Opinion ID: 2301325
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: residential robbery murders: f-1 (agreed upon cases)

Text: (1) ALVIN ADAMS Alvin Adams entered an apartment belonging to an eighty-two-year-old woman while his co-defendant stood watch outside. Adams intended to steal a wallet that he had seen in the apartment several days earlier. He was in the process of removing the money from the wallet when the victim exited the bathroom. The victim ran toward the living room, but began to fall. According to Adams, he grabbed her around the neck and shoulders in an attempt to keep her from falling, but was unable to hold her weight and she collapsed to the ground. Although he claimed that she was still breathing, he covered her with a blanket before leaving the apartment. After a jury trial, Adams was convicted of murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary, and conspiracy. The case did not proceed to the penalty-phase. On the murder charge, Adams received life imprisonment with a thirty-year parole disqualifier. The AOC coded for aggravating factors c(4)(f) (escape detection) and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and for mitigating factors c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect or intoxication) and c(5)(h) (catch-all). At the time of the offense, Adams was thirty-three years old and worked as a maintenance man. As a child, Adams was diagnosed as emotionally disturbed and mentally retarded with passive-aggressive personality traits and poor impulse controls. He had prior convictions for robbery, burglary, larceny, and assault. JERRY BRITTON While burglarizing an apartment, Jerry Britton was confronted by its twenty-four-year-old female occupant. When she went to call the police, Britton rendered her unconscious by choking her. He then retrieved a knife from the kitchen and proceeded to stab the victim sixteen times before stealing a video unit and exiting the apartment. The police discovered the victim's body lying in a corner in a pool of blood. She was naked below the waist and had a knife protruding from her head. Britton later confided in an acquaintance that he did not know whether he had killed his victim, but he hoped she was dead so that she could not be a witness. After being arrested, Britton gave a sworn statement as to his involvement in the murder and also admitted to having previously burglarized the victim's apartment. Britton pleaded guilty to felony murder, burglary, robbery, and two weapons charges. In turn, he was sentenced to life in prison with a thirty-year parole disqualifier. The AOC coded as present the c(4)(f) (escape detection) and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) aggravating factors and c(5)(d) (mental defect) and c(5)(h) (catch-all) mitigating factors. At the time of the offense, Britton was twenty-six years old and had been unemployed for approximately one year. Previously, he had worked as an assembler of air conditioners. A high school graduate, Britton was addicted to heroine. His prior record consisted of a robbery conviction that was downgraded to simple assault. (3) ALPHONSO BRUNSON Over a one week period, Alphonso Brunson broke into an eighty-two-year-old woman's home three times. The third time, the woman surprised him. She was found two days later, having died from several severe blows to the head. Brunson later admitted to burglarizing the woman's home three times, but claimed that on the third occasion he was accompanied by a companion who panicked and hit the woman with a table leg. The companion, however, had an alibi. At the time of the murder, Brunson was twenty-one years old. He was a high school dropout and had a sparse employment history. He had a history of mental disorders. Between the ages of seven and eighteen, he was in more than thirty institutions, hospitals, schools, and foster homes. He had tried to kill himself twice and was diagnosed as being extremely paranoid and schizophrenic. Psychiatrists testified that he lacked impulse control and had the maturity level of a juvenile. He was abused as a child. At the time of his arrest, Brunson was homeless and indigent. Brunson had three prior arrests, two for burglary and one for attempted escape. Brunson was convicted of several charges, including purposeful murder, felony murder, robbery and burglary. At the penalty phase, the jury found that the aggravating factors did not outweigh the mitigating factors. The jury found two aggravating factors, c(4)(f) (escape detection) and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony). The mitigating factors found by the jury were c(5)(a) (emotional disturbance), c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect or intoxication), c(5)(c) (defendant's age), and c(5)(h) (catch-all). Brunson was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of life imprisonment plus fifty years with a mandatory minimum of fifty-one years before becoming eligible for parole. JESUS DEJESUS Jesus DeJesus entered the apartment of a forty-nine-year-old woman who lived below him, stabbed her to death, and stole some of her jewelry. Before leaving the apartment, DeJesus set the bedroom on fire. The woman's remains were later identified by her dental records. DeJesus's brother informed the police that DeJesus was selling jewelry. The jewelry was subsequently identified as belonging to the victim. When confronted by the police with the jewelry that he had stolen, DeJesus stated that he had not cut the woman. When the police informed him that the cause of death had not been disclosed, DeJesus put his head down and requested an attorney. DeJesus was charged with murder, felony murder, armed robbery, arson, and armed burglary. He was convicted of all charges and received an aggregate sentence of life in prison plus fifteen years with a thirty-seven and a half year parole disqualifier. The AOC classified DeJesus as having aggravating factor c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and mitigating factor c(5)(h) (catch-all). At the time of the murder, DeJesus was forty-four years old and living with one of his two daughters. DeJesus left school after the fourth grade and later attended a printing school to learn to operate a printing press. Although he had worked as a Hi-lo driver in the past, DeJesus had been unemployed for two years prior to the crime. DeJesus admitted drinking alcohol three times a week but denied having a drug problem. He had prior convictions for robbery, theft, criminal trespass, possessing drug paraphernalia, and motor vehicle violations. (5) NATHANIEL HARVEY Nathaniel Harvey entered his female victim's home through an unlocked patio door and proceeded to the bedroom, where he was in the process of stealing jewelry from a dresser when the victim awakened and punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed. Harvey responded by striking the victim in the head with a hammer-like object fifteen times. After his victim fell to the floor, Harvey changed the bloodstained bed sheets and cleaned the blood off of his victim. He then finished stealing her belongings before fleeing the apartment. At his first trial, Harvey was found guilty of murder, robbery, and burglary. The penalty-phase jury found no mitigating factors and all three aggravating factors offered by the prosecution, c(4)(c) (torture/depravity), c(4)(f) (escape detection), and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony). Harvey was sentenced to death, but we reversed on appeal because of the trial judge's failure to instruct the jury that they were required to find intent to cause death, as opposed to serious bodily injury. At his retrial, Harvey was again convicted of murder, robbery, and burglary. The penalty phase jury found aggravating factors c(4)(f) (escape detection) and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and a number of c(5)(h) (catch-all) mitigating factors. The jury concluded that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and sentenced Harvey to death. Born to sharecropper parents, Harvey was raised in poverty and was abused as a child. At age four, Harvey accidentally burned his five-year old sister to death while trying to light a stove in an unheated home. Harvey's prior record consisted of convictions for rape, assault, and battery. (6) FRANKLIN FLOWERS HUDSON Franklin Flowers Hudson broke into a home through the basement window. When the homeowner walked down to the basement to do laundry, Hudson forced her at knife-point to the master bedroom, where he tied her up and gagged her. Hudson took a small amount of cash and jewelry. Hudson told her he wanted her boarder's money and car keys. When the boarder, a sixty-year-old man, returned home a short time later, Hudson went downstairs to confront him. The boarder offered his keys and money, but a struggle ensued and Hudson stabbed the boarder multiple times. The boarder ran upstairs, but Hudson gave chase and struck him over the head with a baseball bat. Hudson then took $201, the boarder's keys, and a red vinyl pouch. Two and a half months later, the boarder died from his injuries. Hudson confessed to everything except stealing the homeowner's jewelry. He also stated that he was under the influence of cocaine and beer at the time of the crime. Hudson pleaded guilty to felony murder and received life imprisonment with a thirty year parole bar. The AOC classifies this case as having aggravating factor c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and mitigating factor c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect or intoxication) and c(5)(h) (catch-all). Hudson was twenty-two years old and was living with his mother, sisters and brother at the time of the killing. As noted above, Hudson was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol when he committed the crime. He had no history of mental illness. Prior to the crime, Hudson had worked as a groom at two race tracks and as a sanitation worker for a disposal company. Hudson had two prior convictions for aggravated assault. (7) TIMOTHY LEE Timothy Lee awoke one morning feeling the need for heroin. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and drove to the home of a sixty-five-year-old man. Lee forced his way in through the back door. The man awakened to the noise, so Lee approached him and stabbed him in the chest. Lee then took the man's wallet and a bottle of Valium and left. Lee used the money to purchase heroin, but was later stopped by police and gave a full confession. Lee pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment with a thirty year parole bar. The AOC classifies this case as having aggravating factor c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and mitigating factors c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect or intoxication) and c(5)(h) (catch-all). At the time of the killing, Lee was thirty-five years old. He was a plumber by trade and had also worked as a carpenter and computer repair man. He graduated high school and had completed a computer repair course. He had no mental health problems, but was addicted to heroin, and had four prior convictions for possession of marijuana, importing cocaine, shoplifting, and theft by deception. (8) GERALD I. WILLIAMS Gerald Williams was walking home with his eight-year-old daughter after buying ice cream when he encountered his friend, J.C. Boyd. Williams and Boyd had some drinks and decided to purchase some drugs. On the way to a friend's apartment, they came across an open door. Hearing a television, they knocked on the door. When there was no answer, they entered the apartment while Williams's daughter remained at the door. Upon entering the apartment, Williams and Boyd found a fifty-one-year-old male asleep on the couch. Williams began to steal a television set, but the man on the couch awoke. Boyd punched the man and pushed him toward Williams, who threw a cover over the man and banged his head against a windowsill. The man broke free, went to the window, and called for help. Williams hit the man over the head and threw him out the window. The man fell three floors to his death. Williams stole some money and the television set. After a police investigation revealed that Williams and Boyd may have been responsible for the crime, the police took a statement from Williams's daughter. She admitted seeing Williams throw the man out the window. The medical examiner concluded that the man died from being struck on the head by a blunt instrument, and would have died even had he not been thrown from the window. At his trial, Williams testified that the victim accidentally fell out the window as he attempted to call for help. Williams was convicted of felony murder, burglary, and robbery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a parole ineligibility term of thirty years. The AOC classifies this case as having aggravating factor c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and mitigating factors c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect or intoxication) and c(5)(h) (catch-all). Williams was thirty-four years old at the time of the murder. Although previously addicted to drugs, Williams underwent a treatment program from 1978 to 1980, and denied any addiction at the time of the murder. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade because he was arrested and subsequently incarcerated. Over the years, Williams was arrested thirty times and served twelve different terms of incarceration as an adult and juvenile. (9) THOMAS WOLFE High from cocaine and drunk from alcohol, Thomas Wolfe broke into the home of a seventy-two-year-old female. Wolfe was surprised by the woman, and a struggle ensued. Wolfe slashed her throat three times and inflicted numerous puncture wounds to her back. A neighbor found the woman's body lying in a pool of blood and covered by a blanket. An autopsy determined that the woman bled to death. After Wolfe's family gave incriminating statements to the police, he surrendered himself. After a jury trial, Wolfe was convicted of murder, felony murder, burglary, robbery, and weapons charges. In the penalty phase, the jury found aggravating factor c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) and mitigating factors c(5)(c) (defendant's age), c(5)(d) (mental disease, defect, or intoxication), c(5)(f) (no significant prior record), and c(5)(h) (catch-all). The jury could not unanimously agree on a sentence, so defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a thirty-year parole bar on the murder charge. At the time of the murder, Wolfe was twenty-two years old, living with his parents, and unemployed. As a school age child, Wolfe was classified as emotionally disturbed and was placed in special education classes. Wolfe dropped out of school in the eleventh grade and had training in heating/air conditioning repair. Wolfe had an extensive history of drug abuse, for which he repeatedly received treatment. At the penalty phase, Wolfe expressed remorse for killing the woman.