People v. Davis5/14/1990
Justice MULLARKEY delivered the Opinion of the Court.
This is a direct appeal pursuant to section 16-11-103(7)(a), 8A C.R.S. (1986), of a death sentence imposed on the defendant Gary Lee Davis following his trial and convictions on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, second-degree kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping. Davis does not challenge the guilt phase of his trial but raises numerous points of error in the sentencing phase and challenges the facial constitutionality of the Colorado death sentencing statute. We affirm.
I.
Factual Background
In the summer of 1986, Gary and Virginia May and their two children, seven-year-old Brandon and four-year-old Krista, lived on a ranch 25 miles northeast of Byers, Colorado in Adams County. The Mays, together with Virginia May's father Rod MacLennan, and her brothers Scott, Dan and Dave MacLennan, were in the ranching business. In February of 1986, the defendant was hired as a ranch hand to work on a ranch which adjoined the ranch operated by the Mays and the MacLennans. The defendant and his wife Becky Davis took up residence in a house owned by the defendant's employer . The Mays lived on the portion of the MacLennan ranch closest to the Davises. According to testimony presented at trial, the Davises met Virginia May at church. The defendant had met Gary May on occasion when the two men worked on a fence line between the properties. The People presented evidence at trial indicating that the defendant often spoke to a fellow employee of his sexual desire for Virginia May, as well as his desire for various other women, including May's sister-in-law Sue MacLennan. The co-worker testified that whenever he and Gary Davis repaired the fence closest to the May residence or were otherwise working in that area, Davis made obscene remarks about his sexual desires for various women. On at least one occasion, according to that witness' testimony, Davis urinated towards the May home and said " ome on, Virginia, baby. I'm here. Come to me." (v. 26, p. 470)
According to the testimony of the defendant, his marital relationship with his wife Becky had been sexually unsatisfactory. (v. 15, p.19) Their sexual relationship failed to improve after Davis took the ranch hand job, and the couple began renting pornographic videotapes and cruising about the countryside looking for "a pretty girl." (v. 15, p.28) The couple sometimes drove around Fort Morgan looking for women and at one point considered, in the defendant's own words, "picking them up and taking them out in the country and . . . raping them." (v. 15, p.30) On this basis, the prosecution argued to the jury that the defendant and his wife, prior to the criminal act here at issue, had determined to kidnap and rape a local woman when the opportunity presented itself. (v. 26, pp.578-80)
On July 18, 1986, Tammy Beauprez, who lived on a farm ten miles south of Wiggins, Colorado, was visited by a man and woman driving a green four-dour sedan with Kansas license plates. After the car pulled into Beauprez's driveway, the woman in the car asked for directions to Byers and inquired of Beauprez whether her husband was home. (v. 26, p. 450) At one point, as Beauprez stood next to the Kansas automobile, the man in the car maneuvered himself into position behind her. However, when Beauprez's husband appeared, the man returned to the car and soon thereafter the couple departed. (v. 26, p. 456) Beauprez identified the couple as Becky and Gary Davis.
In the late afternoon of the following Monday, July 21, 1986, Becky Davis called Sue MacLennan, Virginia May
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