Opinion ID: 2784363
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Graham’s letter to Decker dated July 2008

Text: I’ll tell you what happened that nite—everything—but its really hard on me—so there’s probably going to be a lot more dry tears on this paper than there already is. Tabitha & her husband Ronald came over that day. (She’s my cousin—I loved her—she was a blast!) We were drinking vodka and beer together. She wanted to know if we wanted to ride to Collins with them to go pick up her birthday present. So we did. On the way back to the house she had drank way too much and her and Ronald got into it. She was hitting him and jerking the steering wheel while he was driving and she almost wrecked us a couple of times. I tried to stop her by putting my arms around her from the back seat to pin her down while I was talking to her but she almost bit my thumb into! She turned around and started hitting me & Cody. I dove over the 7 seat at her & crammed her into the floor board. I told her I’d let her up if she promised to behave until they dropped me off. She said ok so I let her up. She did good and when we got to my house she and me talked & hugged. She said she was sorry for showing her ass and all. I told her it was okay that I wasn’t mad at her. Well, she wanted to go home & her husband didn’t so she jumped in their car and started down the driveway without him and she wrecked on the pond dam. She jumped out of the car and ran up the driveway a little ways and sat on the side in the bushes. Ronald & Cody tried to get the car out but couldn’t. They went in the house and pulled out a bottle of tequila & started doing shots. By this time b/c of all the drama I was sober. I hadn’t drank nothing since the Fite in the car. I went up the road and was trying to talk Tabby into coming in the house. She wouldn’t. I told her she could stay in the room with me but she still wouldn’t. I tryed talking to her for about 3 hours on and off. I brought her kool-aid and a sandwich thinking if she ate & sobered up some she’d come to her senses and come inside and it didn’t work. So finally I told her if she wanted to be stubborn and sleep in the bushes & get ate up by mosquitoes then I’d let her. I told her I was going to bed and I went inside. It was about 1:00 a.m. and Cody & Ronald was still drinking. I told them I was gonna get a shower and go to bed & that Tabby wouldn’t come in. Ronald said f [ ]k it let her stay out there. I told him they could sleep on the couch and get the car unstuck in the morning. I went to get a shower. When I got out I got in the bed. Cody came in and said he was gonna try to bring Tabby inside & that Ronald was on the couch asleep. I said ok but he’d probably have to carry her in once she passed out cuz she refuses to come in. Well he went outside and I layed down and drifted off. About 30 mins. or a hour later Cody came back in the bedroom & woke me up. He was all excited and crazy looking Bouncing around the room. I was like “whats going on? Whats up w/ you?” Ya know. He started saying “I did it! I did it! I killed her! ” I ran outside and saw Tabby laying face down in the driveway. I ran up to her and couldn’t get her to wake up. I put my head on her back and there wasn’t a heartbeat. I started freaking out! Cody was standing beside me with a kitchen knife in his hand. I was on my knees beside Tabby and I looked up at him and started crying and screaming “What did you do Cody? Why? Why did you do this?” He was smiling—his eyes almost glowing out of his head & was telling me how it excited him, it gave him a rush, it turned him on. My dog leash was laying beside her head. I went to get up on my feet and run and he dropped the knife in the dirt and grabbed the leash and caught me around the neck & by my hair. He brought me face to face and looked me in my eyes and told me I wasn’t gonna to tell anybody and he was making sure of it. He said if I didn’t do what he told me to he’d kill me and like it—the same way he did her . . . I was so scared Jamie. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I told him I’d do whatever he wanted just don’t hurt my babies. Just don’t take me from my kids and I’ll do anything he said. He took the leash off my neck and I fell 8 down beside Tabby crying so hard I was gagging. I threw up twice in the bushes. He was laughing at me. He told me to help him turn her over so I did. He had a sheet from in the house and we put her on it. He told me to take the knife and cut her wrists so if somebody found her they would think she did it so I did. I helped him wrapp her in the sheet and put her in the wagon behind my lawn mower. He grabbed me and took me inside to the bedroom & told me to get in bed. So I did. I layed there crying with him sitting on the side of the bed wrapping & unwrapping the leash around his hand untill I cryed myself to sleep. About 6:30 he woke me up and told me to come with him. I went outside and me & him got on the lawn mower. He said I had to go with him cuz he wasn’t leaving me alone & we went into the woods. About a mile & 1/2 back he stopped. He got off the mower and got the shovel. He made me help him get her body out of the wagon and drag her into the woods and lay her down. I sat behind her and cryed & cryed while he dug a hole. He wanted me to help him put her in it & cover it up but I couldn’t. So he did it by his self. Then we went home. Ronald woke up and left. He used my phone to get somebody to come get him. I called a friend to come get the boys for the week cuz I was scared what would happen. I tryed to do my everyday stuff but I couldn’t and when I went to work at mom’s or in the garden Cody stayed right under me. I couldn’t even talk to mom and she kept asking what was wrong but I couldn’t say nothing cuz Cody was there. I didn’t sleep & when I did I had horrible nightmares. Cody kept the leash in the drawer beside the bed & kept threatening me—cornering me in the house & saying I need to toughen up cuz if anybody found out I’d be beside her in the woods. Finally after about 3 days my other friend Big Cody came over. I asked him would he stay a few days. He knew something was wrong too & kept asking me. Well Cody D. (my Cody—the one that did the sh[]t) called me in the kitchen and grabbed me & was choking me & Big Cody caught him and got him off of me. Big Cody asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I was scared of Cody D and I wanted him to leave. Big Cody made him get in the car and me and Big Cody dropped him off at his momma’s. That night I told Big Cody what happened. He stayed with me to make sure Cody D didn’t come back and hurt me. My check came in that Friday (it was 5 days after the murder). Me & Big Cody went and paid my bills. I told him I was going to call the law and turn Cody D in. He took me out to dinner & tryed to talk me out of it but it didn’t work. When we got to my house I went for a walk and called 911. I told them I was reporting a murder. When the cops got there I took them in the woods & showed them where he buried her. They arrested my & charged me with murder. It took 2 days (I think) to get Cody D. When they arrested him he wrote a statement saying he did it & that I didn’t . . . . (Emphasis added.) 9 B. Graham’s letter to Hartfield dated July 31, 2008 Dear Ronald, I’ve started this letter a thousand times in the last 2 months but my courage always fails me. I cant blame you if you don’t even read this and just throw it away but I have to try. Cody (Ethan Dixon) has ruined my life so I might as well take this chance to try to make things better for you, your son, and your daughter by letting you know the truth about what happened to Tabby that night. All of it that I know anyway. I don’t know everything but I’ll tell you the parts I do know. If I were in your shoes I think it would help my heart to know. So . . . . First off let me say I love Tabby. She was my friend & family. I’d have NEVER hurt her. I hope you already know that. And I think the world of you too. I know ya’ll had problems in your marriage but who doesn’t! And its not fair that her family blames or accuses you for anything. She was at fault along w/ you when it comes to ya’lls problems. And what’s between man & wife is none of anyone’s business in the first place. Some things are meant to be private. Oh, and I’ve heard the rumors about you & me sleeping together & I don’t care. Let them talk cuz you & I know the truth. I just hope & pray that all of them pay for their lies. And I hope & pray that no matter what happens to me Cody pays for what he’s put all of our kids thru. He took Tabby away from ya’lls 2 and me away from my 3. So that’s 5 kids who’s lives will never be the same. About what happened—I don’t know all of it but here goes . . . You had fallen asleep on the sofa and me & Cody had laid down. He got back up and said he was gonna try one last time to get Tabby inside cuz he didn't want her left outside like that. He got up and I halfway drifted to sleep. I’m not sure how long it was before he came back in but he seemed very excited. He said he wanted to show me something so I went outside with him. I got to the end of the pond dam and he pulled her out of the bushes. (God this is so hard Hartfield I am so sorry!) She was limp. I bent down on my knees beside her—Cody was saying how exciting it was to choke her. He still had the dog leash & he had a knife from my kitchen. I was scared and crying. Screaming at him saying what did you do! What did you do! You’re crazy! I checked for a heartbeat, I put my head on her back trying to hear but she wasn’t breathing. I got up and was saying I had to get my phone, I had to get help. He put the leash back around her neck and squeezed making sure he did the job [and] showing off how he did it and how easy it would be to do it to me. I thought 10 there was hope—maybe she was still alive but I was just panicing too bad to really know. I turned around and Cody grabbed me by my hair and neck and swung me back down to the ground. He told me if I told anybody or said anything he’d kill me too. He forced me to look at her face and said that could be me as easy as it was her laying there. I didn’t know what to do. He got a sheet and wrapped her up and made me help carry her. I’m so ashamed but I did what he told me to. Should have tried to fight him, tried to get inside to you but I was confused and scared and I didn’t. And I was scared of you too! I was scared of what you’d do. I went in the woods with him b/c he wouldn’t let me away from him and he buried her. I couldn’t watch. I got sick and threw up. Over the next couple days he threatened me and wouldn’t let me out of his sight—not even to use the bathroom! I couldn’t use the phone—that’s why I didn’t answer or call you back when you left that message. And thats why it took so long for me to call the police. My sister-in-law from Wiggins came that Wednesday and got the boys to safety for me and I started working on getting away from Cody. He was keeping the leash that he choked her with in the drawer beside my bed. He kept saying I’d better act normal or I’d disappear just like her. I was just like a zombie—scared not knowing what was really going on. Finally Cody Claburn came over & Cody Dixon put his hands on me & was threatening me in the kitchen. I screamed and Claburn came running in & got him and slapped him down. Me & Claburn took Dixon to his mom’s and dropped him off. Finally I felt safe enough to tell someone. I had some drinks & smoked some weed & worked my nerve up. Then I called the cops. I feel like I killed her b/c I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Since I didn’t wake you up or anything and I listened to Cody (out of fear) I may as well have done all of it myself. I should’ve done something more—I should’ve risked my life to help her. I cant take that back. I have to live the rest of my life knowing that. I don’t know what all else Cody did to her & I’m not sure I want to know. I’m still not sure I can deal with the things I do know. I cant blame you if you hate me & wish me dead. If I could I’d let you in this cell with me so you could beat me to death or punish me how you see fit—for not doing more & all. I’ll never forgive myself for what has happened. And I don’t expect you to. But I had to tell you—you deserve to know. I don’t know whats going to happen to me but I hope whatever does happen someone will hear my story and use it to save someone else from this same pain. (Emphasis added.) ¶13. Graham also wrote two letters to her mother stating the following: C. Graham’s letter to Breakfield, dated May 17, 2009 It bothers me everyday that I could have kept my mouth shut & still been home 11 w/ my boys but that would’ve made me a horrible person to leave Tabitha’s kids out in the cold always wondering if she left them & stuff. And it wouldn’t have mattered what I said. Cody said to begin with if I told he’d make sure I went down with him. He wasn’t lying & I knew what I was getting myself into from the start. I wish I would’ve told them the truth of how I knew instead of making it worse on myself w/ how I did the 911 call but fear/psychosis makes you do a lot of stupid things & blurs your foresite. I have to deal with that. I’ve accepted my situation . . . . D. Graham’s letter to Breakfield, dated July 7, 2011 . . . The DA still thinks I’m taking up for/covering up for Ronald which I AM NOT. If I knew he did something I’d tell it. So them thinking I’m lying or hiding something is really starting to piss me off. If it wasn’t for me they’d never have a decent case to begin with. I’ve done nothing but be completely forth coming and cooperative & I’m just plain mad now. ¶14. Hartfield argues that the letters were against Graham’s penal interest because she confessed to acting as an accessory after the fact. But the two letters that Graham wrote to her mother contained no admissions of criminal activity at all, so it is beyond question that those two letters were not against her penal interest and were inadmissible. Regarding the letters to Decker and Hartfield, Mississippi Code Section 97-1-5 provides that a person who knowingly aids or assists any felon with the intent to enable the felon to escape or avoid arrest, trial, conviction, or punishment after the commission of the felony, is an accessory after the fact. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-1-5 (Rev. 2014). Because Graham asserted that she had assisted Dixon with covering up the crime and disposing of the body after he had murdered Tabitha, Graham confessed to some elements of the crime of acting as an accessory after the fact. However, Graham consistently stated that she had assisted Dixon only because he had threatened to kill her unless she aided him. Therefore, she never confessed to the requisite intent for accessory after the fact. Moreover, Graham’s confession indicated that all her 12 actions were taken under duress. We have held that “where a person reasonably believes that he is in danger of physical harm he may be excused for some conduct which ordinarily would be criminal.” Banyard v. State, 47 So. 3d 676, 681 (Miss. 2010) (quoting West v. State, 725 So. 2d 872, 888 (Miss. 1998), overruled on other grounds by Jackson v. State, 860 So. 2d 653 (Miss. 2003)). The defense of duress has four elements: (1) the defendant was under an unlawful and present, imminent, and impending threat of such a nature as to induce a well-grounded apprehension of death or serious bodily injury; (2) that he had not recklessly or negligently placed himself in the situation; (3) that he had no reasonable legal alternative to violating the law; (4) that a direct causal relationship may be reasonably anticipated between the criminal action and the avoidance of harm. Banyard, 47 So. 3d at 682 (quoting Ruffin v. State, 992 So. 2d 1165, 1177 (Miss. 2008)). Graham’s statements that she assisted Dixon because he threatened to kill her and she was in fear for her life attempted to assert the defense of duress.1 ¶15. We must determine whether Graham’s confession that she aided Dixon in disposing of the body, but under duress, is a statement against penal interest under Rule 804(b)(3). To qualify, a statement need be “sufficiently against the declarant’s penal interest ‘that a reasonable person in the declarant’s position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true.’” Williams v. State, 667 So. 2d 15, 19 (Miss. 1996), overruled on other grounds by Smith v. State, 986 So. 2d 290, 298 n.4 (Miss. 2008) (quoting Williamson v. United States, 512 U.S. 594, 603-04, 114 S. Ct. 2431, 129 L. Ed. 2d 476 (1994)). The 1 We do not determine that Graham’s statements established the elements of duress as a matter of law. Our holding is limited to an analysis of Graham’s statements in the context of Rule 804(b)(3), which requires us to determine whether the statements so far tended to expose Graham to criminal liability that a reasonable person would not have made them unless she believed them to be true. 13 proponent is “required to show that the statement clearly and directly implicates the declarant himself in criminal conduct.” Williams, 667 So. 2d at 19 (quoting U.S. v. Sarmiento-Perez, 633 F.2d 1092, 1101 (5th Cir. 1981)). A statement that serves, rather than prejudices, a defendant’s interests does not qualify. Ponthieux v. State, 532 So. 2d 1239, 1246 (Miss. 1988). The determination of whether a statement is against the declarant’s penal interest must be made by considering the statement in light of the surrounding circumstances. Williamson, 512 U.S. at 604. ¶16. In Graham’s letters to Decker and Hartfield, she blamed Dixon exclusively for the murder and asserted that all her actions were the result of duress. In Bailey v. State, 78 So. 3d 308, 318 (Miss. 2012), this Court held that a defendant’s statement in which he confessed to having killed in self-defense was not a statement against his interest because the statement, if true, constituted Bailey’s defense to criminal liability. The Court in Bailey relied on Robinson v. State, 758 So. 2d 480, 487 (Miss. Ct. App. 2000), in which the Court of Appeals held that a declarant’s admission to acting in self-defense was not a statement against interest. Bailey, 78 So. 3d at 318; see also United States v. Shyrock, 342 F.3d 948, 981 (3d Cir. 2003) (holding that a statement that the declarant shot the victims in self-defense was exculpatory and not against the declarant’s penal interest). As in Bailey and Robinson, Graham’s statements, if true, asserted a defense to criminal liability. That the defense she asserted was duress rather than self-defense is of no analytical significance. ¶17. Finally, regardless of whether Graham acknowledged participation in covering up a murder, she made those statements while incarcerated and awaiting her trial on murder and conspiracy charges. Her letters are nothing more than an attempt to exonerate herself from 14 her pending murder charge and place all blame on Dixon. The fact that she may also have implicated herself in a much lesser crime is of no consequence. In other words, a reasonable person in Graham’s position would be furthering her interest by claiming that her participation was after the fact only. We have held that “post-arrest statements made by one accused pointing the finger at another are as a matter of common experience among the least trustworthy of statements . . . .” Williams, 667 So. 2d at 20. In sum, we cannot say that a reasonable person in Graham’s position would not have made the statements unless believing them to be true. As such, Graham’s statements were not against her penal interest, and they were not admissible under Rule 804(b)(3).2