Alexander v. State

77 S.W.3d 544, 78 Ark. App. 56, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 362
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 19, 2002
DocketCA CR 01-621
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 77 S.W.3d 544 (Alexander v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander v. State, 77 S.W.3d 544, 78 Ark. App. 56, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 362 (Ark. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

J arry D. Vaught, Judge.

A Mississippi County jury found appellant guilty of aggravated robbery and felony manslaughter and sentenced him to eighteen years’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. The trial court also granted the State’s petition to revoke probation in CR-95-182 and sentenced him to serve an additional ten years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Appellant raises five points for reversal: 1) the charge of aggravated robbery was not supported by substantial evidence; 2) the charge of felony manslaughter was not supported by substantial evidence; 3) the trial court should have allowed an instruction on the lesser-included offense of attempted aggravated robbery; 4) the trial court erred by allowing the State to admit “inflammatory” photographs; 5) the trial court’s second revocation of appellant’s probation amounted to an illegal sentence. We affirm on the first four points, but reverse the revocation on the fifth point.

At trial, appellant testified that on August 6, 1999, some men identified only as “Walls Street Boys” came over to his apartment with guns, called him outside to question him about a girl, and “jumped” him. Appellant then fled to his mother’s house. Patrick Cason, Lasette McDougal, and Thomas Razor joined him at his mother’s house where they planned a robbery. In a taped statement to Blytheville Police Department Detective David Flora, tappeflant stated that “the whole plan was to snatch some weed from ’em and just run off with it.” After drinking and smoking marijuana, they went to an abandoned house to retrieve some guns on their way to Jermaine Smith’s house. They rode around “for a minute,” dropped off one of their companions, and then the four armed men went to see Smith at his Walls Street residence. It was around midnight when they parked the car on the side of Smith’s house, and appellant had a semi-automatic rifle under his coat when he approached the residence. Cason, appellant’s friend, had already entered the house after making a request to purchase a $5.00 bag of marijuana. When Cason was exiting Smith’s residence, Smith was walking behind him. Appellant was wearing a stocking cap rolled down to his eyebrows.

Appellant testified that Smith fired first, that he fired back, and that Cason fell to the ground. The evidence indicated that Cason was shot by Smith. Appellant then ran to his mother’s house where he was later joined by McDougal and Razor. He testified that he dropped his gun in the alley as he was fleeing and did not contact the police because he was already on probation.

Smith testified that Cason was the only person outside when he initially opened the door. Cason was admitted into the residence to purchase a “nickel” bag of marijuana. After the sale, as Smith accompanied Cason out of the house, he saw appellant with the barrel of his rifle exposed, and in response, he fired his .38 semi-automatic handgun several times. Stephen Erickson, a forensic pathologist from the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified that Cason died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

In his taped statement, appellant said that Cason never made it into the house and that Smith started shooting as soon as Cason opened the door. At trial, however, appellant testified that Cason went into the house to buy some marijuana and that Smith must have “slipped up and for some reason started shooting” when Cason was exiting. Appellant denied that he had any intent to rob .Smith.

The preservation of an appellant’s right to freedom from double jeopardy requires a review of the sufficiency of the evidence prior to a review of any asserted trial errors. Young v. State, 316 Ark. 225, 871 S.W.2d 373 (1994). The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Atkinson v. State, 347 Ark. 336, 64 S.W.3d 259 (2002). Substantial evidence is evidence of sufficient certainty and precision to compel a conclusion one way or another and pass beyond mere suspicion or conjecture. Goodman v. State, 74 Ark. App. 1, 45 S.W.3d 399 (2001). In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in a light most favorable to the State and consider only the evidence that supports the verdict. Wilson v. State, 332 Ark. 7, 962 S.W.2d 805 (1998).

The jury may resolve questions of conflicting testimony and inconsistent evidence and may choose to believe the State’s account of the facts rather than the defendant’s. Chapman v. State, 343 Ark. 643, 38 S.W.3d 305 (2001). Flight following the commission of an offense is a factor that may be considered with other evidence in determining probable guilt. Stewart v. State, 338 Ark. 608, 999 S.W.2d 684 (1999). Also, a defendant’s improbable explanation of suspicious circumstances may be admissible as proof of guilt. Id. Additionally, the longstanding rule in the use of circumstantial evidence is that the evidence must exclude every other reasonable hypothesis than that of the guilt of the accused to be substantial, and whether it does is a question for the jury. Gregory v. State, 341 Ark. 243, 15 S.W.3d 690 (2000).

A person commits robbery if he, with the purpose of committing a felony or misdemeanor theft, employs or threatens to employ physical force upon another person. See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-12-101(a) (Repl. 1997). A person commits aggravated robbery if he commits robbery and he is armed with a deadly weapon or represents by word or conduct that he is so armed, or inflicts or attempts to inflict death or serious physical injury upon another person. See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-12-103 (Repl. 1997). A person acts purposefully with respect to his conduct when it is his conscious object to engage in conduct of that nature or cause such a result. See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-2-202(1) (Repl. 1997). Intent or purpose to commit a crime is seldom proven by direct evidence, and often is inferred from the circumstances. Jones v. State, 72 Ark. App. 271, 35 S.W.3d 345 (2000). Thus, a presumption exists that a person intends the natural and probable consequences of his acts because of the difficulty in ascertaining a person’s intent. Tarentino v. State, 302 Ark. 55, 786 S.W.2d 584 (1990). Also, the jury is allowed to draw upon their common knowledge and experience to infer intent in reaching a verdict from the facts directly proved. Robinson v. State, 293 Ark. 243, 737 S.W.2d 153 (1987).

Based on the foregoing, it is our opinion that the trial court properly refused appellant’s motion for directed verdict on the charge of aggravated robbery. There is substantial evidence of appellant’s purpose to commit an aggravated robbery. He confessed that he and his accomplices went to Smith’s house with the purpose of stealing some marijuana.

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Bluebook (online)
77 S.W.3d 544, 78 Ark. App. 56, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-state-arkctapp-2002.