Talbott v. Commonwealth

968 S.W.2d 76, 1998 Ky. LEXIS 41, 1998 WL 124517
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1998
Docket96-SC-643-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by93 cases

This text of 968 S.W.2d 76 (Talbott v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Talbott v. Commonwealth, 968 S.W.2d 76, 1998 Ky. LEXIS 41, 1998 WL 124517 (Ky. 1998).

Opinions

COOPER, Justice.

Appellant was convicted in the Hart Circuit Court of complicity to murder and was sentenced to life in prison. She appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

On January 18, 1995, Appellant filed a missing person report with the Hart County Sheriff regarding her seventeen-year-old daughter, Christina Marie Poper, a/k/a Samantha Moore. She reported that her daughter had been last seen at home on January 16,1995 at 10:00 p.m.

While searching the Green River area for a missing child on March 5, 1995, members of the Hart County Rescue Squad discovered Christina Poper’s body in the Green River just below Rile Bridge near U.S. Highway 31W in Hart County. A subsequent autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a subdural hematoma due to blunt trauma to the head. An assistant state medical examiner testified that the injury could have been caused either by a blow to the head with an object or a fall from a high level to a lower level, but required a significant amount of force under either circumstance. On the same day, Kentucky State Police Detective Stan Harlow proceeded to the Meade County jail and obtained a written statement from Gerald Tal-bott, Appellant’s husband and Christina’s stepfather, who had been incarcerated on other charges. Gerald advised that he and Appellant had last seen Christina at about 10:30 p.m. on the night of January 16; that she was not at home when he awoke the next morning, but he assumed she had left for school; that when she did not return from school on January 17, he assumed she was staying overnight with a friend; and when the school reported her absent the next day, he and Appellant filed the missing person report with the sheriffs department.

On March 16,1995, Harlow returned to the Meade County jail and obtained another written statement from Gerald Talbott, this time in the presence of Gerald’s attorney, Vincent Yustas. In this statement, Gerald related that Appellant had killed Christina by unknown means on the night of January 16 and that Gerald’s only involvement had been to assist in disposing of the body by helping Appellant dump it off the U.S. 31E bridge into the Green River. Armed with this information, Harlow proceeded to obtain a warrant for Appellant’s arrest. Since the circuit judge, the district judge, and the trial commissioner were all out of the county, the warrant was issued by the circuit clerk, Con-roy Harris. KRS 15.725(5).

At approximately 11:00 a.m. on March 17, 1995, Harlow proceeded to Appellant’s residence with the warrant and knocked on the door. When Appellant answered the door, Harlow notified her that she was under arrest for the murder of Christina Poper. Although Appellant was not interrogated at that time, she was advised of her “Miranda rights,” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). She executed a written waiver of those rights, as well as a written consent to the search her residence and premises. The search revealed inter alia Christina’s eyeglasses and a sleeping bag into which, according to Ger-[79]*79aid’s statement, Christina’s body had been placed for transport from the residence to the U.S. 31E bridge. At approximately 2:30 p.m Appellant was taken to the old Hart County jail for booking, following which she was taken to the Larue County jail for incarceration.

While still at the old Hart County jail, Appellant gave Harlow a written statement in which she related that Gerald had killed Christina because they were having a sexual affair and he was afraid Christina might bring criminal charges against him. Appellant claimed in this statement that her only involvement had been to assist Gerald in disposing of the body by helping him dump it off the U.S. 31E bridge into the Green River.

At 4:00 p.m. on March 18, 1995, Appellant contacted Harlow by telephone from the La-rue County jail and advised that she wanted to tell him “the whole story.” Harlow proceeded to the jail and again advised Appellant of her Miranda rights. Appellant then gave Harlow another written statement, this time implicating herself not just in the disposal of Christina’s body, but in complicity to the murder, itself. Because Gerald Talbott committed suicide prior to trial and Appellant did not testify in her own defense, Appellant’s March 17 and March 18 statements constituted the only evidence introduced at trial describing the events leading up to the death of Christina Poper and the disposal of her body. Because Appellant claims the evidence against her was insufficient to support her conviction, or, in the alternative, that she was acting under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance during her participation in the crime, her March 18 statement is set forth verbatim (with misspellings and punctuation corrected).

On Sunday, Jan. 15, 95, Christina (Sam) went to church. She returned home and wanted to go to Maggie Rexford’s house in Hodgenville. I took her there, and then returned home. After being home for awhile, Gerald told me about his relationship with Christina (Sam). She had come on to him in March of 1994. They had sexual contact several months thereafter until Sept, or Oct. 94. I called Kenny Poper, my son, in Wyoming. I asked him if he knew about Gerald and Christina (Sam). He said he did and for me to be careful because Gerald had wanted him (Kenny) to kill me for him. Kenny told me that the reason Gerald broke my nose was because he (Kenny) wouldn’t kill me. Also, Gerald had come up with two different plans to kill me. After talking to Kenny, I confronted Gerald again. He told me more at this time. I was more hurt than mad at this time.
I then received a call from a boy I didn’t know. He informed me of parties Christina (Sam) had been going to. Most of my anger was toward Sam (Christina). At about 11:00 p.m. EST, Christina (Sam) called home. She wanted to stay all night with her friend. I said she could.
During Sunday afternoon, we discussed how we could get rid of her and not get caught. We talked about shooting her, or choking her. We thought about burying her on our property. We decided not to use a gun because Kenny knew we had one, and I didn’t want a mess to clean up. Gerald also talked about breaking her neck.
All during Sunday night, I stayed up. On Monday morning, I called Kenny again and talked with him. Gerald got up and we talked more. We left home and drove to the bridge over Green River. We discussed putting Christina’s (Sam’s) body in the river. We also looked for a more remote spot. I called Christina (Sam) at Maggie’s house. I talked with Maggie. Christina (Sam) was still asleep. I told her I was coming to get Christina (Sam). A short time later, I called back and told Maggie that I would be there at about 4:00 p.m. and that she (Maggie) couldn’t come home with us because Christina (Sam) and I had something to discuss. A little after 4:00 p.m. EST, I picked up Christina (Sam). We didn’t talk much on the way home. When we got home, we both went inside. Gerald was home. We sat at the kitchen table. Christina (Sam) got something to eat. I told Christina (Sam) to go upstairs to her room and think about anything she had lied about. Later, I went upstairs and confronted her with the par[80]*80ties she had been to. She denied that. She then went downstairs and ate dinner. I went down also.

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Bluebook (online)
968 S.W.2d 76, 1998 Ky. LEXIS 41, 1998 WL 124517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/talbott-v-commonwealth-ky-1998.