State v. Moody8/9/2004
In 2001, Appellant Robert Joe Moody was convicted of two counts of first degree murder for the deaths of Michelle Malone and Patricia Magda. The trial judge sentenced him to death pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.") § 13-703 (Supp.1993). An automatic Notice of Appeal was filed pursuant to Rule 31.2(b) of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. This court has jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031 (2001).
I. FACTS [FN1]
FN1. On appeal, this court views the facts presented in the trial
court "in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict." State v. Dann, 205 Ariz. 557, 562 n. 1, 74 P.3d 231, 236 n. 1 (2003) (citing State v. Gallegos, 178 Ariz. 1, 9, 870 P.2d 1097, 1105 (1994)). Many of the facts are reprinted from the court's earlier decision in this case, which is reported at State v. Moody, 192 Ariz. 505, 506, 2-6, 968 P.2d 578, 579 (1998). We reproduce the facts in substantial part because they are necessary to the disposition of some of the issues raised in this appeal, adding others as necessary for a complete understanding of new issues raised.
2 On November 15, 1993, Robert Moody drove to the home of his ex-girlfriend's friend, Michelle Malone. After ascertaining that Malone was alone, Moody knocked on the door. Malone answered and let him in.
3 Moody followed Malone into the kitchen. There, he pulled a kitchen knife from his coat pocket and attacked her. Malone tried to defend herself, cutting her hand in the process. Moody held Malone by the neck and forced her into her home office, where he emptied her purse and took cash, a checkbook, and some credit cards. He ordered Malone to write a check for $500. Because that check was smeared with blood, he made her write another.
4 He then forced Malone back to the kitchen and tied her to a chair with some telephone cords that he had ripped from the wall. He dragged her--still tied to the chair--into a bedroom, where he found a .22 caliber rifle and a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun in a closet. He hit Malone over her head with a BB gun, then shot her several times with the .22 caliber rifle, re-loading between each shot. After shooting Malone, Moody found a Ruger .22 caliber pistol in a chest of drawers and placed the pistol in his pocket. He then wrapped the rifle and shotgun in a blanket and drove home and went to sleep.
5 Five days later, Moody went next door to Patricia Magda's home. After they talked for a while and smoked a few cigarettes, Moody followed Magda down a hallway to see a Christmas calendar she had made. Moody pushed her to the floor, then bound her wrists and ankles with neckties he had brought with him. In the kitchen, he found Magda's purse, from which he took cash and credit cards. After yanking the phone cords from the wall, Moody returned to Magda and demanded the personal identification number ("PIN") for her bank card. After she gave him a number, he tied her up, covered her with a rug and weighed her down by putting a chair on her.
6 Moody drove Magda's car to a Bank of America and tried to withdraw money using *1131 her bank card. When he was unable to get any money, he returned to Magda's home and again demanded her PIN number. He went back to the bank and withdrew $300. He then returned to Magda's home, slit her throat, stabbed her in the back, and bludgeoned her to death with hedge clippers. He removed the neckties he had used to bind her, wrapped them in a towel in the kitchen, and left the house. He put his luggage into Magda's car and drove away.
7 About a month later, on December 20, 1993, Moody broke and climbed through a kitchen window into the Yuma, Arizona home of Mary DeForest, his ex-wife's sister. After demanding cash and guns, Moody
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