Sedley Alley

Case record: Sedley Alley

Status

Sedley Alley was executed by lethal injection in Tennessee on June 28, 2006.

The offence

Sedley Alley was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a young female Marine near Memphis in 1985. He abducted Lance Corporal Suzanne M. Collins while she was jogging on the naval base in Millington, Tennessee.

Collins was kidnapped while jogging, and her body was found at Edmund Orgill Park in Millington. Collins was beaten, stabbed in the head with a screwdriver, and sexually assaulted with a tree limb.

At the Criminal Court, Shelby County, W. Fred Axley, J., the jury convicted Alley of premeditated first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated rape. The jury found two aggravating circumstances and sentenced him to death. The jury found that:

• the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel
• the murder was committed during kidnapping and rape

Along with the death sentence, Alley received consecutive forty-year sentences on the other offenses.

Alley was tried for the crime and convicted in March of 1987. He was sentenced to die for the 1985 rape and murder of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne M. Collins at the Millington Naval Air Station outside Memphis.

Investigation and arrest

On the night of July 11, 1985, Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins was abducted while jogging on the naval base in Millington, Tennessee.

At 6:30 a.m. the following morning, her body was found at Edmund Orgill Park in Millington. At approximately 10:00 p.m. on 11 July 1985, Collins left her barracks dressed in physical training gear and went jogging on the Base, north of Navy Road. Her body was found the next morning in Orgill Park, which adjoins the Naval Base, north of Navy Road.

Eyewitnesses described the attacker as 5'8" with short, dark hair and a dark complexion, wearing black shorts and driving a wood-paneled station wagon. Another account in evidence described the victim’s abduction route and that the attacker’s car was identified when Alley was stopped for questioning.

The police pulled Alley over at 12:10 a.m. on July 12. Shortly after the abduction, at 12:10 a.m. on July 12, Sedley Alley, whose wife worked on the naval base, was pulled over because he was driving a car that fit the eyewitness description. The police located his wife and brought them both in for questioning. The police determined that the eyewitnesses had simply observed a domestic dispute, and at approximately 1:00 a.m. Alley and his wife were allowed to leave.

Radio logs in evidence established that Alley and his wife were seen talking on the front porch of their house at 1:27 a.m., and there was no evidence that Alley left the house after that time.

After Collins’ body was found and the “horrific nature of the crime” was revealed, pressure on the police to make an arrest increased. By 8:30 a.m., Alley was in custody. Alley told the police that they had the wrong man, but police were persistent in attempting to obtain a confession and threatened to arrest his wife. Alley was suffering from mental illness and eventually gave in to the pressure and confessed.

Alley was promptly arrested by military police after Collins’s body was found shortly before 6:00 a.m. on July 12, and he voluntarily accompanied officers over the route he had taken the night before, identifying the tree where he had left the body and the location where it was found by others.

Alley’s confession described that:

• he struck the girl jogger
• he helped her into his car and they started towards
• he then turned left and went to the north part of the Base in the vicinity of the lake
• he described hitting her a few times, holding her down on the ground, and sticking a screwdriver in the side of her head
• after sticking the screwdriver in her head and her collapse, he decided to make it appear she had been raped
• he took off her clothes, dragged her by the feet over near a tree, broke off a tree limb, inserted it in her vagina, and “pushed it in”

The forensic evidence and medical testimony included statements that:

• the forensic pathologist testified that she did not have an injury to her head inflicted in the manner or means described by defendant
• and she did not have any injuries that could have been caused by being struck by an automobile

During the trial, the State’s evidence included testimony from naval officers and marines describing movements on base during the night, including hearing a female voice screaming “Don't touch me”, “Leave me alone.” The marines reported the suspected kidnapping and later identified Alley’s station wagon.

The pathologist, Dr. James Bell, testified that the cause of death was multiple injuries and identified injuries that could have been fatal. He testified that bruises and abrasions covered Collins’ entire body, front and back; injuries to the skull could have been inflicted by the rounded end of a screwdriver found near the scene; the tree branch inserted into Collins measured 31 inches and was inserted more than once to a depth of twenty inches, causing severe internal injuries and hemorrhaging; and the victim was alive when the tree limb was inserted into her body. He also testified that bruises on the victim’s neck were consistent with strangulation.

Trial

Alley was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated rape. After the penalty phase, he was sentenced to death.

In the direct appeal record, the jury found two aggravating circumstances:

Alley also received consecutive forty-year sentences on each of the other offenses. In one account, he was sentenced to 40 years on each of the other offenses, all sentences consecutive.

Alley raised an insanity defense at trial. He presented evidence that he had multiple personality disorder. Experts and witnesses testified for and against the insanity defense, including a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist, and staff persons at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute (MTMHI).

The trial court held hearings in post-conviction proceedings regarding the trial evidence; the direct appeal described that the videotaped hypnotic and sodium amytal interviews were properly excluded, and it also described that evidence of another crime was admissible.

The direct appeal opinion described that:

• Dr. Wyatt Nichols testified on sanity and was unable to form an opinion because of amnesia and inability to recall the events of that evening.
• Dr. Willis Marshall and Dr. Battle diagnosed defendant as suffering from a multiple personality disorder; Dr. Marshall testified about alternate personalities and that he was unable to say that a personality other than “Sedley” was in control at the time of the offense.
• The State presented Dr. Sam Craddock, Dr. Zillur Athar, Dr. William Brooks, Dr. Lynne Zager, and Dr. Ray Gentry, with testimony that defendant was exaggerating and malingering and that there was no evidence supporting an insanity defense.

The direct appeal opinion concluded that the State proved Alley’s sanity beyond a reasonable doubt and in compliance with Jackson v. Virginia and also held that:

• the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment
• the death sentence was not imposed in an arbitrary fashion
• and the sentence was not disproportionate to the penalty in similar cases

In that direct appeal decision, it also stated that “Unless stayed by proper authority, the sentence of death will be carried out as provided by law on the 13th day of November, 1989.”

Sentencing

Alley was sentenced to death for the 1985 rape and murder of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne M.

The jury found two aggravating circumstances, and the trial court imposed consecutive forty-year terms on the other offenses. In the direct appeal record, it stated that he was sentenced to 40 years on each of the other offenses, with all sentences consecutive.

The Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed the verdict in State v. Alley and ordered that his execution be carried out on May 2, 1990.

Appeals

Alley’s conviction and sentence were appealed and addressed multiple times across state and federal courts.

Tennessee Supreme Court (direct appeal)

In 1989, the Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed the verdict and sentence in State v. Alley, 776 S.W.2d 506 (Tenn. 1989). The opinion stated that the convictions and sentences imposed in the trial court were affirmed, and that the death sentence would be carried out unless stayed by proper authority.

Post-conviction proceedings (state)

Alley sought postconviction relief from his murder conviction and death sentence.

• Alley v. State, 882 S.W.2d 810 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1989) (PCR): The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that the defendant was entitled to make an offer of proof of testimony of expert witnesses who testified at the murder trial and that the trial judge’s statements and rulings required recusal to avoid the public appearance of impropriety.
• Alley v. State, 958 S.W.2d 138 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1997) (PCR): The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgment on remand, holding that comments by the judge during the initial post-conviction hearing did not entitle the defendant to post-conviction relief, and the petitioner failed to prove trial judge bias, among other holdings.

State post-conviction proceedings described that the trial judge’s statements included:

• “Just a minute. I'll take it under advisement till May the 3rd.”
• “[A]s I said when I spoke to the Rotary Club some few months ago, the best way to give them bed space-I can give them fifty-seven beds tomorrow, if they'll just execute some of these people that are already in line for it.”
• “They better hope the governor answers his phone. Or that it's not out of order.”
• “That's unusual. He's never been cooperative with anybody.” The post-conviction opinion stated that recusal was appropriate to avoid the public appearance of partiality and that the case was remanded for transfer to another judge for a new hearing in accordance with the statutes and the opinion.

The post-conviction opinion also described issues about expert services, evidence and instructions, including malice instruction and instructions about the judge’s truth of confession being constitutional.

Federal habeas corpus

After state post-conviction relief was denied, Alley sought federal habeas corpus relief.

• Alley v. Bell, 307 F.3d 380 (6th Cir. 2002) (Habeas): The Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of the petition for federal habeas corpus relief, holding that the allegations failed to present viable claim of judicial bias, among other holdings. The court affirmed the district court’s denial of the petition.

The federal habeas proceedings described that Alley was convicted of the 1985 kidnapping, rape, and murder of United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins and was sentenced to death, and that his conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal while he was denied relief in state post-conviction proceedings.

The appellate habeas opinion described five certified issues including:

1. whether Alley was denied due process because he was tried by a biased judge
2. whether ex parte contacts between the judge and jurors violated his constitutional rights
3. whether he was denied his right to present a full defense through the unconstitutional exclusion of proof that he suffers from multiple personality disorder at the guilt phase
4. whether at the sentencing phase he was denied the right to receive consideration of mitigating evidence when the trial court excluded the same multiple personality disorder evidence
5. whether Alley received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel

The opinion concluded the petition was denied and affirmed.

Outcome

The Tennessee Supreme Court declined in January to set a new execution date for Alley because his appeal was still pending in federal courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, exhausting his appeals on the three-tiered court review process.

On June 28, 2006, Alley was executed by lethal injection in Tennessee.

Aftermath and later related events mentioned alongside the case

The later proceedings described included actions to speed up another execution, Paul Dennis Reid, while news accounts mentioned that witnesses from families of Reid’s seven victims were in contact with prison officials.

No further legal outcome for Alley beyond the execution was stated.