Davis v. State

2013 Ark. App. 658, 430 S.W.3d 190, 2013 WL 5935386, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 665
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 6, 2013
DocketCR-13-307
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2013 Ark. App. 658 (Davis 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
Davis v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 658, 430 S.W.3d 190, 2013 WL 5935386, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 665 (Ark. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

RHONDA K. WOOD, Judge.

IvA jury found Dameon Davis guilty on two aggravated-robbery counts. In addition to the jury’s conviction, the circuit court had denied Davis’s pretrial motion to suppress evidence from a traffic stop and, after the jury had convicted him, revoked his probation for an earlier aggravated-assault conviction. Davis appeals all three decisions. We affirm in all respects.

I. Facts

This case involves two gas-station robberies that happened on October 18, 2011, in Blytheville. The first robbery happened at the Cherry Tree gas station at around 10:00 p.m. and the second robbery occurred at the Dodges Store, approximately an hour later. Both clerks described the assailant as wearing black clothes with a white rag held over his face. The first clerk described the assailant’s clothing as a black hoodie, black pants, and 12black shoes. In both instances, the assailant pointed a small revolver at the clerks and demanded money. The first clerk gave him $200 in various denominations, but mostly one and five-dollar bills. Some of the money was paper-clipped together. The second clerk surrendered $300 to the man.

Sergeant Kyle Lively responded to both armed robberies. He arrived at the Cherry Tree at 10:30 p.m. but left shortly after that to respond to the Dodges Store robbery. On the way, he saw a vehicle that triggered his interest. First, Sgt. Lively had previously arrested the vehicle’s driver, Quintrell Richardson, for carrying a firearm. Second, he remembered seeing the vehicle a few days earlier in close proximity to another robbery. 1 Third, the car was driving away from the Dodges Store’s location and was only about a half-mile away from the scene soon after the robbery. These factors prompted Sgt. Lively to run the car’s plates. He confirmed that the car belonged to Richardson and pulled it over.

Three people were in the ear: Richardson, the driver; Dameon Davis (appellant), the front-seat passenger; and a back-seat passenger. Various one and five-dollar bills were scattered on the floorboard, and all three men had at least $100 on their person. Some of the money was still paper-clipped together. Davis told Sgt. Lively that his name was “Solomon Slaughter,” and Sgt. Lively arrested him for giving a false name. Later, the police calculated that the money on the floorboard, plus the money on the three men, |3totaled $563. The police also gathered clothing from the men, including a black hoodie, black shoes, a black hat, and a white T-shirt.

After hearing the above testimony, a jury convicted Davis on two aggravated-robbery counts. The circuit court also revoked Davis’s probation for an earlier aggravated-assault charge. Davis received 10 years’ imprisonment for the robberies and six years’ imprisonment for the revocation, all set to run concurrently.

II. The Verdict

Davis argues that the jury heard insufficient evidence that he was a principal or accomplice to aggravated robbery. We disagree because the police found him in a car that was driving away from the crime scene; the car contained roughly the same amount of money that had been stolen from the two stores; and clothing that the clerks saw the robber wearing was found in the car. Consequently, we affirm the jury’s verdict.

A motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Baughman v. State, 353 Ark. 1, 110 S.W.3d 740 (2003). When a defendant makes a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and only consider evidence supporting the verdict. Id. The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Substantial evidence is evidence forceful enough to compel a conclusion beyond suspicion or conjecture. Id.

Circumstantial evidence may constitute substantial evidence to support a conviction. Dunn v. State, 371 Ark. 140, 264 S.W.3d 504 (2007). The longstanding rule in the use of circumstantial evidence is that, to be substantial, the evidence must exclude |4every other reasonable hypothesis than that of the guilt of the accused. Id. This is a jury question, and we will not disturb the jury’s determination unless the jury resorted to speculation and conjecture in reaching its verdict. Id.

Here, Davis, the appellant, was convicted as an accomplice to aggravated robbery. “A person commits robbery if, with the purpose of committing a felony or misdemeanor theft ... the person employs or threatens to immediately employ physical force on another person.” Ark.Code Ann. § 5-12-102(a) (Repl.2006). Robbery can become aggravated robbery if the person is armed with a deadly weapon. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-12-103(a)(l). Further, a person is criminally liable for the conduct of another person when he is the accomplice of another person in the commission of an offense. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-402. An accomplice is a person who, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of an offense:

• Solicits, advises, encourages, or coerces the other person to commit it; or
• Aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to aid the other person in planning or committing it; or
• Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, fails to make proper effort to do so.

Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-403; Cook v. State, 350 Ark. 398, 86 S.W.3d 916 (2002). The “[r]elevant factors in determining the connection of an accomplice to a crime are the presence of the accused in proximity to the crime, the opportunity to commit the crime, and an association with a person involved in the crime in a manner suggestive of joint participation.” Taylor v. State, 2010 Ark. 372, at 18, 372 S.W.3d 769, 780.

| ^Substantial evidence supports Davis’s aggravated-robbery conviction. When the officer stopped the car, it was moving away from the Dodges Store’s direction. Officers found Davis in the car with roughly the same amount of money that had been stolen from the two gas stations. The money was mostly in small bills and was paper-clipped together, which is how the clerk described the money stolen from the Cherry Tree gas station. Sergeant James Harris testified that $139. 2 of that money was found on Davis’s person. Davis also provided a false name to the police, and using a false name after committing a crime tends to establish guilt. See Austin v. State, 26 Ark.App. 70, 760 S.W.2d 76 (1988).

Other facts support the jury’s verdict that Davis was an accomplice. Once the car had been pulled over, police discovered that all three men had money in their pockets. A jury could believe, without resorting to speculation, that the men shared the crime’s proceeds and had jointly participated in the robbery.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 Ark. App. 658, 430 S.W.3d 190, 2013 WL 5935386, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-state-arkctapp-2013.