Broadhead v. State

981 So. 2d 320, 2007 WL 4237620
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 4, 2007
Docket2006-KA-02063-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 981 So. 2d 320 (Broadhead v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Broadhead v. State, 981 So. 2d 320, 2007 WL 4237620 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

981 So.2d 320 (2007)

Towander Denise BROADHEAD a/k/a Towanda Denise Garner a/k/a Tawana Denise Broadhead, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2006-KA-02063-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

December 4, 2007.
Rehearing Denied March 11, 2008.

*321 George T. Holmes, Jackson, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deshun Terrell Martin, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, P.J., IRVING and ROBERTS, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Following a jury trial, Towander Denise Broadhead was convicted of the capital murder of her five-year old son, Kenderick Broadhead. After finding Broadhead guilty of capital murder, the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision regarding whether to sentence Broadhead to death. Therefore, the Jackson County Circuit Court sentenced Broadhead to a term of life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with no possibility of parole or early release. Aggrieved, Broadhead appeals and alleges that the court erred in allowing the admission of autopsy photographs and in allowing the admission of a recorded telephone conversation between Broadhead and another individual.

¶ 2. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. On Sunday, February 29, 2004, Broadhead was attempting to teach Kenderick *322 to count from one to twenty. However, Kenderick kept skipping the number sixteen. As a result, Broadhead began hitting Kenderick. The assault apparently continued, perhaps intermittently, for four to six hours, with a variety of implements used to beat Kenderick. Eventually, multiple injuries to Kenderick's head caused his brain to swell massively, ultimately causing him to stop breathing. At the end of the assault, Broadhead placed Kenderick in his sister's bed because Broadhead had noticed that Kenderick appeared to be sleepy. It is unclear whether Kenderick was already dead when he was placed in the bed. Kenderick's sister, Royteshia Perkins,[1] was home on February 29 and observed Broadhead beating Kenderick throughout the day.

¶ 4. At some point after Kenderick died, Broadhead called her husband at the time, Willie Thomas.[2] Thomas was at work, but he came home to inspect Kenderick. After observing Kenderick, who was in Royteshia's bed and who apparently was already dead, Thomas decided to purchase a stethoscope so that he could see if Kenderick was actually dead. Royteshia and Thomas left and purchased a stethoscope. After returning and using the stethoscope, Thomas was apparently convinced that Kenderick was dead. Sometime thereafter, Thomas and Broadhead rolled Kenderick's body up in a rug and placed it in two black plastic garbage bags.[3] Thomas and Broadhead then drove approximately forty-five miles away, where they dumped Kenderick's body on the side of a road.

¶ 5. The above recitation of facts is relatively undisputed. The only significant conflict presented in the evidence was how severely Broadhead beat Kenderick.

¶ 6. At trial, Officer Ken McClenic, of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, Royteshia, and Dr. Paul McGarry, among others, testified on behalf of the State. The State also played Broadhead's videotaped statement to Officer McClenic and a recorded phone call that Broadhead made from jail. A 911 call that Broadhead placed on March 2 was also played for the jury.

¶ 7. Broadhead testified in her own defense and admitted, as she had done during an interview with the police prior to trial, that she beat Kenderick.[4] However, she downplayed the severity of the beating, accused Officer McClenic of altering the videotape of her confession to him, and blamed the devil for forcing her "flesh" to beat Kenderick. Royteshia testified that Broadhead beat Kenderick with her hand, a book, a curtain opener, and a broomstick. Royteshia specified that some of these blows landed on Kenderick's head, and that the beatings continued for many hours, all over the house. Royteshia also described a car ride on the 29th during which Broadhead repeatedly pushed Kendrick's head into the car door when he was unable to properly count to twenty. Royteshia told the jury that, after the beatings, Kenderick had trouble walking and talking. Dr. McGarry, the pathologist who conducted Kenderick's autopsy, testified that as Kenderick's brain swelled, he would have had increasing difficulty walking *323 and talking. Broadhead testified, by contrast, that Kenderick never displayed any difficulty walking or talking. Broadhead also disputed the severity and number of blows that she delivered. She further denied shoving Kenderick's head into the car door when he was unable to count during the car ride.

¶ 8. Royteshia testified that she knew Kenderick had died when he coughed and stopped breathing during the evening. She testified that Broadhead then told her to get some alcohol and something to drink. Royteshia testified that she then brought Broadhead some rubbing alcohol and lemonade. Royteshia stated that she watched as Broadhead rubbed Kenderick's body down with the alcohol and attempted to get him to drink the lemonade. Broadhead admitted rubbing Kenderick down with alcohol, but could not recall trying to get him to drink something. Broadhead also did not remember any particular moment when Kenderick died. She testified that she believed that Kenderick was still alive when she placed him in Royteshia's bed.

¶ 9. Broadhead also claimed that she attempted to perform CPR on Kenderick. By contrast, Royteshia testified that it was Thomas who attempted to resuscitate Kenderick. Royteshia testified that when he did so, Kenderick urinated on himself and blood came out of his nose. Royteshia believed that Kenderick was already dead by that time because she had touched his body and it was cold. Broadhead allegedly believed that Kenderick was still alive, in part because he urinated on the bed. As previously stated, it is undisputed that everyone in the house realized at some point that Kenderick was dead. Broadhead and Thomas then disposed of his body.

¶ 10. Royteshia did not attend school on Monday, March 1, but attended school on Tuesday, March 2. Broadhead told Royteshia to tell anyone who asked that she had seen Kenderick that morning as she left for school. Shortly after Royteshia left for school, Broadhead called 911 and informed the operator that her son, Kenderick, was missing. Law enforcement was sent to the residence, and a massive search ensued. Broadhead told police officers that she knew Kenderick had been there that morning because she had heard Royteshia say goodbye to him. Believing that Royteshia was the last person to see Kenderick that morning, Officer McClenic went to Royteshia's school to interview her.

¶ 11. Royteshia was taken out of class and interviewed. She initially stuck to the story that Broadhead had told her to say. Eventually, however, she related what had really happened. At that time, Officer McClenic phoned officers who were at the house and had Thomas and Broadhead taken into custody. Shortly thereafter, Thomas gave a statement to police essentially admitting what had happened, including the location of Kenderick's body. That evening, officers went to the location and discovered Kenderick's body, still wrapped in a rug and garbage bags. After a brief on-the-site investigation, Kenderick's body was taken to a nearby funeral home where an autopsy was performed.

¶ 12. Broadhead was interviewed by Officer McClenic late that night. After waiving her Miranda

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Bluebook (online)
981 So. 2d 320, 2007 WL 4237620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/broadhead-v-state-missctapp-2007.