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State v. Garrett12/1/2005
ith the defendant because the house had no rear exit and was heated by a kerosene heater. Ms. Jones explained that, years before the victim's death, she and her family had witnessed a fire in their neighborhood that had killed a child, and as a result, Ms. Jones had stressed fire safety to her family, including the victim. She testified that the victim had installed a smoke alarm in the kitchen, and Ms. Jones noticed the alarm on the kitchen wall three days before the fire. Ms. Jones testified that the victim had bought a fire extinguisher a week before the fire. She testified that, when she went to the hospital following the fire, the defendant held up his bandaged hands to her, said he was burnt, and said nothing about the victim. On cross-examination, Ms. Jones testified that she did not recall whether the victim had said anything about the defendant painting the kitchen, but Ms. Jones did recall seeing paint buckets in the kitchen three days before the fire.
Michael Alcorn testified that he lived across the street from the victim and the defendant. On the morning of February 24, 1992, his wife woke him and told him that the house across the street was on fire. Mr. Alcorn testified that he put on trousers and ran across the street. He testified, "I noticed Mr. Garrett stumped down by a tree when I first came out." The defendant was 25 or 30 feet away from the burning house. Mr. Alcorn testified that, when he crossed the street, the defendant jumped up, grabbed a lawn chair, started to break the windows on the side of the house, and hollered for the victim. The defendant broke out each bedroom window and then began striking the plywood that covered the bathroom window with an axe. The defendant then began spraying the front room with a garden hose. Mr. Alcorn opined that the first fire truck arrived within five to ten minutes. The firefighters extracted the victim from the house and placed her in an ambulance.
The defendant was in the Alcorn home when Mr. Alcorn returned from work at 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. on February 24, 1992. Mr. Alcorn testified that his wife informed him that the victim had died. The defendant spent the night in a car in the Alcorns' yard, and Mr. Alcorn saw him the next morning. Mr. Alcorn testified that the defendant never mentioned the victim in Mr. Alcorn's presence.
On cross-examination, Mr. Alcorn disagreed that during and following the firefight the defendant was in a state of panic. Although the defendant screamed "Lori" at each window, Mr. Alcorn opined that the defendant's emotional state was "so-so." Mr. Alcorn agreed that the defendant had burns on his hand and that his facial hair was singed. Mr. Alcorn had smelled alcohol on the defendant but could not say that the defendant was intoxicated. Mr. Alcorn acknowledged that, in his prior statement, he did not mention the defendant's squatting beside the tree.
Bobby Alcorn, Michael Alcorn's son, testified that he was 17 years old at the time of the fire. At approximately 5:00 on the morning of February 24, 1992, he was preparing to go to school and heard his dog barking and a "kind of bang" that sounded "like a shotgun." Within a few minutes, he heard his mother screaming that the defendant's house was on fire. He looked across the street, saw the fire, and saw the defendant "kind of squatted down by a tree." Bobby Alcorn testified that when his father ran across the street, the defendant rose, took a lawn chair, and broke a window in the house. The defendant used an axe to attack the plywood covering on the bathroom window before giving the axe to Bobby Alcorn. Bobby Alcorn overheard the defendant telling Michael Alcorn that he did not believe the victim would have gone to the utility room.
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