Brandon Rhode

Case record: Brandon Rhode

Background

Brandon Rhode was a white male and had been sentenced to death for the murders of three members of a Jones County family. His co-perpetrator, Daniel Lucas, was also sentenced to death in a separate trial and remained on death row.

Brandon Joseph Rhode’s physical description included: height 5'11'', weight 165, eye color BROWN, and hair color BLACK. His year of birth was 07/1979. He was listed with known aliases “A.K.A. RHODE,BRANDON JOSEPH.”

He was described as having a history involving drugs and alcohol, including references to organic brain damage and a fetal alcohol disorder in the course of proceedings and arguments described in the case material.

The offence

On April 23, 1998, Brandon Rhode and Daniel Lucas burglarized the home of Steven and Gerri Ann Moss. The burglaries were described as involving an initial burglary and a return later that day.

While Rhode and Lucas were ransacking the home searching for valuables, 11-year-old Bryan Moss arrived, observed Rhode and Lucas through a front window, and entered through a back door armed with a baseball bat. Rhode and Lucas subdued Bryan at gunpoint, sat him in a chair, and began discussing what to do with him. Lucas turned and fired at Bryan, inflicting a non-fatal shoulder wound. As 15-year-old Kristin Moss was approaching the house, Lucas took Bryan into a back bedroom.

Rhode met Kristin as she arrived, sat her in a chair, and shot her twice with a pistol identified in the case material as a .357 caliber pistol. Lucas repeatedly shot Bryan with a .25 caliber pistol. Rhode later shot Steven Moss with the .357 caliber pistol when Steven arrived.

The case material described that Lucas obtained a .22 caliber pistol from Rhode’s automobile and shot Bryan and Kristin again. Lucas later shot each of the victims again to make sure they were dead.

The trial record summary included testimony about Rhode’s and Lucas’s actions during the burglary events and about admissions made to others, including statements that Lucas first shot Bryan in the shoulder, that Lucas then shot Bryan while Rhode simultaneously shot Kristin, that Rhode next shot Steven Moss, and that lastly Lucas shot each victim to ensure their deaths.

Chad Derrick Jackson, Rhode’s roommate, testified that he observed Rhode and Lucas handing rifles and other items out of Jackson and Rhode’s bedroom window and loading them into Rhode’s automobile on the evening of the crimes. Jackson also testified that Rhode and Lucas admitted to him the next day the sequence of shootings described in the case material.

Danny Ray Bell, who also lived in the same house as Rhode, testified that Rhode and Lucas spoke to him between the two burglaries and that Bell advised Rhode not to return to burglarize the same home. Bell testified that at the time of this conversation Rhode had a .357 caliber pistol in his waistband. Bell also testified that when Rhode returned from the second burglary, Rhode said that he had “messed up big time” and needed to dispose of some weapons and other items. Rhode admitted to Bell that Lucas shot a young boy and that Rhode shot a girl and a man.

Several witnesses testified that they saw an automobile similar to Rhode’s at or near the victims’ home on the day of the murders. A search of Rhode’s automobile revealed damage to the front and rear bumpers and a spare tire in the trunk that showed signs of use. A photograph of the crime scene suggested a vehicle had backed into a gas tank at the victims’ home. Expert testimony described that paint on a cement block at the victims’ home matched the paint on Rhode’s automobile, including two layers applied at the factory and a third layer likely applied later, and that a crime scene imprint could have been made by Rhode’s spare tire.

The trial record summary stated that Rhode made a statement admitting he fired two times at Kristin with the .357 caliber pistol and led law enforcement officers to two locations where he and Lucas had secreted weapons and other items. Expert testimony matched the .357 and .25 caliber pistols to bullets retrieved from the crime scene and the victims’ bodies.

Investigation / arrest

Rhode and Daniel Lucas were arrested for the triple murder described in the case material.

The trial record summary included that Rhode made a statement admitting he fired two times at Kristin and led law enforcement officers to two locations where weapons and other items were secreted.

Trial

Charges and convictions

Rhode was indicted in the Superior Court of Jones County, Georgia on June 30, 1998 for three counts of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, two counts of burglary, and one count of kidnapping with bodily injury.

On February 25, 2000, following a jury trial, Rhode was convicted on all counts. The jury’s recommendation of a death sentence was returned on February 27, 2000.

Jury findings and sentence structure described in the case material

The Georgia Supreme Court’s discussion included that the jury fixed the sentence for each murder at death. It also described that felony murder verdicts were vacated by operation of law.

The trial court imposed a death sentence for each murder and consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the kidnapping with bodily injury and twenty years for each of the two burglaries (as described in the case material).

Trial dates and motion for new trial (as stated in the case material)

Rhode’s trial began February 14, 2000, and the jury found him guilty on all counts on February 25, 2000. Rhode filed a motion for new trial on March 3, 2000, and it was denied on an order filed December 22, 2000. Rhode filed a notice of appeal on December 27, 2000.

Sentencing

Rhode was sentenced to death for the murders described in the case material. He also received a life sentence for kidnapping with bodily injury and two consecutive twenty-year terms for burglary, as described in the case material.

In the case material’s status of charges by case number, the listed offense convictions included:

• MURDER with sentence length DEATH
• BURGLARY with sentence length 20 YEARS, 0 MONTHS, 0 DAYS (appearing twice)
• KIDNAPPING with sentence length LIFE

Appeals

Georgia Supreme Court

The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Rhode’s convictions and sentences on October 1, 2001. Reconsideration was denied on October 22, 2001.

United States Supreme Court

Rhode filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on June 17, 2002.

Rhode later filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on June 7, 2010. Rhode then filed a petition for rehearing in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on August 16, 2010.

State habeas corpus proceedings

Rhode filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia on April 3, 2003.

Rhode filed an amended petition for writ of habeas corpus on August 30, 2004. An evidentiary hearing was held on March 31, 2005. On March 16, 2006, the state habeas corpus court entered an order denying Rhode state habeas relief.

Rhode’s application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal filed in the Georgia Supreme Court was denied on April 24, 2007.

Federal habeas corpus proceedings

Rhode filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on June 25, 2007.

On September 9, 2008, the district court denied Rhode federal habeas corpus relief. The district court denied a motion to alter and amend judgment on November 5, 2008.

The district court granted Rhode a certificate of appealability on January 20, 2009.

Eleventh Circuit

The case was orally argued before the Eleventh Circuit on September 10, 2009. On September 17, 2009, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion which denied relief, affirming the denial of federal habeas relief.

Rhode filed a petition for panel rehearing, which was denied November 17, 2009.

Outcome

Rhode was executed by lethal injection in Georgia.

Aftermath

Execution details and final statements (as stated in the case material)

Brandon Joseph Rhode was pronounced dead by authorities at 10:16 p.m. on September 27, 2010.

The case material described that Rhode declined to speak any last words or have a final prayer.

Timeline of execution scheduling delays described in the case material

The execution was described as having been set for 7 p.m. on September 21, 2010, then postponed, and rescheduled after Rhode’s suicide attempt. A seven-day window was described as beginning at noon on September 21, 2010 and ending seven days later at noon on September 28, 2010. The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections then set the specific date and time for the execution as 7:00pm on September 21, 2010.

The case material included that Rhode attempted suicide by slashing his arms and throat with a razor blade before his scheduled execution, that he was hospitalized, and that he was placed in a restraining chair. Attorneys described arguments about mental competency and cruel and unusual punishment, and a federal judge rejected the appeal while ordering increased security precautions.

On September 27, 2010, the procedure was described as being scheduled for 4:00 p.m., and then Rhode was executed Monday night.

Inmate and prison-related information listed in the case material

Rhode was described as being an inmate at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson, with GDC# 1017103. The case material listed “MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG & CLASS PRIS-PERM” and a “CURRENT SENTENCES CASE NO: 439113.”

Other details

Legal representatives and parties named in the case material

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker was referenced along with a press advisory.

The case material named prosecutors and attorneys, including:

• Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright
• Gregory L. Bushway, Assistant District Attorney
• Keagan Goodrich, Assistant district attorney (as described for representation at the execution)
• Brian Kammer (defense counsel referenced in multiple stages)
• Frank Ford and Jack Nebl (trial attorneys referenced in the case material)
• Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Gogor (presiding over an appeal in a habeas corpus review context described)

Habeas corpus review proceeding details and named witnesses/participants in the case material

The case material described a Habeas Corpus Review of Brandon Joseph Rhode held April 1 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson, and that Gerri Moss attended the proceeding.

It described that Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright was the sole witness for the state and that the presiding judge was Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Gogor.

It described that Rhode was represented by Brian Kammer of the Georgia Resource Center and that two expert witnesses were called in Rhode’s defense: “a doctor from Vermont and staff member from the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital.”

The case material also included the following verbatim quotation attributed to District Attorney Fred Bright: “I vividly remember in the guilt-innocence portion of the trial, when the jury had been out five hours, the attorneys asked me about a manslaughter plea. My response was ‘read my lips, I’m not even interested in offering life without parole’.”

It also included the following verbatim quotation attributed to Gerri Moss: “I feel like I’m still putting Kristen, Bryan and Steven out there so they won’t be forgotten,”

and: “When they were put on death row, a huge burden was lifted. At least I know they won’t be hurting anyone else.”

“I’m alone here, my family lives in California,”

and: “But I am determined to see this thing through.

Trial-court justice and legal citations reproduced in the case material

The case material reproduced legal citations and case names, including:

• Rhode v. State, 274 Ga. 377, 552 S.E.2d 855 (Ga. 2001)
• Rhode v. Hall, 582 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2009)
• Rhode v. Georgia, 536 U.S. 925 (2002)
• Rhode v. Hall, 130 S.Ct. 3399 (2010)
• Rhode v. Hall, 2010 U.S. LEXIS 5635 (Case No. 09-10597)
• 28 U.S.C. § 2254
• Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• McNair v. Campbell, 416 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 2005)

Statement about “torture chair” and competence arguments (verbatim quoted)

The case material included the following verbatim quotation attributed to defense attorney Brian Kammer: “He's utterly terrified and just hopeless,”

and: “He was very morose, frightened and subdued. This was a product of him just being in terror, of losing hope altogether.”

It also included the following verbatim quotation attributed to Brian Kammer in a court filing: “He has been subjected to the surreal and incomprehensible: Heroic measures taken to stabilize his life by the prison staff that would then execute him,”