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Satcher v. Commonwealth9/18/1992
In the first phase of a bifurcated trial conducted pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-264.3 and -264.4, a jury convicted Michael Charles Satcher of the robbery, assault and battery, and attempted rape of Deborah Abel and the robbery, rape, and capital murder of Ann Elizabeth Borghesani. The jury fixed Satcher's punishment at imprisonment for life plus ten years and twelve months for the offenses against Ms. Abel and at two terms of life imprisonment for the noncapital offenses against Ms. Borghesani. In the second phase of the trial, the jury fixed Satcher's punishment for the killing of Ann Borghesani at death, based upon both statutory predicates of "future dangerousness" and "vileness."
After considering a postsentence report prepared by a probation officer, Code § 19.2-264.5, the trial court imposed the sentences fixed by the jury. Satcher is here for automatic review of his death sentence, and we have consolidated that review with his appeal of his capital murder conviction. Code § 17-110.1. We have also certified from the Court of Appeals Satcher's convictions for the offenses against Ms. Abel and the noncapital offenses against Ms. Borghesani. Code § 17-116.06. We have given the entire matter priority on our docket. Code § 17-110.2.
FACTS
The incidents involving Ms. Abel and Ms. Borghesani both occurred on March 31, 1990, on a bicycle path that runs alongside Lee Highway, past the Air Force Association building, in the Rosslyn section of Arlington County. The bicycle path at this location is hidden from the view of motorists and pedestrians proceeding along Lee Highway by a "sound barrier wall" some fifteen to twenty feet in height.
Shortly before 7:00 p.m. on March 31, Ms. Abel was riding her bicycle along the path and had just passed the Air Force Association
building when she saw a man walking toward her. As they passed one another, they "made eye contact." The next thing she knew, she was pulled off her bicycle, dragged on her stomach into a ditch that ran alongside the bicycle path, and "jumped on from behind."
Every time Ms. Abel turned her head to plead with her assailant or to get a look at him, he would hit her in the head and face. She told him there was money in her purse and begged him to "go get that" and not "hit anymore." As he continued to beat her, he managed to get her "pants part way down."
Suddenly, Ms. Abel's assailant "stopped what he was doing." It turned out that another cyclist, Mark Polemani, happened to pedal past the scene and saw a mountain bike "off the bike trail." He also observed a man kneeling down "right off the path," and when he saw the man "throw a punch to the ground," he stopped and got off his bicycle. When the man saw Polemani, he picked up Ms. Abel's purse and ran. Polemani pursued him, but he escaped.
Polemani returned to the scene to retrieve his bicycle and, for the first time, saw Ms. Abel. Her face and her sweatshirt were covered with blood and her "pants and her panties were down at her ankles." He walked with her to an apartment complex and knocked on a door. The police were called, and Ms. Abel was transported to a hospital. Several days later, her purse was found at a nearby parking lot. It contained her personal belongings, but no money.
At 8:00 p.m. on the same evening, Ann Borghesani was to be the guest of honor at a belated birthday party given for her by a friend who lived in the Crystal City area of Arlington County. Ms. Borghesani lived in an
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