Jovon Gaston Murders Kevin Thompson In Alabama

Jovon Gaston and Nicholas Smith were sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of Kevin Thompson

According to court documents Jovon Gaston and Nicholas Smith would kidnap Kevin Thompson who would be driven around to a variety of ATMs where he was forced to make withdrawals. Kevin Thompson would then be stabbed to death

Jovon Gaston and Nicholas Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

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Jovon Gaston Case

The evidence adduced at trial established that, on April 20, 2011, Jovon Gaston and Tyrone Thompson were at a friend’s house with Gaston’s brother, Patrick Watkins, and Tyrone’s girlfriend, Cheryl Bush. According to Cheryl Bush, throughout the night she saw Jovon Gaston and Tyrone “standing to the side” and “whispering” to each other. Eventually, Gaston, Watkins, Tyrone, and Bush left their friend’s house, dropping Watkins off “on the east side” before taking Bush home. After dropping off Watkins and Bush, Tyrone telephoned Kevin Thompson 1 and asked if he could stop by Kevin’s apartment that night. According to Kevin’s sister, Rena Curry, Tyrone had known Kevin for many years and Kevin had been trying to “steer [Tyrone] on the right path” in life. (R. 909.)

Between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Kevin’s neighbor, Martelli Smith, noticed “two African–American males and one Caucasian female” standing outside the apartment complex near Kevin’s silver Honda Civic automobile. (R. 934–35, 937, 939, 1005.) According to Smith, one male was “kind of chubby,” while the other was “small and small built.” (R. 935.)

Around that time, Chris Wilkerson, Kevin’s friend, was on the phone with Kevin. Wilkerson testified that he heard someone knock on Kevin’s door and that he overheard Kevin say, “I didn’t know all of these people were coming with you.” (R. 923.) When the call suddenly disconnected, Wilkerson called Kevin back and Kevin told him that he would “call [him] right back.” (R. 924.) Although Wilkerson continued to try to reach Kevin until 1:00 a.m., he testified that Kevin never answered his phone or called him back.

The next day, when Kevin failed to report for work at Wellborn Elementary School, his colleagues became worried, so his school principal sent a school resource officer to Kevin’s apartment to check on him. Because the apartment belonged to Kevin’s sister, Rena Curry, however, the resource officer telephoned her and told her that Kevin had not shown up for work that day. Rena called her mother, Frances Curry, and then tried to reach Kevin on his cellular phone. When she could not reach Kevin on his cellular phone, Rena drove to the apartment. Frances also drove to the apartment and took alternate routes to determine whether Kevin had an automobile accident.

When Rena and Frances arrived at Kevin’s apartment, they noticed that he was not at home and that his car was gone. Rena and Frances found Kevin’s front door unlocked, the lights and air conditioning on, and a lit candle that appeared to have burned all night. They also noticed that one of his shoes was outside on the ground and a “trail” or “skid mark” was nearby. (R. 716, 901, 943.) The matching shoe was found inside Kevin’s apartment by the front door. Kevin’s mother telephoned the police.

Shortly thereafter, Cpl. Bill Deleon arrived at Kevin’s apartment and noted that “[e]verything appeared to be normal” and that nothing inside the apartment was “ransacked.” (R. 767, 773.) Cpl. Deleon testified that he remembered speaking with family members and neighbors but that he did not learn much other than someone mentioned that they had “heard something” the night before. (R. 768.)

Concerned that law-enforcement officials were not doing enough to locate her son, Frances continued her search for Kevin. During the course of her search, Frances contacted Kevin’s bank and learned that several withdrawals had been made from Kevin’s account the previous night at various automatic-teller machines (“ATM”). Frances again contacted the Jacksonville Police Department to inform them of the unusual bank-account activity.

Law-enforcement officers obtained surveillance footage from the credit unions and banks located in the Anniston and Jacksonville areas where unusual withdrawals had been made from Kevin’s account. That footage revealed that Kevin’s debit card was first used at 10:19 p.m. on April 20, 2011, at a drive-up ATM in Jacksonville. The driver, later identified as Nicholas Smith, wore a baseball cap with the letter “A,” had a tattoo on his hand, and was driving Kevin’s silver Honda Civic. (R. 964.) The passenger, whom Gaston later identified as himself, was dressed in a navy hoodie and white hat, was wearing a gold six-point star ring, and was holding a rifle with a camouflage pattern pointed at the backseat. Smith made “nine or ten” attempts to withdraw money before he succeeded. (R. 964–65.) He then made four successive $100 withdrawals, leaving a balance of approximately $80 in Kevin’s account. The footage showed Smith passing money to Gaston, who passed it to someone in the backseat. (R. 967.)

Six minutes later, Smith drove across the road to the drive-up ATM at the Fort McClellan Credit Union. Photographs from the Anniston branch of the Fort McClellan Credit Union showed that a silver vehicle and a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle arrived at 12:13 a.m. on April 21, 2011. Smith and a second individual were shown at the ATM. (R. 954, 956.) Rena later recognized Tyrone as the second man in the footage. Police interviewed Tyrone on April 21, 2011, but Tyrone admitted only that he met Smith at the credit union after Smith called to ask Tyrone “how to use a debit card at the ATM.” (R. 146–47.) Tyrone denied any knowledge of Kevin’s disappearance.

According to testimony at trial given by Whitney Ledlow and Jessica Foster, Smith then went to the apartment shared by both Ledlow and Foster. Ledlow and Foster testified that, when Smith arrived at their apartment, he had a “gash” on his face. (R. 1092, 1122.) Both women testified that they saw blood inside Smith’s Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle when they left to purchase alcohol around noon that day. When they asked Smith about the blood, he became “real nervous,” “wip[ed] everything down,” and threw “a bunch of stuff in bags” in their trash can.

According to Ledlow, they both then left with Smith and drove the Explorer to a nearby detail shop to have the interior cleaned. John Robinson, the owner of the detail shop, testified that, as he was cleaning Smith’s Explorer, he noticed “a lot of red splatters in different spots” that “might have been blood.” (R. 1149–50.)

While they waited for Smith’s car to be detailed, Smith, Ledlow, and Foster went to Foster’s mother’s house in Stringfellow where Kevin’s car had been hidden the night before. After deciding to strip Kevin’s car, they picked up Blake Hamilton and Teddy Smith and then returned to Foster’s mother’s house to work on the car. While Hamilton and Teddy removed parts, Foster and Ledlow searched the interior for anything of value. They found a credit card, a gold diamond cluster ring, and a Kodak brand camera. Ledlow later pawned the diamond cluster ring for $200, which she gave to Smith. At some point, Foster’s mother walked inside the garage and told everyone to leave. She then contacted the police about the car.

After Smith, Ledlow, and Foster picked up Smith’s Explorer, they parked the vehicle in the parking lot of a hospital in Anniston. They then attempted to find a trailer to dispose of Kevin’s car. When they were unable to find one, they considered setting Kevin’s vehicle on fire. In the end, they drove another vehicle to Carrollton, Georgia, checked into the Royal Inn motel, and drove to a nearby Wal–Mart where they threw several items, including Kevin’s checkbook, into a trash can. The next morning, Foster, Ledlow, and Smith were detained at Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.

Foster told police where Smith had told them Kevin’s body was located. Specifically, she told them that Kevin’s body had been disposed of down an embankment near a set of guardrails on U.S. Highway 278. Based on that description, Investigator Seth Rochester of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office was able to locate Kevin’s body in the early morning hours of April 23, 2011. Dirt and leaves along the roadway appeared disturbed, as though “some type of struggle or fight had occurred” at the guardrail. (R. 831, 1842.) Police officers also noticed what appeared to be two knee prints in the dirt. They also found tire tracks, cigarette butts, and several cans near the guardrail.

After climbing down the steep embankment, police discovered Kevin’s body facedown at the “edge of the tree line where he [was] caught up in some brush,” with his body “smeared with mud and dirt.” (R. 869, 1836.) Kevin’s wrists were bound with duct tape and his injuries were substantial.

Emily Ward, a state medical examiner with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, performed the autopsy on Kevin’s body. Dr. Ward noted a cut across the front of the neck, which was deep enough to have compromised the windpipe and left jugular vein. This injury caused blood to aspirate into Kevin’s lungs. He also suffered four haphazard stab wounds to the left side of his chest—two pierced the heart and all four pierced the left lung. Dr. Ward stated that the orientation of the wounds suggested that Kevin’s assailants were standing while he was in a submissive position on the ground. He sustained a contusion to the entire left side of his face, consistent with punching or kicking. In Dr. Ward’s opinion, this injury was caused by a “tremendous” amount of force. (R. 753.) Kevin bore superficial abrasions on his extremities, which could have been caused by falling; bruises to his wrists, which were consistent with his wrists being bound by duct tape; and defensive wounds to his palms. Dr. Ward stated that, although the stab wounds and injury to the throat were severally fatal, Kevin’s death was not quick because he did not sustain arterial bleeding. In Dr. Ward’s opinion, he would have been aware of his injuries and would have experienced significant pain.

Through their investigation, law-enforcement officers learned that Gaston had been with Tyrone the night Kevin went missing. Police officers were able to locate Gaston at his father’s home, and Gaston agreed to accompany them to the police station for questioning. At that time, Taesha Pulliam, Gaston’s on-and-off girlfriend, gave them a camouflage-patterned .50 caliber black-powder rifle Gaston had previously placed in her car.

After being advised of his Miranda 2 rights, Jovon Gaston initially denied any knowledge of or involvement in Kevin’s disappearance and death. Over the course of the interrogation, however, Gaston admitted that he was involved in the kidnapping and robbery of Kevin.

According to Jovon Gaston, after he and Tyrone dropped off Watkins and Bush, they drove to Tyrone’s house in Nicholas Smith’s Explorer and waited for Smith. When Smith arrived with Kevin, driving Kevin’s car, the four men drove Kevin’s car to an ATM. Jovon Gaston noted that Kevin rode in the back because Gaston was “too long” to sit comfortably in the backseat.

Jovon Gaston stated that Smith already had Kevin’s debit card and that he “swiped it” at one of the ATMs in the area, and withdrew “two or three hundred” dollars. (Supp. III R. 94.) 3 Smith then gave Gaston $40. Gaston further stated that when they attempted to withdraw money from the second ATM, the transaction was denied. At that point, Gaston and Tyrone separated from Kevin and Smith. When Jovon Gaston and Tyrone reunited with Smith after midnight that night and unsuccessfully tried to withdraw money from a third ATM at the Fort McClellan Credit Union, Jovon Gaston said, Kevin was no longer with them.

When law-enforcement officers showed Jovon Gaston the security footage they obtained, Jovon Gaston identified himself in the front passenger seat with Smith in the driver seat. He also admitted that he had his camouflage-patterned rifle at that time but insisted that he was aiming the weapon at both Kevin and Tyrone and that he was “just the gun man.” (Supp. III R. 95.) According to Jovon Gaston, at some point Tyrone asked him to shoot Kevin because he was concerned that Kevin could identify Tyrone as one of the individuals who robbed him. Jovon Gaston stated, however, that he refused to do so.

He then told law-enforcement officers that the men drove down “[s]ome black dark ass road” and parked near a guardrail. (Supp. III R. 75, 84, 87.) Gaston claimed he was unaware that Kevin was bound in the trunk until Smith and Tyrone removed him and placed him on the side of the road. Jovon Gaston told police he saw Smith and Tyrone “tussle” with Kevin, hitting him several times. According to Jovon Gaston, Smith stabbed Kevin and Kevin screamed. Smith then returned to the vehicle with a bloody, black-handled knife.4

Jovon Gaston drove Kevin’s car to Foster’s mother’s house in Stringfellow while Tyrone and Smith followed in Smith’s Explorer. After leaving Kevin’s car at Foster’s mother’s house, Tyrone drove Gaston, who sat in the backseat of the Explorer, to Taesha Pulliam’s house.

On May 13, 2011, Jovon Gaston was indicted on one count of murder made capital because it was committed during a kidnapping, see § 13A–5–40(a)(1), Ala. Code 1975, and one count of murder made capital because it was committed during a robbery, see § 13A–5–40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. After attorneys David L. Johnston, Jr., and Tom Harmon were appointed to represent him, Gaston entered a plea of not guilty and a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect on both counts.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1891835.html