Camp v. State

2011 Ark. 155, 381 S.W.3d 11, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 141
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 14, 2011
DocketNo. CR 10-290
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 2011 Ark. 155 (Camp v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Camp v. State, 2011 Ark. 155, 381 S.W.3d 11, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 141 (Ark. 2011).

Opinion

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice.

| lAppellant Wyouman David Camp appeals his conviction for first-degree murder as an accomplice and sentence of life imprisonment. On May 26, 2008, Harry Surber fatally shot Camp’s wife, Robin Camp, allegedly at Camp’s direction, while she was working as a cashier at a store in Nashville, Arkansas. At Camp’s trial, Surber testified that Camp, with the help of his sister Jo Ann Hicks, hired him to murder Ms. Camp. Hicks also testified at Camp’s trial about her role in the conspiracy. On appeal, Camp contends that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict because the State failed to sufficiently corroborate the testimony of his alleged accomplices. He also contends that the circuit court abused its discretion in allowing Terry Carter, a fellow inmate, to testify about Camp’s attempt to hire Carter to murder an accomplice. Because this is a criminal appeal in which a sentence of life imprisonment has been imposed, this court has jurisdiction pursuant to Arkansas Supreme | {¡Court Rule 1 — 2(a)(2) (2010). We affirm the circuit court.

I. Directedr-Verdict Motion

At the close of the State’s evidence, Camp moved for a directed verdict, contending that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to corroborate his accomplices’ testimony. On appeal, Camp renews his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. He asserts that his conviction cannot stand because the only evidence directly connecting him to the alleged murder conspiracy is testimony from Surber and Hicks, the two other alleged conspirators. Camp acknowledges that the State presented “a wealth” of circumstantial evidence, but he claims that this evidence does not tend to connect him with the commission of the crime.

On appeal, we treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. E.g., Evans v. State, 2011 Ark. 33, 378 S.W.3d 82. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court determines whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. E.g., Tubbs v. State, 370 Ark. 47, 257 S.W.3d 47 (2007). Substantial evidence is evidence forceful enough to compel a conclusion one way or the other beyond suspicion or conjecture. Id. This court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and only evidence supporting the verdict will be considered. Id.

A person commits murder in the first degree if, with a purpose of causing the death of another person, the person causes the death of another person. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-102(a)(2) (Repl.2006). A person acts “purposely” with respect to his or her conduct or as a Rresult of his or her conduct when it is the person’s conscious object to engage in conduct of that nature or to cause the result. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-202(1) (Repl.2006).

A person is criminally liable for the conduct of another person if the person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of an offense. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-402(2) (Repl.2006). A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of the offense if, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of an offense, the person solicits, advises, encourages, or coerces the other person to commit the offense. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-403(a)(l) (Repl.2006).

At Camp’s trial, both Surber and Hicks testified for the State. Surber testified that, in exchange for $5000 and Camp’s 1997 Dodge pickup truck, he shot Ms. Camp twice in the head at Family Dollar in Nashville on May 26, 2008. Surber stated that he first met Camp in April 2008 when Jo Ann Hicks, Surber’s employer and girlfriend, introduced them to discuss the “business” of “doping] something to his wife.”

Surber testified that, at first, the “business” was “about just crippling” Ms. Camp. According to Surber, Camp told him that

he was tired of her running around here acting like she was queen bee and that she wouldn’t help him all the times that he helped her. He took her from, the quote was “from having nothing to having something.” That she didn’t have nothing when she came into this relationship and that he was afraid that she was going to leave him and that he wanted her crippled. He wanted her where she couldn’t ever walk again.

Surber added that Camp told him he “wanted her shot in the legs or shot in the lower back.”

Surber testified that Camp initially agreed to pay him $1000, in $500 installments, tojjshoot and disable Ms. Camp. Surber related that Camp told him that he would deliver the first installment a week later at Hicks’s transmission shop in Ash-down, where Surber worked part time.

Surber stated that Camp arrived at the transmission shop the following week, handed him $500, and told him to “take care of my business.” Surber testified that he later deposited $450 of the money Camp gave him.1

Surber stated that on May 9, 2008, he and Camp went to Nashville so Camp could show him the Family Dollar store where Ms. Camp worked. He said that when they arrived in Nashville, Camp showed him the Family Dollar store as planned and also showed him the car Ms. Camp drove and the route she took to work.

Surber stated that early the following Thursday, Camp called him and told him that there was a “change of plans” because he suspected Ms. Camp was romantically involved with an African-American man. According to Surber, Camp said he wanted Ms. Camp killed because she “left me for a nigger.” Surber stated that Camp also said that

he took her from, the quote was, “zero to hero.” She had nothing when she come into this relationship and he’ll be damned if she has anything when she leaves from this relationship, that she wasn’t going to get a dime.

Surber said that he asked Camp what he wanted done to Ms. Camp, and Camp told him he wanted her “completely dead. She ain’t getting nothing.” Surber stated that he agreed to kill Ms. Camp in exchange for $5000 and Camp’s Dodge pickup truck, and that after | ¿discussing possible scenarios for the murder, Camp gave him a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson six-shot revolver. Surber described it as “an older gun with medium sized barrel, chrome with a white handle on it,” and said that Camp told him the gun was “untraceable.”

Surber testified that the following day, he and Hicks drove to Nashville to find out where Ms. Camp was living. They waited at a video store near the Family Dollar store where Ms. Camp worked, watched her with binoculars, and waited for her to leave so they could follow her home. The two followed Ms. Camp to a green house in Nashville, and, believing it to be her residence, telephoned Camp. Surber said that Camp wanted to see the house, so he and Hicks met him at the Wal-Mart in Hope at 10:00 p.m. and took him from there to the green house in Nashville.

Surber testified that when the three of them returned to Nashville, Ms. Camp’s car was no longer at the green house, so they drove to several places in Nashville in an attempt to find her residence. Surber said that after Camp made a phone call to someone at approximately 11:00 p.m., he said that he knew “exactly where she’s at,” and directed Surber to drive to the Lockesburg Highway to look for Ms. Camp’s car.

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Bluebook (online)
2011 Ark. 155, 381 S.W.3d 11, 2011 Ark. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/camp-v-state-ark-2011.