DAVIS v. STATE5/29/1998
The appellant, David Eugene Davis, was charged with two counts of capital murder for the deaths of Kenneth Douglas and John Fikes. Count I charged him with murder made capital because two people were murdered by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, § 13A-5-40(a)(10), Ala. Code 1975, and Count II charged him with murder made capital because he committed it during a robbery in the first degree or an attempt thereof, § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. In exchange for the State dismissing Count II, he pled guilty to and was convicted of Count I. The trial court engaged the appellant in a thorough colloquy, as required by Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), and Rule 14.4, Ala. R.Crim. P., during which the appellant admitted his guilt and expressed his desire to enter a guilty plea. The appellant entered his guilty plea, and the matter was presented to a jury so the jury could determine whether the State had proven its case against the appellant beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by § 13A-5-42, Ala. Code 1975. After the jury returned
a verdict of guilty, the penalty phase proceedings began. By a vote of eleven to one, the jury recommended that the appellant be sentenced to death by electrocution. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced the appellant to death by electrocution.
We have reviewed the proceedings before and during the guilt phase of the trial for jurisdictional errors. § 13A-5-42, Ala. Code 1975. Further, we have reviewed the penalty phase proceedings for any error, whether preserved or plain, as required by Rule 45A, Ala. R.App. P., which provides as follows:
"In all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, the court of criminal appeals shall notice any plain error or defect in the proceedings under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."
In Haney v. State, 603 So.2d 368, 392 (Ala.Cr.App. 1991), aff'd, 603 So.2d 412 (Ala. 1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 925, 113 S.Ct. 1297, 122 L.Ed.2d 687 (1993), we stated as follows:
"The Alabama Supreme Court has adopted federal case law defining plain error, holding that `" lain error" only arises if the error is so obvious that the failure to notice it would seriously affect the fairness or integrity of the judicial proceedings,' Ex parte Womack, 435 So.2d 766, 769 (Ala.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 986, 104 S.Ct. 436, 78 L.Ed.2d 367 (1983) (quoting United States v. Chaney, 662 F.2d 1148, 1152 (5th Cir. 1981))."
" he plain-error exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule is to be `used sparingly, solely in those circumstances in which a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result.'" United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046, 84 L.Ed.2d 1, 14 (1985), quoting United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1592, 71 L.Ed.2d 816, note 14 (1982). To find plain error, a reviewing court must find that "the claimed error not only seriously affected `substantial rights,' but that it had an unfair prejudicial impact on the jury's deliberations." Young, 470 U.S. at 18, 105 S.Ct. at 1047, 84 L.Ed.2d at 14.
I.
The appellant's first argument is that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's finding that the State met its burden of proving the elements of capital murder beyond a reasonable doubt. First, he argues that there was no evidence that the killings were premeditated. He asserts that the only evidence of his intent to kill the victims was circumstantia
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