Ellington v. State

The trial court abused its discretion in precluding voir dire questioning of prospective jurors as to whether they would automatically impose the death penalty, rather than fairly considering all three sentencing options, in a case involving the murder of young children.

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A jury convicted Appellant Clayton Jerrod Ellington of murdering his wife, Berna Ellington, and their twin two-year-old sons, Cameron and Christian.1 The jury found two statutory aggravating circumstances related to each of the three murders and recommended three death sentences, which the trial court imposed. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm Ellington’s convictions. As to his death sentences, however, as discussed at length in Division 7 below, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in prohibiting Ellington from asking prospective jurors in voir dire whether they would consider all three sentencing options death, life without parole, and life with the possibility of parole in a case involving the murder of young children, where that was clearly a critical fact in this case, as shown by, among other things, the responses of prospective jurors who knew or inferred that fact from other sources and by the way the prosecutor tried and argued the case. We cannot say that this error was harmless, so we must reverse Ellington’s death sentences and remand the case for further proceedings.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. Ellington was married to Berna Ellington, but for several months he had been having an affair with another woman. Ellington frequently spent the night with his mistress, who knew that Ellington was married but was led to believe that he had separated from his wife, was filing for divorce, and was living with a male roommate. Ellington told his mistress that he loved her and wanted to marry her, and he asked about moving in with her, but she said she was not ready for that. The weekend before the murders, Ellington and his mistress had an argument after he appeared at her house in his wife’s car. The mistress informed Ellington that she was “calling it off.” The couple remained on speaking terms, and Ellington spent some more nights at the mistress’s house, but she told him that he had to choose between her and his wife.

Ellington v. State

The trial court abused its discretion in precluding voir dire questioning of prospective jurors as to whether they would automatically impose the death penalty, rather than fairly considering all three sentencing options, in a case involving the murder of young children.

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