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CLICK v. STATE12/20/1996
The appellant, Jimmy Shane Click, was indicted for the capital murder of Ginger Roberta McClure, which occurred during the late evening hours of July 24, or early morning hours of July 25, 1990. For ease of reference, the date of the murder will subsequently be referred to as July 24, 1990. On June 18, 1994, the appellant was found guilty of capital murder; he was subsequently sentenced to life in the penitentiary without the possibility of parole.
The State's evidence tended to show that on or about July 24, 1990, the appellant, then age 17, and codefendant Scott Carpenter, aged 18, entered the home of Ginger Roberta McClure and beat her to death. Evidence showed that the appellant sprayed mace in the victim's face while she was in her bed and that Carpenter repeatedly struck her with a baseball bat. The motive for the murder appeared to be that the appellant owed the victim money that he did not want to repay.
Ms. Charleen Bottorff, a friend of appellant's and Carpenter's girlfriend, testified that the appellant and Carpenter had been talking about killing the victim and planning the crime for at least a week before the killing. According to Bottorff, she, Click, and Carpenter went to an army surplus store and bought a can of tear gas which was later used in the homicide. She testified that on the night of the killing she drove the two men to a location close to the victim's house and dropped them off. Bottorff testified that she was told to wait by a pay telephone at a local motel until they telephoned her to pick them up and that if the two had not called by a certain time she was to pick them up at a pre-arranged site. (R. 303.) She also testified that when she picked them up later that evening both men had blood all over their arms. According to Ms. Bottorff, the appellant told Carpenter in the car that he had "done a real good job" hitting the victim. (R. 310.) After hiding some things at various locations around Huntsville, all three went to her apartment and slept. Click, she testified, awakened early the next morning because he had to go to his job at a local restaurant. (R. 318.)
The police questioned the appellant based upon information that he had been seen at the victim's house on the evening of the murder. The appellant told the police that he had known the victim for about eight years and that he mowed her grass. During the interrogation, the police determined that Click fit the description of a person who had been seen in the woods behind the victim's house on the day of the crime. The appellant was then informed of his rights. Thereafter, he admitted that he sprayed the victim with mace just before Carpenter beat her to death with the baseball bat. He also stated
that he and Carpenter had taken money, drugs, and other items from the victim's house.
The appellant raises 24 issues on appeal.
I.
The appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statements to the police. The appellant asserts two grounds upon which his statements should have been suppressed. First he contends that the statements were obtained through duress or improper inducement in violation Article 1, § 5, Constitution of Alabama of 1901 and the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protect against illegal searches and seizures. Additionally the appellant asserts that because he suffered from a mental illness when he was advised of Miranda rights, he was unable to understand the nature and quality of the warnings and he could not, therefore, knowingly and intelligently waive them.
A.
The record shows that
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