Gary Dean Lambert v. State of Mississippi ( 1999 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 1999-CA-00395-SCT
GARY DEAN LAMBERT
v.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 01/30/1999
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WILLIAM F. COLEMAN
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: COVINGTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: KRISTY L. BENNETT
JOE M. RAGLAND
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: SCOTT STUART
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: EDDIE BOWEN
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - POST-CONVICTION RELIEF
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 09/14/2006
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
BEFORE COBB, P.J., CARLSON AND DICKINSON, JJ.
DICKINSON, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
¶1. The indictment alleged the defendant committed a murder during the commission of
a burglary and was therefore guilty of capital murder. However, the indictment failed to
disclose that the crime the defendant intended to commit after breaking and entering the
dwelling was sexual battery. Although the defendant was convicted of simple murder, he now
seeks post-conviction relief due to the faulty capital murder indictment. The question
presented is whether the deficient capital murder indictment prejudiced the defendant, such
that his conviction or sentence was actually adversely affected, thus requiring post-conviction
relief. We find that under the facts and circumstances of this case, it did not.
BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
¶2. At 6:30 p.m. on January 15, 1982, Gary Dean Lambert went to Nick’s Ice House to
shoot pool and drink. At midnight, Lambert left Nick’s to go to a party, where he smoked
marijuana and continued to drink. At 2:30 a.m., he left the party. Realizing he was too
intoxicated to continue driving, Lambert pulled into a gas station to call a friend to pick him
up. While at the gas station, Lambert saw Bob McClain, whom he had met earlier that night at
the party. McClain asked Lambert for a ride, and Lambert agreed to take him home, but he told
McClain to drive. Lambert claims he recalls nothing more of the events of that night.
¶3. About 9:00 a.m. the next morning, Herschel and Edwin Trigg were informed that
something was wrong at their mother’s house. The two discovered the badly beaten body of
their 86-year-old mother, Pearl Lott Trigg, lying in her bed, with Lambert sleeping partially
undressed next to her. Lambert’s checkbook was discovered under Mrs. Trigg’s body, and
pubic hairs matching the characteristics of Lambert’s hairs were found lodged in Mrs. Trigg’s
larynx. An autopsy revealed Mrs. Trigg’s cause of death to be strangulation.
¶4. Lambert was indicted for capital murder while engaged in the commission of the crime
of burglary. The indictment stated Lambert did
wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and of his malice aforethought without the
authority of law kill and murder Pearl Lott Triggs [sic], a human being, while he,
the aforesaid Gary Dean Lambert, was then and there engaged in the commission
of the crime of burglary of the dwelling house then and there occupied by the
aforesaid Pearl Lott Triggs [sic], contrary to and in violation of section 97-3-
19(2)(e) of the Miss. Code of 1972, Ann. as amended.
2
Although the indictment charged that burglary was the felony which elevated the crime to
capital murder, it did not specify the underlying offense that constituted the “intended crime”
element of the burglary.1
¶5. On August 6, 1982, Lambert was convicted of simple murder and sentenced to life
imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed by this Court on October 31, 1984. Lambert v.
St at e, 462 So. 2d 308, 317 (Miss. 1984) (hereinafter Lambert I). For several years
thereafter, Lambert unsuccessfully pursued habeas corpus relief in the federal courts. The
United States District Court’s denial of Lambert’s request for habeas relief was affirmed by
the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Lambert v. Miss. Dep’t of Corrs.,
974 F.2d 1334 (5th Cir. 1992). The United States Supreme Court later denied Lambert’s
petition for certiorari. Lambert v. Miss. Dep’t of Corrs., 507 U.S. 1020, 113 S. Ct. 1819, 123
L. Ed. 2d 449 (1993).
¶6. On October 13, 1997, ten days before this Court handed down its decision in State v.
Berryhill, 703 So. 2d 250 (Miss. 1997),2 Lambert filed a pro se petition for post-conviction
relief, which this Court denied as time- barred pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. Section 99-39-5(2)
(Rev. 2000).
¶7. In February 1998, with the assistance of counsel, Lambert filed another petition for
post-conviction relief urging us to recognize Berryhill as an intervening decision that entitled
1
The crime of burglary requires the breaking and entering of a dwelling with the intent to commit
some crime therein. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-17-23 (Rev. 2006).
2
The Berryhill Court held that capital murder indictments predicated on the underlying felony of
burglary must specifically name the intended crime that comprised an element of the burglary charge. 703
So. 2d at 255.
3
him to present his post- conviction relief claim to the trial court. On July 2, 1998, this Court
granted Lambert’s motion and allowed him to proceed in the trial court with his application for
post-conviction relief.
¶8. On November 18, 1998, Lambert filed his petition for post-conviction relief in the
Circuit Court of Covington County, Mississippi. The State opposed the motion on the grounds
that the three-year statute of limitations for presenting the motion had expired. The trial court
refused to recognize Berryhill as an intervening decision, and it denied Lambert’s petition as
time-barred. Lambert appealed, raising numerous issues including a demand for DNA testing
of the pubic hairs found in Mrs. Trigg’s larynx.
¶9. On January 11, 2001, without deciding the question of whether Berryhill qualified as
an intervening decision, this Court remanded Lambert’s case to the trial court for DNA testing
of the pubic hairs taken from Mrs. Trigg’s throat. Lambert v. State, 777 So. 2d 45, 49 (Miss.
2001). We deferred addressing the other issues raised by Lambert, stating, “Lambert may wish
to bring these matters before this Court or a lower court at a later time, dependent upon the
proof obtained pursuant to our holding today.” Id.
¶10. The DNA analysis, completed in December 2002, showed Lambert was the source of
the pubic hairs found in Mrs. Trigg’s larynx. In January and February 2003, and in January
2004, Lambert filed motions requesting permission to file a supplemental brief in this matter.
These requests were denied.
¶11. In October 2005, Lambert filed another petition for post-conviction relief. On
December 15, 2005, this Court entered an order, stating:
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the Court finds that the issues raised in Lambert’s direct appeal should be finally
decided by this Court. The Court further finds that the mandate in this matter
was issued improperly and it should be recalled. The Court finds that the Orders
entered by this Court on April 29, 2003 and January 23, 2004 should be vacated.
The Court further finds that the parties in this matter should file supplemental
briefs regarding the remaining issues in this appeal.
¶12. There is but one issue3 for our consideration: whether the trial court erred in holding
that State v. Berryhill was not an intervening decision which would have adversely affected the
outcome of Lambert’s conviction or sentence.
DISCUSSION
¶13. Pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. Section 99-39-5(2), a motion for post-conviction relief
“shall be made within three (3) years after the time in which the prisoner’s direct appeal is
ruled upon by the Supreme Court of Mississippi . . . .” This Court decided Lambert’s direct
appeal in 1984, and Lambert first filed for post-conviction relief in 1997. Therefore, unless
an exception to the time-limit applies, Lambert’s motion for post-conviction relief must be
denied as time-barred. The three- year statute of limitations does not bar post-conviction relief
where the prisoner can demonstrate “there has been an intervening decision of the Supreme
Court of either the State of Mississippi or the United States which would have actually
adversely affected the outcome of his conviction or sentence . . . .” Miss. Code Ann. § 99-39-
5(2).
¶14. Finding that Lambert failed to meet his burden of proving by a preponderance of the
evidence that this exception to the time-bar applied, the trial court denied his petition. “When
3
Lambert does not raise two of the issues from his original appeal of the trial court’s denial of his
motion for post-conviction relief. As such, his claims for relief based on Ricky Cook’s statement and
ineffective assistance of counsel are procedurally barred. Nevertheless, we would affirm the trial court’s
denial of relief on both these issues.
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reviewing a lower court’s decision to deny a petition for post conviction relief this Court will
not disturb the trial court’s factual findings unless they are found to be clearly erroneous.
However, where questions of law are raised the applicable standard of review is de novo.”
Brown v. State, 731 So. 2d 595, 598 (Miss. 1999) (citing Bank of Miss. v. S. Mem’l Park,
Inc., 677 So. 2d 186, 191 (Miss. 1996)).
Whether the trial court erred in holding that State v. Berryhill was not an
intervening decision which would have adversely affected the outcome of
Lambert’s conviction or sentence.
State v. Berryhill
¶15. In Berryhill, this Court considered whether a capital murder indictment predicated upon
the underlying crime of burglary must specifically disclose the crime the defendant intended
to commit after breaking and entering the dwelling. 703 So. 2d at 251. We held “that such
capital murder indictments must contain an allegation of the specific criminal intent that
constitutes an element of the burglary.” Id. at 251-52.
¶16. In Berryhill, the defendant was indicted for capital murder while engaged in the
commission of a burglary. Id. at 252. Prior to trial, Berryhill moved to quash the indictment
because it did not specify the underlying offense comprising an element of the charged
burglary. Id. At the direction of the court, the State advised Berryhill that the felony
underlying the burglary count was intent to commit assault. Id. Four months later, the State
informed Berryhill that it might attempt to prove burglary based on kidnaping or attempt to
commit kidnaping, in addition to the intent to commit an assault. Id.
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¶17. The trial court ultimately quashed the capital portion of the indictment because it failed
to disclose the crime Berryhill intended to commit after breaking and entering the dwelling.
Id. However, the State was permitted to proceed on simple murder. Id.
¶18. Thereafter, Berryhill pled guilty to simple murder and was sentenced to life without
parole. Id. The State appealed the trial court’s ruling on the capital murder indictment, seeking
a ruling from this Court on the requirements for capital murder indictments where the
underlying felony is burglary. Id. at 252-53.
¶19. The Berryhill Court began its analysis by discussing this Court’s Lambert I opinion,4
wherein the four justices comprising the plurality declined to articulate a rule on whether
capital murder indictments should disclose the intended crime of the burglary. Berryhill, 703
So. 2d at 254 (citing Lambert I, 462 So. 2d at 311). Since Lambert was only convicted of
simple murder, there was no need for the Court to determine the sufficiency of his capital
murder indictment, and the Court refused to comment on whether the indictment would have
been fatally defective had Lambert been convicted of capital murder. Berryhill, 703 So. 2d
at 254-55 (citing Lambert I, 462 So. 2d at 311).
¶20. The Berryhill Court then considered Justice Dan M. Lee’s dissent in Lambert I, which
pointed out that neither the defense nor the court knew the State was going to rely on the crime
of sexual battery as the basis of the burglary charge. Berryhill, 703 So. 2d at 255 (citing
Lambert I, 462 So. 2d at 319 (Dan M. Lee, J., dissenting)). The dissent concluded that “since
the indictment provides the basis of the notice to the defendant of the crime for which he is
4
Lambert’s conviction and sentence were affirmed by this Court in a 4-4 decision. Lambert I,
462 So. 2d at 317.
7
to be tried, the failure to be informed of the nature of the crime underlying the burglary was
tantamount to the failure to allow a defendant to prepare a defense.” Id.5
¶21. Following the reasoning advanced by the Lambert I dissent, the Berryhill Court held
that “capital murder indictments that are predicated on burglary are required to state the
underlying offense to the burglary.” Berryhill, 703 So. 2d at 255. The Court was concerned
with giving notice to a defendant of the charges against him and providing him with an
opportunity to prepare an effective defense. Id. at 255-56. According to the Court, a
defendant like Berryhill, who is indicted without notice of the crime the State alleges he
intended to commit during the burglary, could be forced to guess the theories the State might
present at trial and prepare defenses against all of them. Id. at 256. The Court noted, “[s]uch
‘trial by ambush’ is at odds with this Court’s jurisprudence on the need for an indictment to
give enough notice for a defendant to prepare a defense.” Id. Accordingly, the Court affirmed
the trial court’s decision to quash the capital portion of Berryhill’s indictment. Id. at 258.
The trial court’s findings
¶22. Here, the trial court concluded Berryhill was not an intervening decision that would
have adversely affected Lambert’s conviction or sentence. Thus, it concluded that the Section
99-39-5(2) time-bar applied.
¶23. The trial court rejected Lambert’s interpretation of Berryhill. It acknowledged that
Berryhill stood for the proposition “that a capital murder indictment in which the underlying
5
While Justice James L. Robertson agreed with this portion of Justice Dan M. Lee’s dissent, he
also agreed with the plurality inasmuch as Lambert was only convicted of a simple murder charge, and that
crime was sufficiently alleged in the indictment. Berryhill, 703 So. 2d at 255 (citing Lambert I, 462 So.
2d at 322-23 (Robertson, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)).
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felony is burglary must also state the underlying crime for which the breaking and entering
occurred.” However, the trial court noted the Berryhill Court did not reverse a conviction for
simple murder because of deficiencies in the indictment. That issue was not before the
Berryhill Court, because the defendant pled guilty to murder. The Court’s holding that capital
murder indictments predicated on burglary must specify the underlying offense could not have
actually adversely affected Lambert’s case because Lambert was never convicted of capital
murder. He was found guilty of simple murder, a conviction unrelated to the burglary charge,
regardless of the underlying intended crime.
Berryhill’s effect on Lambert’s case
¶24. In Berryhill, the capital murder portion of the defendant’s indictment was held deficient
because it did not specify the crime the defendant intended to commit after breaking and
entering the dwelling. However, Lambert must do more than point to a holding in order to
prevail on his petition for post-conviction relief. Under Section 99-39-5(2), the Court must
also consider whether the decision in Berryhill would have “actually adversely affected the
outcome of [Lambert’s] conviction or sentence.”
1. The capital murder portion of Lambert’s indictment
¶25. Lambert acknowledges the Berryhill Court did not specifically hold that a capital
murder indictment which fails to specify the intended crime of the burglary charge is void
where the defendant is only convicted of murder. However, Lambert argues that because the
defendant in Berryhill pled guilty to murder, the Court had no reason to address the issue.
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¶26. According to the State, Berryhill stands for the proposition that a capital murder
indictment which is insufficient to charge capital murder can still support a conviction of
murder less than capital. In Berryhill, the defendant was convicted of simple murder after
entering a guilty plea, an appeal was taken, and the appeal left Berryhill’s murder conviction
intact. Thus, the State claims Berryhill could not have actually adversely affected Lambert’s
conviction for simple murder or his sentence.
¶27. Additionally, the specific wording of Lambert’s indictment survives any application of
Berryhill. The first portion of Lambert’s indictment, standing alone, sufficiently charges him
with simple murder. Miss. Code Ann. Section 99-7-37 states that an indictment for simple
murder is sufficient if it charges “that the defendant did feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice
aforethought, kill and murder the deceased.” Lambert’s indictment charged that he “wilfully,
unlawfully, feloniously and of his malice aforethought kill and murder Pearl Lott Triggs [sic]
. . . .”
¶28. The Court in Berryhill held that the trial court correctly quashed the defendant’s capital
murder indictment. Had Berryhill been controlling precedent at the time of Lambert’s trial,
that case would only have required the trial court to quash the capital murder portion of his
indictment. Simply stated, we find that Berryhill does not require the reversal of a conviction
or sentence obtained under the non-capital portion of an indictment. Based on the holding of
Berryhill alone, we cannot consider it an intervening decision that would have actually
adversely affected the outcome of Lambert’s conviction or sentence.
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2. Lack of notice and corresponding prejudice
¶29. Bolstered by language from Berryhill, Lambert argues that he was not given sufficient
notice of the charges against him and thus could not prepare an effective defense. Lambert
claims he did not know the State would rely on sexual battery as the intended crime of the
burglary and, as such, he was unable to present an effective defense to the charges against him
as a whole.
¶30. Lambert points to this passage in Justice Dan M. Lee’s dissent in Lambert I as
demonstrating Lambert’s lack of notice of the sexual battery offense:
It is clear from the record that neither the defense counsel nor the trial
judge knew that the state would be relying on sexual battery as the underlying
crime for the allegation of burglary. This is evidence from a reading of a
portion of the record which follows the defense counsel’s argument regarding
a demurrer to the indictment. There the defense counsel argued that the simple
breaking and entering into the house of Mrs. Triggs [sic] was not a burglary and
that it could not be an underlying felony. At that point the district attorney
interjected with the following which makes it clear that neither the defense nor
the court knew that the prosecution was going to be relying on sexual battery as
an underlying offense:
BY MR. EVANS:
Judge, I know you don’t want to hear arguments now, but I want to
point out, for the sake of the record, that Mr. Buckley has overlooked the
elements of the crime of sexual battery altogether.
BY MR. BUCKLEY:
What is the - I don’t understand the -
BY THE COURT:
Well, he’s not charged with sexual battery. He’s charged with
burglary, isn’t he?
BY MR. EVANS:
Yes, sir, burglary with the intent to commit sexual battery.
Burglary, which is the breaking and entering with the intent to commit
any crime.
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BY THE COURT:
The motion will be overruled, but let me have that indictment,
please. (BRIEF PAUSE) Will you approach the bench?
(Whereupon, an off-the-record discussion was had by Court and Counsel
at the bench with the Defendant present.)
While admittedly the jury failed to find Lambert guilty of capital murder,
it is difficult to imagine that the surprise to the defense and the prosecution’s
attempt to prove sexual battery had no impact on the jury’s ultimate conclusion.
Lambert I, 462 So. 2d at 319-20 (Dan M. Lee, J., dissenting). In our view, neither this vague
exchange nor the information provided to us by the parties in this case leads to the conclusion
that Lambert was subjected to the “trial by ambush” tactics criticized in Berryhill.
¶31. Lambert also relies on a bold statement from Justice Dan M. Lee’s dissent that “[d]uring
the course of the trial the state was allowed to introduce evidence of the sexual battery.
Because Lambert was not charged with sexual battery, the introduction of that evidence was
clearly error.” Id. at 320 (Dan M. Lee, J., dissenting). However, neither that dissent nor
Lambert explains what the improper evidence might be.
¶32. It is certainly plausible that evidence relevant to the sexual battery offense would also
be relevant to the attacker’s possible motive and the identification of Lambert as Mrs. Trigg’s
murderer. Lambert’s only example of allegedly improper evidence admitted by the trial court
was select testimony by serologist Jonette Gothard, who stated that she tested Mrs. Trigg’s
body for spermatozoa and seminal fluid using a sexual assault kit, and that she tested Mrs.
Trigg’s “mouth, her vaginal vault and . . . [her] anus.” Lambert claims that had he known the
State intended to introduce this evidence, he would have moved to exclude all testimony
concerning the sexual battery.
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¶33. We note that Lambert raises no complaint of discovery violations. Absent some
discovery violation, we find no credibility to the theory that Lambert would not have known
about this evidence or recognized its value to the State. Autopsies, tests, and other evidence
relating to a victim’s injuries are often discussed during trial, and Lambert never explains why
this evidence was so surprising that it served to prejudice his defense.
¶34. Lambert bears the burden of “proof by preponderance of the evidence” that he is entitled
to post-conviction relief. McClendon v. State, 539 So. 2d 1375, 1377 (Miss. 1989) (citing
Miss. Code Ann § 99-39-23(7)). Lambert simply does not carry his burden. He claims,
without explanation, that he did not know the State would attempt to show he committed a
sexual battery. He argues that he would have moved to exclude certain evidence of the sexual
battery, but he never describes which evidence would have been excluded in a prosecution for
simple murder. In fact, the pubic hairs found at the scene, evidence criticized by Justice Dan
M. Lee’s dissent in Lambert I before the hairs were proven by DNA analysis to belong to
Lambert, was significant in identifying Mrs. Trigg’s attacker, and thus relevant to more than
just the alleged sexual battery. See Miss. R. Evid. 404(b) (evidence of other crimes, wrongs,
or acts may be admissible for “purposes such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent,
preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident”). As for testimony
about the sexual assault kit used on Mrs. Trigg’s body and the resulting findings, evidence of
sexual assault may be admitted even when unrelated to the ultimate cause of death. See, e.g.,
Thorson v. State, 895 So. 2d 85, 96, 103 (Miss. 2004).
¶35. Lambert argues that because his indictment did not inform him that the underlying
“intended crime” was sexual battery, his trial was inherently unfair. However, in order to
13
prevail on his petition for post- conviction relief, Lambert must prove by a preponderance of
the evidence that he was prejudiced by evidence that should have been excluded in a simple
murder trial. Lambert points to no such evidence.
¶36. Lambert finally argues that “once the concept that Lambert penetrated Mrs. Triggs [sic]
mouth and throat with his private parts was implanted in the jurors’ minds, any chance that
Lambert might have received a fair trial was obliterated.” However, the State points out that
Lambert was convicted of murder less than capital, negating any inference that he suffered
prejudice. Clearly, Lambert defended himself admirably because the jury did not find him
guilty of the underlying burglary felony, and thus they did not convict him of capital murder.
His simple murder conviction was completely unrelated to the burglary charge, no matter the
underlying offense, so he cannot reasonably claim prejudice to his defense.
¶37. Had Berryhill been the law when Lambert was tried, the trial court would have quashed
the portion of the indictment charging him with capital murder. Berryhill does not support a
finding that Lambert’s indictment, in its entirety, was void or voidable. Given Lambert’s failure
to point to any tainted evidence or demonstrate with any specificity prejudice suffered, the trial
court’s finding that Lambert did not carry his burden of proof with respect to the Section 99-
39-5(2) time-bar exception was not clearly erroneous. Lambert has not shown by a
preponderance of the evidence that his conviction or sentence would have been different had
Berryhill been controlling precedent when he was tried, so Lambert’s petition for post-
conviction relief was properly denied by the trial court.
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CONCLUSION
¶38. Because Lambert has not established any exception to the three-year statute of
limitations for his post-conviction relief petition, the trial court correctly denied that petition
as time-barred. For the reasons herein, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Lambert’s petition
for post-conviction relief.
¶39. AFFIRMED.
SM ITH, C.J., WALLER AND COBB, P.JJ., EASLEY, CARLSON AND
RANDOLPH, JJ., CONCUR. DIAZ, J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY. GRAVES, J.,
NOT PARTICIPATING.
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