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RENDERED: MARCH 23, 2023
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
Supreme Court of Kentucky
2021-SC-0537-MR
JERMAINE BEAMON APPELLANT
ON APPEAL FROM KENTON CIRCUIT COURT
V. HONORABLE PATRICIA M. SUMME, JUDGE
NO. 19-CR-01659
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE
MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT
AFFIRMING
On July 29, 2017 Appellant Jermaine Beamon shot and killed Lazuri
Collins while she was sitting in a car on 13th Street in Covington, Kentucky.
Shots fired by Beamon also struck Lazuri’s father Antonio, who was seated
behind Lazuri in the rear passenger seat.
A jury in Kenton Circuit Court convicted Beamon of murder and first-
degree assault. The trial court sentenced him to fifty years on the murder
conviction and to twenty years on the conviction for first-degree assault,
running consecutively for a total sentence of seventy years. Beamon now
appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b). Following a
careful review, we find no error and affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Lazuri Collins drove down 13th Street in Covington in the early morning
hours of July 29, 2017. Her friend Marcus Smith rode in the front passenger
seat and her father Antonio Collins sat behind her in the rear passenger seat
next to his girlfriend Brandy Thompson.
At the time a number of people were gathered outside near the
intersection of 13th Street and Wheeler Street, some participating in or
standing near a dice game in front of a home. Lazuri stopped in the middle of
the street briefly and then began to pull forward in the direction of the dice
game to park the car. As she pulled forward Beamon opened fire on the
vehicle, striking it multiple times. Several shots passed through the vehicle’s
doors. At least one went through a window and the driver’s seat headrest.
Lazuri was shot in the head and died from her injuries several days later.
Antonio was shot in the leg. Though Antonio ultimately survived, he suffered a
broken leg, had to undergo physical therapy, and was unable to walk without
assistance for a year.
On the day before the shooting Beamon had an altercation with Lazuri’s
on-again, off-again boyfriend Chris Goode in which Goode knocked Beamon
unconscious and stole his money and cell phones. Greg Pritchett, a close
friend of Beamon who considered him family, testified that shortly after this
altercation Beamon told him he wanted to get revenge by killing Goode.
Pritchett testified that he tried to persuade Beamon to retaliate against Goode
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in a non-lethal manner but that Beamon was adamant about his desire to kill
Goode.
Pritchett further testified that Beamon met him shortly before the
shooting approximately two blocks from the eventual murder scene. Beamon
showed Pritchett a gun he had obtained and told him he was going to 13th
Street to “post up.” Pritchett testified that Beamon was wearing a dark hoodie
at the time.
Another witness, Simeon Jones, testified that twenty minutes before the
shooting he saw Beamon hanging out near the dice game and wearing a dark
hoodie. Jones stated that he said “what up” to Beamon, who responded by
raising his index finger to his lips to indicate for Jones to “be quiet.” Jones
testified he then saw Beamon firing shots and was 100% sure Beamon was the
gunman.
Beamon met with Pritchett the day after the shooting. Pritchett testified
that during this meeting Beamon admitted he shot at the car and that he had
been told Goode was in it. Pritchett took Beamon’s cell phone, attempted to
destroy it in battery acid, and threatened potential witnesses in case they were
considering speaking with police.
Beamon gave a voluntary statement to police after rumors of his
involvement in the shooting began to spread. He denied involvement in the
shooting, offering as an alibi that he had been in a bar in Cincinnati with his
cousin Andre Sinclair that evening. Beamon told police that Sinclair lived on
“Glenwood” and provided his age and a physical description. Police were
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unable to locate an Andre Sinclair and ultimately concluded he was a
fabrication based on Beamon’s uncle Deandre Beamon who had once lived on
Glenwood and whose mother’s maiden name was Sinclair. Deandre also told
police Beamon had no cousin named Andre.
Another witness, Antoinette Malik, told police that the shooter was
wearing a black hoodie and ran past a house after the shooting. The day after
the shooting police traced the path described by Malik and found a black
hoodie next to a Ruger 9 mm firearm in a nearby backyard. Testing revealed
the gun to be the murder weapon and the hoodie to have gunshot residue. A
DNA test of the hoodie also found it to have a mixture of DNA from three
individuals, with Beamon as a major contributor and two other individuals as
minor contributors.
A jury found Beamon guilty of murdering Lazuri and of first-degree
assault for the shooting of Antonio. The jury recommended a sentence of fifty
years for the murder and twenty years for the first-degree assault to run
consecutively for a total of seventy years. The trial court sentenced Beamon
consistent with this recommendation.
ANALYSIS
Beamon raises two issues for our review: (1) whether the trial court erred
in denying his request for an instruction on first-degree manslaughter as a
lesser-included offense of murder; and (2) whether the trial court erred in
denying his motions for directed verdict. We review each issue in turn.
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I. The trial court properly denied Beamon’s request for an
instruction on first-degree manslaughter.
Beamon first argues the trial court erred in not providing an instruction
allowing the jury to consider first-degree manslaughter as a lesser-included
offense of murder. Beamon tendered an instruction for first-degree
manslaughter and thereby preserved this issue for review. Swan v.
Commonwealth, 384 S.W.3d 77, 98 (Ky. 2012).
When a defendant contends the trial court erred either in failing to
provide a requested jury instruction or in providing an unwarranted jury
instruction, we review the decision for abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v.
Caudill, 540 S.W.3d 364, 367 (Ky. 2018). We review an allegation of error
regarding the content of an instruction or its accuracy in stating the law de
novo. Id. Here Beamon alleges the trial court erred in denying his request for
an instruction on manslaughter in the first degree and we therefore review that
decision for abuse of discretion.
A defendant has the right to have every issue of fact raised by the
evidence and material to his defense submitted to the jury on proper
instructions, including instructions as to lesser-included offenses. Allen v.
Commonwealth, 338 S.W.3d 252, 255 (Ky. 2011). However, an instruction
regarding a lesser-included offense is warranted if, and only if, under the
evidence presented a reasonable juror could have reasonable doubt as to the
defendant’s guilt for the greater charge but find beyond a reasonable doubt
that the defendant is guilty of the lesser charge. Id. In determining whether an
instruction as to a lesser-included offense is warranted, the trial court must
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consider the totality of the evidence presented at trial. See Swan, 384 S.W.3d
at 99. On appeal, we consider whether a trial court erred in refusing a
requested instruction on a lesser-included offense by construing the evidence
in favor of the proponent of the instruction and asking “whether a reasonable
juror could acquit of the greater charge but convict of the lesser.” Allen, 338
S.W.3d at 255.
KRS1 505.020 provides that a lesser offense is included within a greater
charged offense if the lesser offense “differs from the offense charged only in
the respect that a lesser kind of culpability suffices to establish its
commission.”2 KRS 505.020(2)(c). First-degree manslaughter requires a
finding that the defendant caused the victim’s death though he intended only
to cause serious physical injury to her or a third person. KRS 507.030(1)(a).
First-degree manslaughter is thus “generally thought of as a lesser included
offense of intentional murder, an offense established by proof that the
defendant caused a person’s death intending to do so, inasmuch as the intent
1 Kentucky Revised Statute
2 KRS 505.020 also provides three other circumstances in which a lesser
offense is included within a greater charged offense, namely when the lesser offense is
1) “established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the
commission of the offense charged;” 2) “consists of an attempt to commit the offense
charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein;” or 3) “differs from the
offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the
same person, property or public interest suffices to establish its commission.” KRS
505.020(2).
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to injure may be deemed a lesser sort of culpability than the intent to kill.”3
Allen, 338 S.W.3d at 256.
Beamon argues a first-degree manslaughter instruction was warranted
because some of the bullet holes were found on the lower part of the doors of
Lazuri’s car and the jury therefore could have found Beamon intentionally shot
low with a goal of causing only fright or serious injury rather than death. A
review of the totality of the evidence indicates there was no basis on which a
reasonable juror could have reached such a conclusion. Perhaps most
importantly, Pritchett testified that Beamon stated shortly before the shooting
that he wanted to kill Goode, that Beamon adamantly rejected Pritchett’s
efforts to persuade him to consider a non-lethal alternative, and that Beamon
was told Goode was in the car at the time of the shooting.4 We are pointed to
3 The trial court provided a murder instruction that set forth both intentional
and wanton theories of murder. The verdict form did not differentiate between these
two legal theories and thus the jury simply found Beamon guilty of murder without
any indication as to whether the crime was intentional or wanton. The law is
presently unsettled as to whether first-degree manslaughter is a lesser-included
offense of wanton murder. See Allen, 338 S.W.3d at 257 (declining to “decide if and
when first-degree manslaughter should be deemed a lesser included offense of wanton
murder.”). The parties have not briefed the issue and we therefore decline to resolve it
here. However we will assume for purposes of Beamon’s appeal that first-degree
manslaughter was a lesser-included offense of his murder conviction regardless of
whether the crime was intentional or wanton.
4Though Beamon’s intended target may have been Goode rather than Lazuri,
he nonetheless may be found guilty of murder because his intention to kill Goode (or
wantonness) transfers to his killing of Lazuri:
[U]nder . . . KRS 507.020(1)(a) . . ., the defendant is guilty of intentional
murder if he intended to kill one person (V-1), but instead killed another
(V-2). . . . Under KRS 501.060(3)(a), a defendant is guilty of wanton
murder if, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to
human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of
death to one person (V-1) and thereby causes the death of another (V-2).
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no evidence to contradict Beamon’s own stated intention of causing death
shortly before the shooting, such as evidence of Beamon expressing or
manifesting any intention only to cause fright or injury.
In addition, though bullet holes were found low on the car doors,
Beamon fired on the car multiple times. At least one shot was sufficiently high
to pass through a window and the driver’s seat headrest. Beamon also
manufactured an alibi of being with a non-existent cousin at the time of the
shooting. Taken together, the totality of the evidence, including Beamon’s
stated intent to kill Goode followed shortly by his firing of multiple shots,
including at head-level, at a vehicle he believed to be occupied by Goode,
simply could not support a reasonable conclusion that he merely intended only
to cause fright or injury. He shot directly into a car occupied by four people.
Thus, the evidence in this case precludes reasonable doubt that the shooter
intended to kill, as opposed to merely injure. No reasonable juror could have
entertained reasonable doubt under the evidence presented as to whether
Beamon fired on the car with an intention to kill rather than merely injure.
The trial court properly refused to instruct the jury as to manslaughter in the
first degree. See Caudill v. Commonwealth, 120 S.W.3d 635, 668 (Ky. 2003)
(affirming trial court refusal to give first-degree manslaughter instruction where
the undisputed evidence showed defendant repeatedly struck victim in the
Phillips v. Commonwealth, 17 S.W.3d 870, 874 (Ky. 2000).
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head with a hammer-like object and thus precluded “any reasonable doubt that
whoever attacked [victim] intended to kill, as opposed to merely injure, her.”).
Our conclusion here in no way lessens our continued recognition that
“[e]ven when death is a natural and probable consequence of an act, there may
exist circumstances which make it reasonable for the jury not to be convinced
beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to cause death.” Smith
v. Commonwealth, 737 S.W.2d 683, 688 (Ky. 1987). Such circumstances exist
where the evidence could lead a reasonable juror to conclude the defendant
had some goal other than the death of the victim. See Luttrell v.
Commonwealth, 554 S.W.2d 75, 78 (Ky. 1977) (holding trial court should have
given lesser-included offense instruction where a reasonable juror could
conclude arrestee shot police officer not to kill him but rather only to injure
him and thereby effect an escape). A lesser-included offense instruction is also
warranted where the evidence could support a reasonable conclusion that the
defendant’s mental state prevented the formation of an intent to kill. Hudson
v. Commonwealth, 979 S.W.2d 106, 110 (Ky. 1998) (holding that because
defendant stated he “went crazy” before strangling victim, a reasonable juror
could conclude he merely engaged in wanton rather than intentional conduct).
Evidence that could support a reasonable finding the defendant was simply
indifferent to life likewise warrants the giving of lesser-included offense
instructions. See Holland v. Commonwealth, 466 S.W.3d 493, 499 (Ky. 2015)
(finding reasonable juror could conclude victim was simply indifferent to the
victim’s life given the lack of testimony or direct evidence as to his intent). An
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instruction as to a lesser-included degree of homicide is also warranted where
the evidence is “purely circumstantial and does not conclusively establish [the
defendant’s] state of mind at the time he killed the victim.” Commonwealth v.
Wolford, 4 S.W.3d 534, 539 (Ky. 1999).
The facts here are readily distinguishable from such circumstances.
Beamon points us to no evidence that could have led a reasonable juror to
conclude he had an objective other than death, that he was simply indifferent
to life, or that he lacked a mental ability to intend to kill at the time of the
crime. There is also no evidence the crime might have been unintentional, as
in the case of an accidental killing that occurs during a struggle over a weapon.
This case also does not involve competing evidence or an absence of
proof as to Beamon’s state of mind. The evidence was that Beamon stated his
express and adamant intent to kill shortly before the shooting. The
circumstances of the crime, namely the shooting of an occupied vehicle
multiple times including at head-level, were consistent with such an intent.
Thus, while some cases involving conduct likely to result in death nonetheless
also involve circumstances warranting the giving of a lesser-included offense
instruction, this is not such a case. Quite simply, no reasonable juror could
have entertained reasonable doubt that Beamon intended to kill rather than
cause fright or injury. The trial court therefore did not err in refusing to
provide an instruction on the lesser-included offense of manslaughter in the
first degree. At a minimum, we discern no abuse of discretion in the trial
court’s instructions to the jury.
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III. The trial court properly denied Beamon’s motions for directed
verdict.
Beamon next argues the trial court erred in denying his motions for
directed verdict.5 Beamon acknowledges this issue was at most “partially
preserved” and therefore requests palpable error review pursuant to Kentucky
Rule of Criminal Procedure (“RCr”) 10.26. We therefore review his allegations
of error under that standard.
Under RCr 10.26, “[a] palpable error which affects the substantial rights
of a party may be considered . . . by an appellate court on appeal, even though
insufficiently raised or preserved for review, and appropriate relief may be
granted upon a determination that manifest injustice has resulted from the
error.” In determining whether an error is palpable, we consider
“whether on the whole case there is a substantial possibility that
the result would have been any different.” To be palpable, an error
must be “easily perceptible, plain, obvious and readily noticeable.”
A palpable error must be so grave that, if uncorrected, it would
seriously affect the fairness of the proceedings. “It should be so
egregious that it jumps off the page . . . and cries out for relief.”
Davis v. Commonwealth, 620 S.W.3d 16, 30 (Ky. 2021) (citations omitted).
Even where an error is palpable, relief is warranted only where it results in
manifest injustice. Caudill, 540 S.W.3d at 367. An error results in manifest
injustice if it “so seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation
of the proceeding as to be ‘shocking or jurisprudentially intolerable.’” Conrad
5 Beamon argues the trial court erred in denying his motions for directed verdict
as to both the murder charge and the charge for assault in the first degree. Because
the two charges arise from the same shooting and because Beamon presents the same
arguments as to both, we address them together.
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v. Commonwealth, 534 S.W.3d 779, 783 (Ky. 2017) (quoting Martin v.
Commonwealth, 207 S.W.3d 1, 4 (Ky. 2006)).
In considering a criminal defendant’s motion for directed verdict, the trial
court
“must draw all fair and reasonable inferences from the evidence in
favor of the Commonwealth” and “assume that the evidence for the
Commonwealth is true, but reserv[e] to the jury questions as to the
credibility and weight to be given to such testimony.” “If the
evidence is sufficient to induce a reasonable juror to believe
beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty, a directed
verdict should not be given.”
Swan, 384 S.W.3d at 102 (quoting Commonwealth v. Benham, 816 S.W.2d 186,
187 (Ky. 1991)). “On appellate review, the test of a directed verdict is, if under
the evidence as a whole, it would be clearly unreasonable for a jury to find
guilt, only then the defendant is entitled to a directed verdict of acquittal.”
Commonwealth v. Benham, 816 S.W.2d 186, 187 (Ky. 1991).
Beamon first contends the trial court erred in denying his motions for
directed verdict because a number of witnesses were not credible. In
considering a motion for directed verdict, a trial court generally may not
disregard the testimony of a witness solely because the witness seems entirely
lacking in credibility. Ross v. Commonwealth, 531 S.W.3d 471, 475 (Ky. 2017).
The weight to be afforded to such testimony is best left to the jury “‘since the
triers of fact are particularly adept at judging credibility.’” Id. at 477 (quoting
Robert G. Lawson, The Kentucky Evidence Law Handbook § 3.00[2][b] at 239
(5th ed. 2013)). Thus, a trial court may disregard a witness’s testimony only
where “the substance of the testimony, detached from the personal credibility of
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the witness who bears it, is so laden with doubt and implausibility that it
cannot rationally be regarded as a fact capable of supporting a verdict.” Id. at
475 (emphasis added). Examples satisfying this high bar are where the facts
testified to are “‘inherently impossible and absolutely at variance with well-
established and universally recognized physical laws’” or the testimony is “so
extraordinarily implausible or inherently impossible that it is manifestly
without probative value or patently unworthy of belief.” Id. at 476-77 (quoting
Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Chambers, 165 Ky. 703, 178 S.W. 1041, 1043 (1915)).
Here, Beamon argues the trial court erred in not disregarding the
testimony of a number of witnesses placing him near the scene of the crime.
Beamon contends the witnesses’ testimony was not credible because it was
inconsistent with statements made to police or was motivated by lenient
treatment or a desire for leniency in the witnesses’ own cases. The jury could
properly consider all those points in assessing the credibility and weight to be
afforded to the testimony. However, Beamon points to no testimony that was
so extraordinarily implausible or inherently impossible that the trial court was
free to disregard it. As such, the trial court did not err in denying motions for
directed verdict on grounds of the witnesses’ lack of credibility, much less did it
commit any error sufficient to warrant palpable error relief.
Beamon asserts the trial court also erred in denying his motions for
directed verdict because the black hoodie containing his DNA and found near
the murder weapon also contained the DNA of other persons and could have
been left where it was found sometime before the shooting. In considering the
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motion for directed verdict, the trial court was required to draw all fair and
reasonable inferences from the evidence in the Commonwealth’s favor. At least
two witnesses testified they saw Beamon wearing a dark hoodie on the night of
the shooting. The hoodie was found next to the murder weapon along the path
Antoinette Malik described the shooter taking as he fled. Testing revealed both
Beamon’s DNA and gunpowder residue on the hoodie. One fair and reasonable
inference from this evidence is that Beamon was wearing the hoodie at the time
of the shooting and discarded it along with the murder weapon as he fled from
the scene. The evidence at trial in any event also included other significant
proof of Beamon’s involvement in the shooting, including Beamon’s own stated
intention to kill Goode, Jones’ testimony that he was 100% sure he saw
Beamon shooting, and Beamon’s invention of a false alibi and efforts to destroy
cell phone evidence after the crime. As such, we find no error in the lack of a
directed verdict in Beamon’s favor.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment and sentence of the
Kenton Circuit Court.
All sitting. Vanmeter, C.J.; Bisig, Conley, Keller, Lambert, and Nickell,
JJ., concur. Thompson, J., concurs in result only.
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COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:
Julia Karol Pearson
Assistant Public Advocate
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE:
Daniel Cameron
Attorney General of Kentucky
Matthew Robert Krygiel
Assistant Attorney General
15