsey filed an application for rehearing, which the Court of Criminal Appeals overruled on April 19, 2002, without an opinion. Dorsey petitioned this Court for certiorari review, which we granted on October 28, 2002. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals insofar as it affirmed Dorsey's felony-murder convictions. However, we reverse its judgment insofar as it affirmed Dorsey's capital-murder conviction and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
A three-count indictment was returned against Dorsey on March 12, 1997. Section 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975, provides that "[m]urder by the defendant during a robbery in the first degree" is a capital offense. Count 1 of the indictment charged Dorsey under this subsection with the capital murders of Richard Cary, Scott Williams, and Timothy Bryan Crane.
Section 13A-5-40(a)(10), Ala.Code 1975, provides that "[m]urder wherein two or *536 more persons are murdered by the defendant by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct" is a capital offense. Count 2 of the indictment charged Dorsey under this subsection with the capital murders of Richard Cary, Scott Williams, and Timothy Bryan Crane.
Section 13A-5-40(a)(15), Ala.Code 1975, provides that "[m]urder when the victim is less than fourteen years of age" is a capital offense. Count 3 of the indictment charged Dorsey under this subsection with the capital murder of Timothy Bryan Crane, who was 13 years of age.[1]
"[T]he terms `murder' and `murder by the defendant' as used in this section [§ 13A-5-40] to define capital offenses mean murder as defined in Section 13A-6-2(a)(1)." § 13A-5-40(b), Ala.Code 1975. Section 13A-6-2(a)(1) provides that "[a] person commits the crime of murder if ... [w]ith intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of that person or of another person." (Emphasis added.)
At the conclusion of the guilt phase of Dorsey's trial, the trial court instructed the jury on the capital offenses charged in the indictment, as well as certain lesser non-capital offenses included within the capital offenses:
State's brief, at 13-14 (citations to reporter's transcript omitted).
Unlike capital murder and intentional murder, as defined in § 13A-6-2(a)(1), the crime of "[f]elony murder requires no intent to kill, but only the intent to commit the underlying felony." Dorsey I, 881 So. 2d  at 511. Under § 13A-6-2(a)(3), Ala.Code 1975, "[a] person commits the crime of [felony] murder if ... [h]e commits ... robbery in any degree, ... and, in the course of and in furtherance of the crime ... or in immediate flight therefrom, he, or another participant if there be any, causes the death of any person."
The jury returned verdicts convicting Dorsey of the felony murder of Cary under count 1, the felony murder of Williams under count 2, and the capital murder of Crane under count 3. At this point, concerned that the verdicts were inconsistent and/or incomplete, the trial court decided to reinstruct the jury with *537 respect only to some of the charges embraced within count 1. While the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the trial court accepted the verdict on count 3 before it reinstructed the jury, thereby convicting Dorsey of the capital murder of Crane, it is clear that the trial court did not accept that verdict. In response to an inquiry from the State, the trial judge explained his position with regard to the acceptance of the verdict on count 3: "I decided, at this point, that I [will] wait and not make a ruling on that issue until I get the jury to return any verdicts they arrive at after I recharge." Indeed, the trial court later stated: "I have not accepted any of the verdicts."
When the trial court reinstructed the jury with regard to Cary and Williams, it limited its instructions to the lesser-included offenses of felony murder and first-degree robbery. However, with respect to Crane, the trial court charged the jury with regard to both intentional murder and felony murder.
After it deliberated a second time, the jury returned verdicts convicting Dorsey of the felony murders of Cary, Williams, and Crane, as well as robbery in the first degree. Dorsey's counsel urged the trial court to accept those verdicts. However, those verdicts did not end the trial. Instead, the trial court decided to instruct the jury a third time regarding the charge that Dorsey had intentionally murdered Crane.
In its third instructions, the trial court stated, in part:
The trial court later told the jury "to go back, deliberate and tell me whether or not you find the State has proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant intentionally killed Timothy Bryan Crane." The jury then returned, stating its "finding [of intentional murder] with regard to the death of Timothy Bryan Crane."
The trial court ultimately accepted verdicts convicting Dorsey of the felony murder of Cary, the felony murder of Williams, robbery, and the capital murder of Crane as charged in count 3 of the indictment.
In Dorsey I, the Court of Criminal Appeals correctly stated that "a verdict of felony murder and a verdict of capital murder for the murder of the same victim are legally inconsistent," 881 So. 2d  at 511, explaining:
*538 Dorsey I, 881 So. 2d  at 511. Reasoning that the initial verdict convicting Dorsey of the capital murder of Crane under count 3 was, therefore, legally inconsistent with the later verdict convicting Dorsey of the felony murder of Crane under count 1, the Court of Criminal Appeals expressed its belief "that the trial court had a duty to reconcile the jury's inconsistent findings concerning Dorsey's intent," 881 So. 2d  at 513, by submitting that issue to the jury for a third time.
The State agrees with the Court of Criminal Appeals that "[t]he [trial] court was ... justified in instructing the jury a third time in order to clarify the jury's intent." State's brief, at 86 (emphasis added). The State argues, in pertinent part:
State's brief, at 86 (emphasis added). However, we conclude that Dorsey's conviction under count 1 for the lesser offense of felony murder as to Crane precluded any further consideration of his intent by the jury, and necessarily acquitted him of the capital-murder charge in count 3 of the indictment.
At the conclusion of the guilt phase of Dorsey's trial, the trial court instructed the jury on the capital offenses charged in the indictment. Also, without objection, the trial court instructed the jury on felony murder, as a lesser-included offense under each count of the indictment. The State does not argue that the trial court erred by including felony murder as a lesser-included offense to the capital-murder offense charged in count 3. Therefore, we assume, for the purposes of this appeal, that the trial court's instructions to the jury were correct.
After the jury returned its initial verdicts, the trial court did not accept any of the verdicts. Instead, the trial court reinstructed the jury. With respect to the killing of Crane, the trial court charged the jury on both intentional murder and felony murder. After it deliberated a second time, the jury returned a verdict convicting Dorsey of felony murder as to Crane. That conviction of the lesser-included offense acquitted Dorsey of the greater offense of capital murder. "The conviction for a lesser included offense is an implied acquittal as to the greater offense. Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137, 97 S. Ct. 2207, 53 L. Ed. 2d 168 (1977)." Ex parte Ziglar, 675 So. 2d 543, 545 (Ala.Crim.App.1996). Indeed, any retrial of Dorsey on a capital-murder charge was, upon his conviction of felony murder, *539 barred under the principles of double jeopardy. See Ex parte Whirley, 530 So. 2d 865, 867 (Ala.1988). Thus, the trial court was under a duty to accept Dorsey's conviction of the felony murder of Crane and to acquit him of the capital-murder charges.
The State argues that "it was reasonable for the trial court to surmise that the jury had not intended[, by its felony-murder conviction,] to rescind its verdict of capital murder under Count Three." State's brief, at 86. Thus, the State argues, "[t]he [trial] court was ... justified in instructing the jury a third time in order to clarify the jury's intent." State's brief, at 86. However, the State cites no authority in support of these arguments, and we are aware of no authority permitting an inquiry into a jury's intent, following its return of a complete, unambiguous verdict. At any rate, the jury's verdicts finding Dorsey guilty of felony murder, a lesser-included offense under all counts, necessarily acquitted him of the capital-murder charges, thereby rendering unnecessary any inquiry into the jury's intent.
We have reviewed the other issues raised by Dorsey regarding the guilt phase of his trial, and we agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that Dorsey's convictions for the felony murders of Cary and Williams are due to be affirmed. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals insofar as that court affirmed those felony-murder convictions. However, for the aforesaid reasons, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals insofar as that court affirmed Dorsey's capital-murder conviction, and we remand the cause to the Court of Criminal Appeals for the entry of an order or for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; AND REMANDED.
HOUSTON, LYONS, and HARWOOD, JJ., concur.
JOHNSTONE, J., concurs specially.
MOORE, C.J., and SEE, BROWN, and STUART, JJ., concur in part and dissent in part.
JOHNSTONE, Justice (concurring specially).
I concur fully in the main opinion. I add, as supplemental support for the rationale and judgment, that the trial judge's instruction for the jury to consider further the theory of intentional murder of Timothy Bryan Crane after the jury had returned its verdict of guilty-of-the-felony-murder-of-Crane violated Dorsey's state and federal constitutional rights to a trial by jury, which, of course, include the right to the benefit of the jury verdict of guilty-of-the-felony-murder-of-Crane, which constituted a jury verdict of not-guilty-of-the-intentional-murder-of-Crane.
MOORE, Chief Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the Court's affirmance of Dorsey's convictions for the felony murders of Richard Cary and Scott Williams. I must dissent, however, from the reversal of Dorsey's capital-murder conviction for the murder of 13-year-old Timothy Crane, and I join Justice Stuart's writing articulating the reasons why that conviction should also be affirmed. However, I take issue with her conclusion that "the confusion in this case" would necessarily have been avoided if all possible verdicts for each count would have been on a single piece of paper.
BROWN, J., concurs.
*540 STUART, Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the majority's affirmance of Dorsey's felony-murder convictions as to Richard Cary and Scott Williams. I respectfully dissent from the majority's decision to reverse Dorsey's conviction for the capital murder of Timothy Bryan Crane because "Dorsey's conviction under count 1 for the lesser offense of felony murder as to Crane precluded any further consideration of his intent by the jury, and necessarily acquitted him of the capital-murder charge in count 3 of the indictment."
Initially, I note the facts surrounding the murder of 13-year-old Crane. The trial court's sentencing order yields the following:
Dorsey entered the store first, followed by his accomplice Calvin Middleton. Three people were in the store. "The small boy, Timothy Bryan Crane, was leaning on the counter at the front of the store near the door." Middleton shot one of the men, Cary, then ran out of the store to the car. Middleton heard two shots, and he saw Dorsey leave the store. Dorsey got in the car; he was carrying a pistol. Middleton testified that "Dorsey admitted to shooting the man in the store, Williams, and the boy, Crane, because the boy started to run." Crane died of a gunshot wound to the head. The bullet entered the back of his head and exited through his forehead. An expert witness opined that the distance from the barrel of the gun to Crane's head was one foot or less.
In Carter v. State, 843 So. 2d 812, 814 (Ala.2002), this Court stated: "`[T]he general rule is that there need be no rational compatibility or consistency between the verdicts on the several counts of an indictment. The exception to this rule is where the jury returns multiple convictions as to crimes which are mutually exclusive of each other.' Grikis v. State, 552 So. 2d 187, 187 (Ala.Crim.App.1989)."
When the jury returned its initial verdicts, the verdict as to count 1 was incomplete; however, the jury returned a complete verdict on count 3, finding Dorsey guilty of the capital murder of Crane. After reinstruction and additional deliberation, the jury returned a complete verdict as to count 1, finding Dorsey guilty of the felony murder of Crane. The verdicts returned under count 1 and count 3 as to the murder of Crane were mutually exclusive. The trial court then reconciled the mutually exclusive verdicts by asking the jury to clarify whether it had found that Dorsey had specific intent to kill Crane. Today, the majority holds that when the trial court receives mutually exclusive verdicts in a multicount indictment, the trial court is required to accept the verdict returned for the lesser crime and reject the verdict returned for the greater crime. I disagree.
Confronting a similar situation, the Georgia Supreme Court aptly stated:
Dumas v. State, 266 Ga. 797, 799-800, 471 S.E.2d 508, 510-11 (1996)(footnotes omitted). See also People v. Becker, 315 Ill.App.3d 980, 248 Ill.Dec. 696, 734 N.E.2d 987 (2000), and the cases cited therein.
Here, the trial court, like the trial court in Dumas, after acquiring complete verdicts as to count 1 of the indictment recognized that the verdicts in counts 1 and 3 regarding the murder of Crane were mutually exclusive verdicts, which the jury had a duty to reconcile. The trial court then asked the jury a specific question to determine Dorsey's intent to kill Crane. The jury unequivocally indicated that Dorsey had the requisite intent to kill Crane; therefore, Dorsey's capital-murder conviction should not be reversed.
Finally, I note that the confusion in this case could have been avoided if all the possible verdicts for count 1 had been on a single piece of paper, all the possible verdicts for count 2 had been on a single piece of paper, and all the possible verdicts for count 3 had been on a single piece of paper. While the jury may not have initially returned consistent verdicts as to each count, the verdicts for each count would have been complete.
SEE, J., concurs.
[1]  Crane's date of birth was April 15, 1983. The State produced as an exhibit at trial a certified birth certificate.