Opinion ID: 1311325
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: McGehee's Trial

Text: Prior to his trial, McGehee underwent a forensic evaluation at the Arkansas State Hospital. The evaluation indicated that McGehee was of average intelligence, not mentally ill at the time of the offense, and competent to stand trial. McGehee subsequently filed a motion for funds to obtain psychiatric assistance, arguing that he needed expert assistance for both the guilt and penalty phases of his trial. Specifically, his counsel contended that McGehee might have potentially suffered adverse effects from his father's exposure to the chemical Agent Orange in Vietnam. The state stipulated that McGehee's father had been exposed to the chemical, but opposed the motion on the ground that there was an insufficient scientific basis to show that any inheritable defects would be relevant to mitigation. The court denied McGehee's motion, stating that [i]f you can present anything to [the] Court as to whom can do this and if they can do it promptly and information and material on why this is going to [be] mitigating, but I just cannot regard this as very substantial. The jury found McGehee guilty of capital murder and kidnapping. At the sentencing phase of the trial, John Melbourne, Sr., testified about the impact of his son's death, stating that since the murder he had been battling depression and unable to work or sleep. He testified that the trauma had caused him and his wife to divorce and that his remaining children struggled with the loss of their brother. By way of mitigation, McGehee introduced, among other things, evidence of his difficult life, dysfunctional family, and parental abandonment. The court ruled that McGehee could not introduce evidence that two of his co-defendants were convicted of capital murder and kidnapping and did not receive the death penalty. Five witnesses testified on McGehee's behalf. LaRee Peacock, McGehee's maternal grandmother, testified that McGehee did not have a good relationship with his father because his parents had divorced when McGehee was young. Peacock testified that McGehee got along well with his mother until a period when she became religious and immediately expected him to do the same. Peacock testified that McGehee was not physically abused as a child, but she stated that he suffered mental abuse because his mother would, for example, get angry and refuse to feed McGehee and his sister dinner if they did not go to church. Peacock testified that McGehee's mother took him to a counselor who recommended that she discipline McGehee by withholding something of which he was very fond. Accordingly, his mother took away his dog and withheld other items when she became angry. Eventually, the narrative focus of Peacock's testimony drew an objection from the state: McGehee's Counsel: Did [McGehee's Mother] Robin neglect those children? Peacock: Well, they were clothed. And like I say, if they didn't go to church, she would be upset. And one time we had gone out there for lunch and I can't remember what [McGehee's sister] Kimber had done, but she made her eat on the basement steps and she sat down there crying and it actually spoiled my lunch because I didn't feel like eating. I just, I just lost my appetite. Another time Prosecutor: Your Honor, I'm goingI apologize for interrupting but I'm going to object at this time. I don't think the purpose is just to relay [sic] incident after incident. The questions are directed and are going to one of the mitigating factors and I think that's appropriate but this [is inappropriate]. Linda Christensen, McGehee's aunt, was the final defense witness. She testified that the relationship between McGehee's parents was dysfunctional and that there was a good deal of mental cruelty in their household. Christensen testified that McGehee did not have a relationship with his father's family and he did not meet his paternal grandparents until he was ten years old. She stated that McGehee and his mother idolized each other but that things changed when McGehee started getting into trouble. She also testified that at some point McGehee's mother became fanatically religious and unusually strict, stating that [s]ometimes for punishment, she would make them read the scriptures, sometimes [for] an hour, which only made the kids rebel. Like Peacock, Christensen's testimony relied heavily on anecdotes and eventually drew an objection: McGehee's Counsel: To make it more relevant, the prosecutor has been lenient here, can you tell me a little bit about any punishments outside that Jason would suffer? Christensen: That Jason would suffer, yes. Jason wasn't keeping a curfew. He was staying out later than his mother wanted and they never believed in locking the house before but when Jason came home, the house was locked. The house was locked and there were wooden dowels placed inside the windows and chunks of wood and books and just about anything she could find to put into the windows so he couldn't slide the windows open. McGehee's Counsel: He couldn't get back in the house? Christensen: He couldn't get back in the house and she said Jason knows how to knock. He should have come home when I told him to and if he wants in the house, he can knock. And so Jason slept in the dog run, in a small square dog run with his dog, Speckles. It didn't have a roof and it was pretty cold because where we come from, it can freeze up until June, and this was the first part of April. McGehee's Counsel: How long did this go on? Christensen: Probably about seven to ten days. McGehee's Counsel: He just didn't get to come in? Christensen: No. He didn't get to come in. She said if he wants to come in, he can knock. So I took him up food, took him up sandwiches. And he was living on [C-rations]. He found some [C-rations] and stuff. And I gave him some tissue papers and he was going to the bathroom outside and he got into the cellar and he got some bottled tomatoes. He dug holes in the dirt. He's [sic] stand his bottles of tomatoes up. When we went up there, he had eatenhe was eating bottled tomatoes and we were afraid he would get poisoned, get botulism. And he was living out there with his dog. There was no cover on this dog run. McGehee's Counsel: I'm not going to ask a lot about dogs but apparently some of your family is weird about how they handle their animals? Christensen: Yes. McGehee's Counsel: Can you just elaborate on that? What happened to his dogs even when he was a small child? Christensen: When he was a baby, he had a Doberman Pincher At that point, the prosecutor objected on the ground that the testimony was very, very far afield from anything that's relevant to the mitigating circumstances that I know about. McGehee's counsel did not explain how the incident was relevant to McGehee's sentence, simply stating that [t]he jury needs to know the background of why this man did what he did. The trial judge sustained the objection on the ground that he could not see the relevance of [s]omething years and years ago involving a dog. Later, the court sustained a similar objection to Christensen's testimony about abuse that McGehee's sister suffered at the hands of their stepfather: Christensen: [McGehee] was supposed to discipline his sister, Kimber. My sister let Jason do that a lot. [McGehee's stepfather] Wayne wasn't allowed to discipline her. She'd say, no, don't discipline my kids, but when they got out of hand, she would tell Wayne, when they got older, she would say aren't you going to do something with these kids. And so, you know, Jason had problems fighting on and off growing up, but Wayne beat Kimber up and Family Services were called in. She had big bruises on the back of her legs that they took pictures of. Prosecutor: Your Honor, at this point we're talking about somebody who isn't even the defendant, and I really think we're way far afield from directional testimony. I would ask that we focus on what we're here to do. McGehee's Counsel: My position is I'm here to try to save his life and if it helps this jury with the background, that's why I'm asking. The Court: Well, I'm going to sustain the State's objection. After the jury had retired to deliberate on the sentence, McGehee's counsel sought to make a record about what Christensen would have testified to in the absence of the state's objection: McGehee's Counsel: I was just trying to show a pattern as to how violent a family they were because the dogs' throats are slit and they were blaming Jason for being the, not the one that did it but that because he wanted a new puppy, God had these animals killed and I just was trying to show once again the pattern of violence in the family that helped got [sic] him where he was. And that's what I wanted to bring up. That's all I have, Judge. ... The Court: Well, they haven't really charted, ever since we bifurcated proceedings not only in capital cases but in other cases, it's still uncharted. To what extent, the Court just allows an endless sequence of [anecdotes] to be presented by the defense. There has to be some limits placed on it.... I don't know, maybe to some extent it's just wide open and it's just how much time we're going to take and how many different [anecdotes] we get to listen to about an individual's history. But some presumably isolated act of cruelty to animals that happened years and years ago, I'm still not convinced has any particular relevance.... The jury unanimously found that the state had proved two aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) that the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing arrest and (2) that the murder was committed in an especially cruel or depraved manner. The verdict forms also indicated a non-unanimous finding that McGehee probably came from a dysfunctional family. The jury found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed beyond a reasonable doubt any mitigating circumstances and justified a sentence of death.