Opinion ID: 1817269
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 24

Heading: was the evidence sufficient to support the charged aggravating circumstances?

Text: We discuss individually the evidence of three of the four aggravating circumstances, omitting the circumstance of previous conviction of a crime of violence, which was examined under proposition XVIII. 1. Whether or not the murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of robbery and was committed for pecuniary gain, Mississippi Code Annotated, § 99-19-101(5)(d), (f): Evidence supporting this circumstance was set out in the statement of facts of this opinion: e.g., the open safe door, the absence of money on Gurley's premises, and Frank, Sr.'s asking his older son for the money as the Cabellos were leaving Corinth. 2. Whether the murder was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner, § 99-19-101(5)(h): Dr. McLees testified in part that This is the most painful way to die that I know of that you can die, short of burning to death ... you are conscious, you are struggling. He obviously was struggling, he had cuts all over his hands, scrape marks where he was trying to get the tape off and the larnyx had been crushed. I suppose that what makes it so horrible to me is that it takes a period of time, three to five minutes before you lose consciousness. Dr. McLees also testified that before losing consciousness a person who is being suffocated or strangled would experience horror. Additionally, there would have been excruciating pain associated with Gurley's crushed larnyx. 3. Whether the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing the detection and lawful arrest of the defendant, § 99-19-101(5)(e): The record reveals Frank, Sr. cursed Rico, his young son, for having told Gurley where the Cabellos were staying. Thereafter Frank, Sr. attempted to remove fingerprints from the motel room. At this time the Cabellos' belongings were packed into the Mustang. These facts along with other circumstances of the crime in our opinion support a reasonable inference that a substantial reason for the killing was to conceal the identity of the killer or killers or to `cover their tracks' so as to avoid apprehension and eventual arrest ... Leatherwood v. State, 435 So.2d at 651. Therefore the submission of this aggravating circumstance to the jury was proper. Based on these facts our opinion is the aggravating circumstances enumerated in Instruction S-1 were properly submitted to the jury.