Clemons v. State

2010 Ark. 337, 369 S.W.3d 710, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 429
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 23, 2010
DocketNo. CR 09-1182
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2010 Ark. 337 (Clemons 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
Clemons v. State, 2010 Ark. 337, 369 S.W.3d 710, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 429 (Ark. 2010).

Opinion

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice.

liAppellant James Clemons was convicted by a Union County jury of the capital murder of Billy Ponder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On appeal, Clemons contends that the circuit court (1) erred in denying his motion for directed verdict because the State failed to prove by substantial evidence that he committed capital murder, (2) abused its discretion in refusing to allow testimony about a letter written by a jailhouse informant who testified as a State’s witness at trial, and (3) erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement given to police because he was not timely provided with a copy of the statement. Because Clemons was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment, our jurisdiction is pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule l-2(a)(2) (2010). We affirm the circuit court.

Billy Ponder was found stabbed to death on April 28, 1992, at his flower shop in El laDorado. An empty cash-register till and several loose coins were found on the floor of the shop. Police conducted interviews and obtained physical evidence from the scene; however, despite the investigation, the case remained open for several years until DNA tests that were not available in 1992 caused Clemons to be identified as a suspect. In 2006, physical evidence from the crime scene was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for retesting. In October 2007, the crime lab informed the police that DNA found at the scene matched Clemons’s DNA, which was on file in CODIS, the national DNA databank.

Clemons first contends that the State failed to prove by substantial evidence that he committed capital murder. He asserts that the State failed to prove he was present when the murder occurred and that physical evidence offered to prove his presence at the crime scene did not constitute proof that he committed the murder. He also asserts that a jailhouse informant’s testimony that Clemons admitted to committing the crime is not credible.

An appeal from a denial of a motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Adams v. State, 2009 Ark. 375, 326 S.W.3d 764. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court determines whether the verdict was supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Substantial evidence is evidence that is forceful enough to compel a conclusion one way or the other beyond speculation or conjecture. Id. Circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to support the finding of guilt in a criminal case, but it must exclude every other reasonable hypothesis consistent with | sinnocence. Lockhart v. State, 2010 Ark. 278, 867 S.W.3d 530. Whether the evidence excludes every other reasonable hypothesis is a question for the jury to decide. See Edmond v. State, 351 Ark. 495, 95 S.W.3d 789 (2003). Upon review, this court’s role is to determine whether the jury resorted to speculation and conjecture in reaching its verdict. See id.

Clemons was convicted of murder perpetrated while in the commission of a felony, with attempted robbery or robbery as the underlying felony. At the time of the crime, the capital-murder statute provided, in relevant part, that a person commits capital murder if he commits or attempts to commit robbery and in the course of and in furtherance of the robbery or in immediate flight therefrom, he causes the death of any person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(l) (Supp.1991). A person commits robbery if, with the purpose of committing a felony or misdemeanor theft or resisting apprehension immediately thereafter, he employs or threatens to immediately employ physical force upon another person. ArkCode Ann. § 5-12-102(a) (Supp.1991).

The record reveals that Ponder was killed some time after 4:15 p.m., on April 28, 1992. Katherine Buzzard testified that, at about 4:15, she went to the drive-through window of Ponder’s flower shop to pay for some flowers. Buzzard stated that Ponder came to the window, and she paid him in bills and coins. According to Buzzard, while speaking to Ponder, she did not observe anything “out of the ordinary.”

Jerry Sandifer, a friend of Ponder’s, testified that he called Ponder at the flower shop at about 5:00, but he got no answer. Ponder’s wife, Rebecca, testified that she called the 14flower shop at around 5:30 after receiving a phone call at home from a customer whose flowers had not been delivered, but no one answered. She said that she called several more times, but never got an answer. She stated that, at first, she was not concerned, but she later became “uneasy” and decided to drive to the shop. She arrived there at around 7:15 or 7:20 and noticed that the back door was open. When she walked to the back door and looked inside the flower shop, she saw Ponder’s body lying on the floor.

Jerald Fifer, who was working at a dry cleaners across from the flower shop on the day of the murder, talked to police during their initial investigation and told them that he had seen a black man on a bicycle around 3:30 that afternoon, but he did not know who it was. Subsequently, in April 2008, police showed Fifer a photo lineup that included a picture of Clemons, and Fifer stated that the man on the bicycle looked like Clemons.

After the crime lab identified Clemons as a suspect based on DNA testing in 2007, it asked for a “known” DNA sample from Clemons to make a comparison. CO-DIS indicated that Clemons was living in Marathon County, Wisconsin, and a judge in Wisconsin issued a search warrant to obtain oral swab and fingerprint samples from Clemons. Chief Ricky Roberts and Sergeant Jamie Morrow of the El Dorado Police Department traveled to Wisconsin in February 2008 to obtain the DNA samples and to interview Clemons. Chief Roberts read Clemons the Miranda warnings, and Clemons signed the waiver form and talked to the officers.

Sergeant Morrow testified about Clemons’s statement, noting that Clemons offered more than one version of events. He said that, at first, Clemons denied knowing Ponder; |fithen, Clemons stated that he knew Ponder and had been in the flower shop and bought flowers. Clemons first said that he was walking when he stopped by the flower shop, but he later said that he was riding a bicycle. Clemons also told officers that Ponder had approached him and asked if he could masturbate Clemons in exchange for money. He told officers that Ponder offered him $25, then he said that Ponder offered him $80. Clemons also stated that he took money from the cash register after Ponder said that he did not have any cash.

Clemons said that the incident took place before 5:00 in April 1992. He said that he had been in town working for a carnival and left town with the carnival the next day. He stated that he stopped by the shop because he wanted to buy flowers for his mother to thank her for “all she had done.” Clemons repeatedly denied killing Ponder.

Chief Roberts also testified about Clemons’s statement. According to Roberts, Clemons stated that he knew Ponder was gay or bisexual and that Ponder offered to pay him if he could masturbate Clemons. Clemons claimed that he and Ponder pulled down their pants, and Ponder masturbated both Clemons and himself. Clemons admitted that he ejaculated, and he said that, after the incident, Ponder gave him money, and he took his flowers and left.

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Bluebook (online)
2010 Ark. 337, 369 S.W.3d 710, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clemons-v-state-ark-2010.