Opinion ID: 1712035
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lesser-Included-Offense Instructions

Text: McWhorter argues that he presented evidence indicating he was intoxicated at the time of the killing, that the trial court instructed the jury that evidence of voluntary intoxication can support a finding of a lack of the intent necessary to a finding of capital murder, and that the trial court therefore erred in refusing to instruct the jury on manslaughter, felony murder, and intentional murder as lesser included offenses. This case raises the question of the quantum of proof sufficient to warrant a lesser-included-offense instruction based on the possibility that the jury may not find the intent necessary for a conviction of capital murder. McWhorter argues that the jury could have inferred from the evidence presented at trial that he was unable to form the intent to commit murder because, he says, he was extremely intoxicated at the time of the crime. The evidence shows that McWhorter and his accomplices carefully planned and carried out the crime. McWhorter and Daniel Minor lay in wait for hours at the victim's home and, while waiting, manufactured and tested homemade silencers to use on weapons found in the victim's home. When the victim arrived home, McWhorter and Minor used these weapons to commit the killing. Then they gathered some of the victim's belongings, loaded them into the victim's pickup truck, and drove the truck to a previously agreed upon meeting place. There, they divided the property stolen from the victim. McWhorter took his portion of the weapons and the victim's other property and hid that property and the weapons at the home of a friend. On February 19, 1993, the day after the crime, McWhorter gave a voluntary unsworn statement to Detective James Maze of the Albertville Police Department. Because McWhorter's claim that he was entitled to a charge on a lesser included offense is premised on his claim that at the time of the killing he was not aware of what he was doing, we quote his statement in its entirety: Maze: This is February 19, 1993. It's now 11:40 a.m. Interview with Casey Allen McWhorter. And you're 18 years old? 19? McWhorter: 18. Maze: What's your date of birth? McWhorter: 11-11-74. Maze: 11-11-74. Now, just a moment ago, I advised you of the Miranda warning and your rights, and you understand that. Is that correct, Casey? McWhorter: Yes, sir. Maze: They do call you Casey? McWhorter: Uh huh. Maze: And you're waivering [sic] your rights at this time? Yes or no? McWhorter: Yes. Maze: Okay. All right. Now what we're gonna be talking about is Edward, Mr. Edward Williams that lives [sic] at 1202 Hyatt Street here in Albertville. Do you know him? McWhorter: No, personally, no, I don't. Maze: Okay. Do you want to tell me what happened last night after 6:15, between 6:30 and 8 o'clock? McWhorter: I don't know nothing about him. I really don't. Maze: Was you over at his house? McWhorter: Not that I know of. Maze: All right. Yesterday evening, who was you with? McWhorter: I was by myself. I was at Carry's house. Maze: At whose house? McWhorter: Carry's. Maze: Carry who? McWhorter: Barnes. Maze: Carry Barnes? McWhorter: Uh-huh. Maze: Is that the woman's name? McWhorter: (Not audible) Maze: Who was with you? McWhorter: Just me. I was in the back room by myself thinking about everything. Maze: In what respect, what was you thinking about? McWhorter: My last girlfriend. Maze: Who was your last girlfriend? McWhorter: Tiffany. Maze: Tiffany who? McWhorter: Harper. Maze: Where does she live at? McWhorter: Ah, she just moved, and I ain't exactly sure where she lives. Maze: What's her parents' name? McWhorter: I don't know that. Maze: Does she work anywhere? McWhorter: Uh uh. Maze: Does she go to school? McWhorter: Uh huh. Maze: Which school does she go to? McWhorter: She goes to Albertville High School. Maze: Tiffany Harper. When's the last time you seen Tiffany? McWhorter: It's been, ah, a pretty good while. Maze: Okay, what time did you get up yesterday morning up at [the] Barneses'? That'd be we're talking about Thursday morning now. McWhorter: Ah, I got up, I guess, at about twelve or one. Maze: Around noon? McWhorter: Twelve or one o'clock, something like that. Maze: All right, who was there when you got up? McWhorter: There wasn't nobody there when I got up. Maze: When did you last see Abraham [Barnes] that day? McWhorter: That morning. Maze: Approximately what time? McWhorter: When he was leaving for school. Maze: All right, Tommy, do you have anything? Also present is Chief Investigator Tommy Cole. [Pause] Maze: Okay, is there anything else that you want to say over on [sic] before we conclude here? McWhorter: Lee and Daniel, they called me on the telephone and told me they was gonna go to his house, to Lee's dad's house, and they was gonna take everything out of it and they asked me if I wanted to go and I said `I don't know' and then they convinced me into going and so Maze: This was on Wednesday evening? McWhorter: So I got drunk Thursday. Maze: Y'all were on a three-way telephone conversation, Lee was at his house, you was at your house, and Daniel was at his house. Is that correct? McWhorter: Yes, sir. Maze: Okay. McWhorter: And then I got pretty much drunk and we went and did all this. I don't remember being at the house, I really don't, this I promise to God, I don't. Maze: Okay, was it just you and Daniel in the house? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: Just you and Daniel? McWhorter: Just me and Daniel. Maze: Okay, which one of you done the shooting, firing of the weapon? McWhorter: I think Daniel did, to be absolutely honest with you. Maze: Okay, who made the silencers to go around the pillow [sic]? McWhorter: I did. Maze: You did that? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: For both guns? McWhorter: Cause I told him Wednesday night how to do it. Maze: Okay. McWhorter: He told me to do that, so I did that. Maze: Okay, did y'all take any money off him? McWhorter: Uh uh. I did not take any money off him. Now, Daniel and Lee might've gotten money cause Maze: Was Lee in the house? McWhorter: Uh uh. Daniel got his checkbook and it had all his credit cards and stuff in it. Maze: Okay. Cole: Did anything happen to one of the guns at the time that the shooting was going on to make itdid anything happen? McWhorter: I don't know. Maze: Like misfire, jamming? McWhorter: I couldn't tell you. Maze: Okay, so you think, to the best of your knowledge, that Daniel done all the firing? McWhorter: Yes, sir. Maze: You could have, but you don't remember it? McWhorter: I could have, but I, I don't recollect cause I, I was drunk. Maze: Okay, y'all was waiting at the house on, ah, Mr. Williams to come home. Is that correct? McWhorter: Yes. Maze: You and Daniel was in the house when he came home? McWhorter: Cause Lee had asked us to Maze: Had asked y'all to, ah, rob him and, ah McWhorter: Yes, sir. Maze: Murder him? McWhorter: Yes, sir. Maze: Okay, what did you do with the.22 rifles you left, ah, with McWhorter: Mark [Marcus] Carter has some of `em. Maze: What's Mark got? McWhorter: He's got a .410, he's got a 12 gauge sawed-off which was mine, anyway it wasn't taken from the house, and he's got another .22. Maze: Rifles or pistols? McWhorter: Rifles. Maze: Okay, what'd you do with the .22 rifle that you carried to the Barneses' or up thataway? McWhorter: I don't remember what happened to it. Maze: Did you throw it in the creek or did you hide it around the Barneses' house? McWhorter: I don't really remember. Cole: Now, son, we need to get to the bottom of this. McWhorter: If I can remember what I did with it, I'll tell you, I promise. I just got to get it all to come back. Cole: Okay. McWhorter: As soon as I remember, I'll tell you. Maze: What all else did y'all take out of the house that you can remember? Did you take some CDs? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: How about some orange boxes? McWhorter: Daniel's got all the CDs. He's got the orange boxes too. Maze: What one of the silencers what'd you use to make one of the silencers to go over the gunwhat'd you use to make that with? McWhorter: Pillow. Maze: Wrapped in how? McWhorter: Duct tape. Maze: Gray duct tape? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: Where's that at, do you know? McWhorter: Uh uh. Maze: All right, what did you use to make the other one? McWhorter: Milk jug. Maze: What was in the milk jug? McWhorter: Napkins. Maze: Okay, how did you fix it to the barrel of the gun? McWhorter: Duct tape. Maze: Okay, do you know where that jug's at? McWhorter: No, sir, I sure don't. Maze: Okay. McWhorter: The last I seen it, it was at Daniel's house. Maze: And after you and Daniel went to the house and, ah, took the stuff, the guns and checkbook and stuff, and shot Mr. Williams, y'all met Lee, his son, and another boy at, ah, a Carter boy at, ah, Albertville High School? McWhorter: Yes. Maze: Then what did y'all do, went and ditched the truck, yes or no? McWhorter: Yes. Maze: Okay, then what happened? Cole: Did you take anything out of the truck? McWhorter: We got, it was all the stuff out of the back of the truck. Cole: Did you take any items from the truck itself, anything like the stereo from the truck? McWhorter: Yeah, we got the stereo out of it. Cole: What happened to it? McWhorter: I'm not real sure. I put it in, ah, the floorboard of Mark's car. Maze: Okay, where did Mark let you out at? McWhorter: He brought me back up to Carry's, but he didn't go all the way to the house. Maze: He let you out down there between the bridges? Cole: You walked up the hill? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: Is there anything else that you can remember about the shooting and robbery of Mr. Williams? McWhorter: No. Maze: Did, ah, Lee, his son, say why he wanted y'all to do this? McWhorter: He just said that he was a bastard and, ah, couple of other choice words. Maze: Did he at any time say that if y'all didn't do it there at the house that y'all better pop him while he was coming down the road? McWhorter: Naw, he said shoot him when he comes in the door, he'll shoot you. Maze: Okay. McWhorter: And he said he was gonna give us money to do it. Maze: Is there anything else, Casey, that you want to say about this? McWhorter: No, sir. Cole: At any time did you ever tell Lee Williams that his daddy didn't have as much money on him as he said he did or said he would have? McWhorter: Lee said that he's got money on him at all times and Lee said for us to take that for doing it, and I said that he didn't have no money on him at all when I seen him later. Maze: Is there anything else? McWhorter: No. Maze: This concludes the interview at 7:57 [sic; 11:57?]. [Pause] Maze: Okay, we just went off there. I thought we was done, but Casey remembered some other information. Would you go over that again about y'all standing there and each one of you had a gun with a silencer on it when Mr. Williams come in? McWhorter: I had the old .22. I don't know exactly how old it is, but it's older than the one Daniel had. Maze: That's the one that's tube fed. McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: And one of `em had the clip? McWhorter: Daniel had the one with the clip. Maze: Okay. McWhorter: And then he come back there, he grabbed the gun, the end of Daniel's gun. Maze: That's Mr. Williams grabbed the end of Daniel's gun in the hallway there beside the ladder? McWhorter: Uh huh. McWhorter: And then I was sitting there watching him and then he turned around and looked at me. Maze: Where were you sitting? McWhorter: Just right, the ladder was here, and I was right here. Maze: Behind him? McWhorter: Yeah, on in this other room with the door open. Maze: In the living room part? McWhorter: No, it was in the back. Maze: Right straight across from the bathroom or right? McWhorter: Behind the bath. Cole: Where there was an aluminum ladder sitting in this little hallway? McWhorter: I was in the room right behind that. Maze: Okay, where there was a bed and some clothes in there? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: In there where y'all tested, fired the guns into the mattress? McWhorter: Yeah. Maze: That's where you were sitting? McWhorter: Yeah, and as he grabbed Daniel's gun he was gonna turn around, and I shot him in the leg, and he started screaming, and then I pulled the trigger again and it didn't work then. Then I just heard all sorts of firing, and that's pretty much it. Maze: Okay, is there anything else that you might think of before we go off again? McWhorter: Not that I recall. Maze: Okay, this concludes the interview at 12 noon. McWhorter's statement is riddled with internal inconsistencies. While at the outset McWhorter claims a lack of memory, on account of intoxication, and even denies being at the victim's house on the night of the crime, he then furnishes detailed information about how the crime was committed. In his statement, McWhorter admitted that he had made the silencers for the two guns, and he was able to describe in detail what he used to make the silencers. When asked who fired the guns, McWhorter stated that he could not recall who fired the guns because he was drunk, but then was able to recall exactly what kind of guns they took from the victim's home. McWhorter also stated that he shot the victim in the leg. He knew which gun he held while he and Minor were waiting for the victim to arrive home, and he described in detail the sequence of events that transpired when the victim entered his home. He remembered test-firing the guns, dividing and disposing of the victim's property, removing the stereo from the victim's truck, and where Marcus Carter dropped him off after the crime. His action on the night of the crime is wholly inconsistent with his self-serving statements suggesting he had a diminished capacity. McWhorter argues that he was extremely intoxicated before, during, and after the crime. At the preliminary hearing, Detective Maze testified that Abraham Barnes had told him that McWhorter had tried to commit suicide the night after the killing by taking some pills and drinking some alcohol. According to Barnes, McWhorter had been taken to a hospital several hours after the killing, after, Barnes said, he had attempted to commit suicide by ingesting pills and alcohol. However, other than his statement, McWhorter does not point to any evidence indicating he was intoxicated at the time of the commission of the crime. Carter, who drove Minor and McWhorter to the victim's house and who met them later in the evening, testified that he saw no indication that McWhorter had been drinking alcohol either before or after the crime and that McWhorter was not intoxicated on that night. Carter testified that, after the crime, when he met Minor and McWhorter at the designated place, McWhorter did not appear to have been drinking. McWhorter's statements to others on the night of the crime indicate that he was aware of his actions. Barnes testified that, on the night of the crime, McWhorter told him that he unloaded a clip into the victim and that he and Minor stole the victim's truck. Detective Maze testified that at noon the next day, when the statement was given, McWhorter did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, even though McWhorter said he had been admitted to a hospital for an alcohol and drug overdose. No evidence in the record establishes when McWhorter ingested the alcohol that led to his hospitalization. The only evidence indicating McWhorter was intoxicated was McWhorter's own statement to the police. The trial court found that evidence insufficient to warrant giving instructions on lesser included offenses.